This is a list of very interesting and unknown details about the premier university in Nigeria, U.I which is located in the South-western part of the country.
University of Ibadan, Oyo State
1. University of Ibadan Started as Yaba College, Lagos
The University of Ibadan has her origins in Yaba College (now YabaTech), founded in 1932 in Yaba, Lagos. The Yaba College is the first tertiary educational institute in Nigeria. Yaba College was transferred to Ibadan in 1948. That was when it became the University College of Ibadan. This is the name some of our fathers and grandfathers still call the University of Ibadan till today.
2. UI was founded on its own site in 1948
The University of Ibadan was founded on its own site on 17 November 1948. In late 1963, on the university playing-fields, the Rt. Hon. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, first Prime Minister of independent Nigeria, became the first Chancellor of its independent university. In that year, all remaining ties with the University of London were severed.
On November 17, 1948. Arthur Creech Jones, then the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, led the inauguration ceremony of the institution. The university was originally created as an extension of the University of London and was called University College, Ibadan.
3. UI, the only University founded before Nigeria’s Independence
The University of Ibadan, founded in 1948, is the oldest university in Nigeria and the only institution founded before the country became independent in 1960. The University of Ibadan is a federally- controlled public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State. Other big and popular Universities such asUniversity of Lagos (1962), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1962), University of Benin (1970), University of Port Harcourt (1975), were only established after independence. Now you know, the only true University founded in Nigeria before 1960 is the University of Ibadan.
4. The first Indigenous Vice chancellor of UI was Kenneth Dike
The first Nigerian vice chancellor of the university was Kenneth Dike, after whom the University of Ibadan’s library is named. He is the first indigenous VC of the University. Kenneth Onwika Dike (17 December 1917 – 26 October 1983) was a Nigerian historian. He was a native of Awka, in the eastern Nigeria.
During the Nigerian civil war, he moved to Harvard University, Boston. He was a founder of the Ibadan School that dominated the writing of the History of Nigeria until the 1970s. He is credited with “having played the leading role in creating a generation of African historians who could interpret their own history without being influenced by Eurocentric approaches.
5. Designs of halls of residence are not identical
Did you know that the designs of the halls of residence in the University of Ibadan are not identical? And, just so you know, this is deliberate. Mellanby, Tedder, Kuti, Sultan Bello and Queen Elizabeth II halls – were designed by Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. Messrs Watkins Gray and Partners designed Alexander Brown Hall as a part of the overall design of the University College Hospital Complex. Independence and Nnamdi Azikiwe Halls,were designed by Messrs Design Group (Nigeria) Ltd. Obafemi Awolowo Hall was designed by Allied Group of Architects, while Tafawa Balewa and Idia Halls were designed by Messrs Aderele-Omisore- Adebanjo Associates. The Federal Ministry of Works designed the Abdusalami Abubakar Hall.
6. These notable Nigerians attended University of Ibadan
a. Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart
b. Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary-General
c. Michael Omolewa, former President of UNESCO General Conference and Ambassador of Nigeria to UNESCO
d. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State
e. J. P. Clark, Nigerian poet and playwright
f. Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature
g. Grace Alele-Williams, first Nigerian woman to become the head (vice-chancellor) of a Nigerian university, the University of Benin
h. William Kumuyi, Founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry
i. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer, television producer and environmental activist
j. Farida Mzamber Waziri, Former Executive Chairperson of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
7. University of Ibadan has no catchment area
UI is one of the Federal universities with no catchment areas. Other Universites with no catchment areas are the 3 federal agriculture universities (Federal University of Agriculture,Abeokuta; Federal University Agriculture Makurdi; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike,Umuahia, Abia State), University of Abuja (UNIABUJA),University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT), Federal University of Petroleum.