Oladele Ajose

Oladele Adebayo Ajose (20 September 1907 – 2 July 1978) was a Lagos prince who was the vice-chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University.[1] He was an early advocate of primary health care in Nigeria[2] and the first tenured African professor at the University of Ibadan[3] and in Nigeria.[4] He was one of the earliest Africans to hold a professorial chair.[5][6]

Omoba

Oladele Ajose
Born
Oladele Adebayo Ajose

20 September 1907
Nigeria
Died2 July 1978(1978-07-02) (aged 70)
NationalityNigerian

Education and career

He attended Methodist Boys High School[7] and King's College, Lagos for secondary education. He later moved abroad and went to study at the University of Glasgow from 1927 to 1932, graduating MB ChB in 1932, taking the Diploma in Public Health in 1935 and proceeding to a MD in 1939.[8] His thesis title was Comparative study of Variola & Varicella in Nigeria. It was while in Glasgow that he met his wife: Beatrice Roberts.[9] The couple returned to Nigeria in 1936, and later raised three daughters and a son.

He started his career as an assistant medical officer for health in Lagos.[10] He was later promoted to the position of medical officer for health. As a health official, he started and promoted the British Red Cross Society of Nigeria, which later became known as the Nigerian Red Cross Society.[11] He also established the Infectious Disease Hospital in Lagos.[12] In 1948, with the creation of the University College, Ibadan, he left his administrative attire for university drapery and was appointed lecturer, and later professor of preventive medicine.[13]

Early promoter of primary care

He was one of the earliest proponents of primary health care. He believed that public health issues should not only be limited to the rooms of academia but be brought to communities. He based his community health care effort at Ilora, a town in the then Oyo State. There, he made sure the community was involved in every step of decision making and choice of health care service. As part of the project, the community established fish ponds mostly stocked of tilapia fish; the ponds were built to provide ample protein for the citizens. The establishment of fish ponds around swamps later led to the creation of means of eradicating schistosomiasis[14] in Ilora and also introduced a framework for nutrition provision in Nigeria and Africa.[15]

In 1964, he contested the throne of Oba of Lagos with the eventual winner, Oba Oyekan.[16]

His daughter is Ambassador Audrey Ajose.[17]

References
  1. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose". www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  2. "Nigeria | History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  3. "University of Ibadan". Times Higher Education (THE). 12 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  4. "Remembering Ajose, first OAU VC". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  5. "Oladele Adebayo Ajose – DAWN Commission". Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  6. "Prince Oladele Adebayo Ajose. (1907–1978) A Lagosian and a Trailblazer". Happy Lagosian. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. "Methodist Boys High School alumni - FamousFix.com list". FamousFix.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  8. "Oladele Adebayo Ajose – DAWN Commission". Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  9. Adesina, Olutayo Charles (1 January 2014). Between Colonialism and Cultural Authenticity: Isaac Ladipo Oluwole, Oladele Adebayo Ajose, Public Health Services in Nigeria, and the Glasgow Connection. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27690-1.
  10. "Remembering Ajose, first OAU VC". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  11. Africa in Scotland, Scotland in Africa: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Hybridities. BRILL. 25 September 2014. ISBN 978-90-04-27690-1.
  12. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose". www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  13. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose". universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  14. "Search | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  15. "Tribute to Late Oladele Adebayo Ajose", Vanguard, Nigeria. 17 July 2003
  16. "Lagos Obaship: Royal Family Petitions Tinubu", ThisDay, Nigeria. 7 May 2003.
  17. "Foreign women married Nigerians, nigerwives, foreign women in nigeria". nigeria. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
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