Obafemi Awolowo University

Obafemi Awolowo University was established in 1961 as the University of Ife by the Government of the Western Region of Nigeria, following the recommendations of the Ashby Commission on higher education. The university's provisional council was formally inaugurated on 8 June 1961 under the chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams, and the institution began its academic development around a vision of providing higher education suited to the needs of a newly independent Nigeria. It was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University in 1987 in honour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who had been closely associated with the university's establishment and served as its first Chancellor.
The university became one of Nigeria's major centres for higher education, research and professional training, developing academic programmes across agriculture, arts, education, engineering, environmental design and management, law, pharmacy, science, social sciences, health sciences and technology. Its history also includes several institutional firsts and influential academic figures, including Professor Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, who served as its first Vice-Chancellor, and a long-standing emphasis on research and postgraduate education. The Federal Military Government took over the university in 1975, after which it became part of the federal university system.