Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa (23 September, 1923 – 11 October, 2010). He was the first Nigerian Professor of Education in Nigeria. He was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

Educationist, Scholar and Former Minister for Education. As Minister, he was in charge of the biggest

school system A state school, public school, or government school is a primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-funded schools ar ...

in Africa.KENNETH B. NOBLE, "Nigerian's Plan: Adopt the (250) Mother Tongues." The New York Times, May 23, 1991. He is known for his early writings on the need to re-appraise the inherited colonial epistemological system in Nigeria and to introduce relevant

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

goals, subjects and local

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

into the system, in order to accommodate the developmental and cultural pattern of the country.Birgit Brock-Utne; Whose Education for All?The Recolonization of the African Mind. Falmer Press, 2000 He is also a notable authority on the History of Educational Planning in Nigeria.

Early life and education

Born on September 23, 1923, in Isale Eko, Lagos, Fafunwa had his secondary education at the CMS Grammar School, Lagos between 1937 and 1943. He obtained a B.Sc. (Magna Cum Laude) in Social Science and English from Bethune Cookman College (now Bethune-Cookman University, Florida, United States in 1950 and had his M.A (Cum Laude) in Administration and Higher Education in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in education from New York University in 1958, becoming the first Nigerian recipient of a doctoral degree in education. He was a co-founder of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria.

Career

He started his career in 1961 at the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal and public research university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, South-east Nigeria. Founded in 1955 by Nnamdi Azikiwe who was Governor-General of Nigeria between 1960 and 1963 ...

(UNN), Nsukka. During the

Nigerian civil war The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a Secession, secessionist state which had declared its independen ...

, he left the east and moved to Ife, and taught at the

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which w ...

.Dr. Obasi, "Thoughts On Babs Fafunwa," (2). Daily Champion, January 24, 2007 He became a professor of education in 1966 and held the position of Dean, Faculty and Head, Department of Education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN. Due to his brilliance and hard work, he rose to the position of Acting Vice Chancellor at both UNN and University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). He was also Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, University of Calabar. He was at several times, President, Association of Teachers Education in Africa, Director, International Council on Education for Teaching, Washington D C. He retired from active teaching service in 1978 to start the first tutorial college in Nigeria in 1982. During his time as Minister of Education between 1990 and 1992, he oversaw the establishment of the Nigeria French Language Village as an inter-university centre for French studies in Nigeria. While at

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively, re ...

, in collaboration with his colleagues at the education department, the department drafted a proposal to admit grade II teachers into a new two year degree program at the Faculty of Education. The proposal was subsequently adopted and in a few years led to the emergence of the Nigerian Certificate of Education and further broadened the acceptance of Colleges of Education in the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

system; today a lot of the colleges are affiliated with universities. He also continued an

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed ent ...

tradition, already in existence at Nsukka, when he began to implement a

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

for granting a bachelor's degree in education, the first faculty in the country to do so. A process which will further expand the career potential of many teachers. In 1977, a long time proposal of his to incorporate native languages into pedagogy was finally accepted. Today, most Nigerians learn at least on
Nigerian language
Fafunwa and a few other African educationists, had argued that embracing whole heartedly without evaluation foreign systems of

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

, can create the potential for epistemological dis-

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building des ...

. Introducing, cultural objectives and environmental familiarity will provide a continuity and balance into the educational advancement of a child and his place in his

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

. Babs Fafunwa died in the early hours of 11 October 2010, at a hospital in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory and was buried in Lagos.

Selected works

*A History of Nigerian Higher Education, Macmillan. *History of Education in Nigeria, 1970. *New Perspectives in African Education, 1967 *Education in Mother Tongue: The Ife Primary Education Research Project, 1970-1978 (Editor) *Up and On: A Nigerian Teacher's Odyssey, 1991. *Memoirs of a Nigerian Minister of Education, Macmillan (Nigeria), 1998. *Sense and non-sense in Nigerian Education, 1998

Early life and education

Career

Selected works

References

Further reading