Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

Joseph Folahan Odunjo (1904–1980) was a Nigerian writer, educator and politician best known for his works in Yoruba children's literature.

Early life and education

Odunjo was born in Ibara,

Abeokuta Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State located at the south western part of Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokut ...

in 1904. He was educated at St Augustine's Primary School, Abeokuta, the Catholic Higher Elementary Training School and the London Institute of Education.

Teaching and Writing career

Odunjo commenced his teaching career as the schoolmaster of the Catholic Training College,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

from 1924 till 1927 and was later the headmaster of his alma mater, St Augustine's, Abeokuta. As a teacher, he formed the Federal Association of Catholic Teachers to negotiate with the Catholic missions on behalf of mission teachers. Odunjo was a teacher and headmaster of various Catholic Schools from the 1940s to the 1950s. His printed work in 1958 was one of the early written works of the language. He wrote several novels, plays, poems and texts in the

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. ) is a Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern and Middle Belt, Central Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. ...

. His published works later became a source of inspiration for future writers. He was an active member of the Yoruba

Orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

Committees of 1966 and 1969. He was also affiliated with the

Nigeria Union of Teachers {{short description, Trade union in Nigeria Nigeria Union of Teachers is a major trade union in Nigeria. It was formed to create a united front for practitioners of the teaching profession in the country. Major objectives of the union covers the imp ...

for a number of years.

Politics

In 1951, he won a seat to the Western House of Assembly and later became the region's first minister of Land and Labour. He was a president of the

Egbado The Ẹgbado (Morphology: Ẹgba l'odo), now Yewa, are a subgroup of the Yoruba people and mostly inhabit Ogun West Senatorial District, Ogun State, in south-west Nigeria, Africa. In 1995, the group's name was changed to Yewa after the Yewa Riv ...

Union, and also held the

chieftaincy A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Af ...

title of the Asiwaju of

Egbaland The Egba people are a subgroup of the Yoruba people, an ethnic group of western Nigeria, a majority of whom are from the central part of Ogun State, that is Ogun Central Senatorial District. Ogun Central Senatorial District comprises six local ...

. Chief Odunjo died in 1980.

Selected works

Poetry

*''Ise ni Ogun Ise'' ("Work is the antidote for poverty") *''Toju Iwa re Oremi'' ("Watch your behaviour, my friend") *''Akójopò ewì alâdùn'' (1961)

Novels

*''Omo oku orun'' (1964; "The deceased woman's daughter") *''Kuye'' (1978)

Textbook

*''Aláwìíyé Yoruba Readers'' (Fun awọn ọmọde ati awọn agbà ti o nkọ́ iwe Yoruba ni kikà: Yoruba language comprehensive learning text series) (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odunjo, Folahan Joseph Yoruba-language writers Yoruba-language poets 1904 births 1980 deaths Writers from Abeokuta Yoruba writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Nigerian children's writers 20th-century Nigerian politicians Yoruba educators Nigerian schoolteachers Politicians from Abeokuta Yoruba children's writers Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Yoruba dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Nigerian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Nigerian educators Yoruba politicians Federal ministers of Nigeria People from colonial Nigeria Heads of schools in Nigeria