One of Nigeria’s first four graduates of Architecture, Fola Alade, is dead.
According to family sources in Aramoko-Ekiti, in Ekiti State, Alade died on Saturday, June 19, at the age of 87.
Architectural masterpieces bearing his insignia and trademark include: the 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos; the defunct Federal Secretariat building, Ikoyi, Lagos; and the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Others are the Remembrance Arcade, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos; the famous Satellite Town, Lagos; the Nigerian Air Force Base, Ikeja; and the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies building, Kuru, near Jos.
Alade’s architectural acumen is also seen in the National Judicial Institute, Abuja and Nigerian Embassy buildings in 11 countries.
Fola Alade graduated from the Nigerian College of Arts and Sciences and Technology, now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1961 as one of Nigeria’s first four graduates of Architecture.
Thereafter, he completed his post graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Tropical Studies, London, in 1965, on a Commonwealth scholarship.
Alade was the first architect to become a Federal Permanent Secretary in 1976, a post he held until his retirement in 1979, after which he established his private firm of architecture, Fola Alade Associates, in 1979.
After his post-professional training, he became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Architects’ Registration Council of the United Kingdom in 1963.
He joined the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, as a Resident Architect in the old Western Region and later Lagos City Council.
In 1969, he became the first Registrar of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria, ARCN. He also served as the General Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Architects,NIA.
He was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Port Harcourt in 1990.
