Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, has died from COVID-19 complications, CompassNG has learnt.
He was 71 years old. Several sources confirmed that he passed on on Sunday afternoon after falling ill.
Although the University of Lagos is yet to confirm the development, the sad news is now trending on several WhatsApp platforms within the university community.
Ibidapo-Obe was one of the outstanding university administrators that contributed to the development of UNILAG as a centre of academic excellence in Nigeria during his tenure that lasted between 2000 and 2007.
Born on July 5, 1949 in Ile Ife, Osun State, the late VC attended Lagos Street African Church Primary School, Ebute-Metta, between 1955 and 1961; and Obokun High School/Ilesa Grammar School from 1962 to 1966; and later attended Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria, between 1966 and 1968, for his secondary education.
He received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Lagos.
He served as a Visiting Research Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA, 1980 to 1981. In 2007, he was a Visiting Research Professor at Texas Southern University in Houston, USA.
He was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos in 2000, succeeding Jelili Adebisi Omotola. He was later succeeded by Tolu Olukayode Odugbemi in 2007 after his successful tenure.
A distinguished scholar, Ibidapo-Obe was a Fellow of the University of Waterloo Post Doctoral Distinction Award and was a fellow of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada from 1977 to 1979.
He was a Fellow of the Academy of Science and Engineering; Africa Academy of Science and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.
