The Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, has announced the demise of Dr. Fredrick Eze Chikeziye Onyeoziri, popularly known simply as Fred Onyeoziri.
Onyeoziri died on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, in Abuja after a brief illness, at the age of 81.
He was born on July 21, 1941 at Umuokehi-Ohuhu in what is presently constituted as the Umuahia North Local Government Council, Abia State, Nigeria.
Onyeoziri was a 1964 Foundation class member of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, where he obtained a B.Sc. Second Class Upper Division Degree in June 1967. He proceeded soon after the Civil War to The University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, where he earned both his Master’s and PhD Degrees in Political Science in 1974 and 1980 respectively.
He had served as Visiting Lecturer, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Chicago, 1978- 1980, and Assistant Professor, at the Loyola University of Chicago, 1980-1981, both in Illinois State, USA, before returning to the alma mater in Nigeria to join the teaching staff of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan in 1981. Starting from the Lecturer II grade to which he was appointed in 1981, Dr Onyeoziri was promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 1989.
He was and remained a valued member of the teaching staff of the Department of Political Science, and had contributed considerably to its intellectual growth and development. He had at different times been the Coordinator of the Department’s Undergraduate Affairs and its Postgraduate Programmes.
Onyeoziri’s major area of specialization, teaching and scholarship was Empirical Political Theory. However, he was also versatile in the sub-discipline of Comparative Politics, Theory & Methodology (with his forte being principally in the sub-fields of Political Behaviour and Logic of Political Inquiry), as well as Nigerian Government and Politics.
Fred Onyeoziri was an erudite scholar and prolific writer. The author of the nationally acclaimed university textbook on The Citizen and the State (2005: Ibadan University Press), along with a number of technical reports and monographs, many chapters in books, and several scholarly articles appearing in learned and peer-reviewed journals, Onyeoziri had a total of 26 scholarly publications to his credit, not to add the over 400 writings that he contributed to the variety of national daily newspapers on which he served as columnist.
He trained ten (10) PhDs and scores of M.Sc degree holders, and supervised hundreds of first Degree graduates in their various final-year project essays. A significant number of Dr Onyeoziri’s former students are now to be found occupying top positions in universities and administration, public service, government and politics at all the tiers of the Nigerian federation, as well as in the private sector plying their various trades whether as journalists, business consultants, and NGO operatives.
His academic awards and distinctions were many, and included the following: (Department of Political Science Prize ( jointly shared with one of the Department’s Foundation Class members), University of Ibadan, 1965; the Faculty Prize, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, 1965; German Academic Exchange Scholarship, 1965-1967; The University of Ibadan Postgraduate Scholarship, used for commencing his postgraduate Studies at Ibadan, 1970-71; and The Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, 1971-1976. The last award was what he utilized for commencing and completing his (post)graduate training in the USA and leading to the PhD degree which he earned from the University of Chicago.
He held membership of a number of important professional associations or bodies, including the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), the African Political Science Association (APSA), and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). He had a highly visible Friday Column in the Guardian Newspapers in the 1980s and early 1990s as an editorial board member of the paper. He moved on to become Chairman of the Editorial Board and later CEO of the Post Express Newspapers.
Dr Onyeoziri retired from the University of Ibadan after twenty-five (25) years of unbroken and meritorious service in 2006, but never retired from intellectual work. The first post-retirement engagement and academic work took him to the Igbinedion University, Okada, in Edo State, where he was offered the contract position of Visiting Professor in 2006-2007, followed by the two years of Sabbatical Leave he spent at the National University Commission (NUC) in Abuja, FCT. He also served as Member of Governing Board of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), with its headquarters in Abuja FCT.
Away from his University teaching career, combined with work as a public intellectual, Onyeoziri came to play an active and distinguished role both in community service and national politics. He served as National Director of Research at the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Secretary of the PDP Presidential Screening Committee for the 2006-2007 Presidential Election, as well as Political Adviser to the National Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Dr Fred Onyeoziri is survived by his loving wife, children, and grandchildren.
