Nigeria’s first Professor of Geography and first African President of the International Geographical Union, Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje, has died.
The deceased, who hailed from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, marked his 90th birthday on 18 October, 2021.
Mabogunje, a well-known associate of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who in 1999 was the first African to be elected as a Foreign Associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences, served variously as member of the Western Nigerian Economic Advisory Council in 1967, member, Federal Public Service Review Commission, 1972, Chairman, Nigerian Council for Management Development, 1976 and Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Ogun State University.
He was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, until 1981, when he retired, and established PAI Associates, and later Development Policy Centre. He did all these in partnership with his friend and colleague, Ojetunji Aboyade.
He was also the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Ogun State University (OSU) and now Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye.
Akin Mabogunje is first Nigeria’s Professor of Geography who served the University of Ibadan, as Head of the Department and Dean of Faculty of the Social Sciences among many other administrative leadership roles.
Mabogunje contributed significantly to the academic literature of contemporary geography, development, rural-urban migration, urbanization, and environmental challenges in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
He was one of the earliest recipients of the Nigerian National Order of Merit, the first African to be President of the International Geographical Union.
