Historical Scholarship and Training at Ife: Growth, Personalities, and Professorships, 1962–2022

Abstract This paper is the first part of a detailed historical assessment of historical scholarship and training at the Department of History of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. It examines the growth and development of the Department since the inception of the University in 1962. It discusses the pioneer academic staff of the Department and subsequent people that taught in the Department over the years. The paper shows that the Department of History at Ife has excelled in all areas of historical scholarship over the years and that its professors and other scholars have contributed immensely to the reconstruction of African past. This is done through brief but succinct profiling of the professors and their professorial inaugural lectures as well as other scholars affiliated with the Department. The paper concludes that the Department of History at the Obafemi Awolowo University is a force to reckon with in the comity of schools of history in sub-Saharan Africa.