imported>Shhhnotsoloud: Copyedit

2024-10-18T11:10:10Z

Copyedit

New page

{{Short description|Nigerian academic (1907–1978)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox person 
| honorific_prefix = [[Oba (ruler)#Oloye|Omoba]]
| name = Oladele Ajose
| image = Replace this image.svg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Oladele Adebayo Ajose
| birth_date = 20 September 1907
| birth_place = [[Nigeria]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1978|7|2|1907|9|20|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality = [[Nigeria]]n
| other_names =
| occupation =
| known_for =
}}
'''Oladele Adebayo Ajose''' (20 September 1907 – 2 July 1978) was a [[Lagos]] prince who was the [[Chancellor (education)|vice-chancellor]] of the [[Obafemi Awolowo University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose |url=https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH3007&type=P |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk}}</ref> He was an early advocate of primary health care in [[Nigeria]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nigeria {{!}} History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and the first tenured African [[professor]] at the [[University of Ibadan]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-12 |title=University of Ibadan |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-ibadan |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}}</ref> and in Nigeria.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-23 |title=Remembering Ajose, first OAU VC |url=https://guardian.ng/opinion/remembering-ajose-first-oau-vc/ |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News |language=en-US}}</ref> He was one of the earliest Africans to hold a professorial chair.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oladele Adebayo Ajose – DAWN Commission|url=http://dawncommission.org/oladele-adebayo-ajose/|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://happylagosian.blogspot.com/2009/10/o-mooba-oladele-adebayo-ajose-who-died.html?m=1|title=Prince Oladele Adebayo Ajose. (1907–1978) A Lagosian and a Trailblazer.|website=Happy Lagosian|accessdate=July 23, 2014|date=9 October 2009}}</ref>

==Education and career==
He attended [[Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos]] and [[King's College, Lagos]] for secondary education{{cn|date=February 2024}}. He later moved abroad and went to study at the [[University of Glasgow]] from 1927 to 1932, graduating MB ChB in 1932, taking the Diploma in Public Health in 1935 and proceeding to a MD in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oladele Adebayo Ajose – DAWN Commission|url=http://dawncommission.org/oladele-adebayo-ajose/|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> His thesis title was ''Comparative study of Variola & Varicella in Nigeria''. It was while in Glasgow that he met his wife: Beatrice Roberts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adesina |first=Olutayo Charles |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004276901/B9789004276901-s006.xml |title=Between Colonialism and Cultural Authenticity: Isaac Ladipo Oluwole, Oladele Adebayo Ajose, Public Health Services in Nigeria, and the Glasgow Connection |date=2014-01-01 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-27690-1 |language=en}}</ref> The couple returned to Nigeria in 1936, and later raised three daughters and a son.

He started his career as an assistant medical officer for health in Lagos.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-23 |title=Remembering Ajose, first OAU VC |url=https://guardian.ng/opinion/remembering-ajose-first-oau-vc/ |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News |language=en-US}}</ref> He was later promoted to the position of medical officer for health. As a health official, he started and promoted the British [[Red Cross Society]] of Nigeria, which later became known as the [[Nigerian Red Cross Society]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mLPBAAAQBAJ&dq=oladele+adebayo+Ajose+as+a+health+official,+he+started+and+promoted+the+British+Red+Cross+Society+of+Nigeria,+which+later+became+known+as+the+Nigerian+Red+Cross+Society&pg=PA97 |title=Africa in Scotland, Scotland in Africa: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Hybridities |date=2014-09-25 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-27690-1 |language=en}}</ref> He also established the Infectious Disease Hospital in Lagos.<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose |url=https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH3007&type=P#:~:text=In%201961,%20Ajose%20was%20made,became%20the%20Nigerian%20Medical%20Association. |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk}}</ref> In 1948, with the creation of the [[University College, Ibadan]], he left his administrative attire for university drapery and was appointed lecturer, and later professor of [[preventive medicine]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Oladele Adebayo Ajose|url=https://universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH3007&type=P|website=universitystory.gla.ac.uk|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref>

===Early promoter of primary care===
He was one of the earliest proponents of [[primary health care]]. He believed that [[public health]] issues should not only be limited to the rooms of academia but be brought to communities. He based his community health care effort at Ilora, a town in the then [[Oyo State]]. There, he made sure the community was involved in every step of decision making and choice of health care service. As part of the project, the community established [[fish pond]]s mostly stocked of [[tilapia]] fish; the ponds were built to provide ample protein for the citizens. The establishment of fish ponds around swamps later led to the creation of means of eradicating schistosomiasis<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/search |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> in Ilora and also introduced a framework for nutrition provision in Nigeria and Africa.<ref>"Tribute to Late Oladele Adebayo Ajose", ''Vanguard'', Nigeria. 17 July 2003</ref>

In 1964, he contested the throne of [[Oba of Lagos]] with the eventual winner, [[Adeyinka Oyekan|Oba Oyekan]].<ref>"Lagos Obaship: Royal Family Petitions Tinubu", ''ThisDay'', Nigeria. 7 May 2003.</ref>

His daughter is Ambassador [[Audrey Ajose]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign women married Nigerians, nigerwives, foreign women in nigeria |url=https://nigerwives.wixsite.com/nigeria |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=nigeria |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* http://www.awori-kitigbe.org/ALSI.htm

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajose, Oladele}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:Physicians from Lagos]]
[[Category:Vice-chancellors of Obafemi Awolowo University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Ibadan]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University]]
[[Category:King's College, Lagos alumni]]
[[Category:Yoruba princes]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Nigerian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Nigerian public health doctors]]
[[Category:Methodist Boys' High School alumni]]
[[Category:People from colonial Nigeria]]
[[Category:Nigerian princes]]

Oladele Ajose - Revision history

imported>Shhhnotsoloud: Copyedit