Birthdays
AJIBOLA Prince Bolasodun Adesumbo, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, will be 87 tomorrow. Born on March 22, 1934, Ajibola attended both Owu Baptist Day School and Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta between 1942 and 1955. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Law ( LL. B) at the Holborn College of Law, University of London between 1959 and 1962 and was called to the English Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn in 1962. He returned to Nigeria to practise Law, specialising in Commercial Lawand International Arbitration. He was Attorney General and the Minister of
Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991 and a Judge of the International Court of
Justice from 1991 to 1994. He was president of the Nigerian Bar Association from 1984 to 1985. He was also one of five commissioners on the Eritrea- Ethiopia Boundary Commission, organized through the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Prince Bola Ajibola was chairman of the panel set up by the Plateau State government to probe the 2008 Jos riots. He established an Islamic and co- educational institution, Crescent University, in Nigeria in 2005, and he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Muslim Ummah of South
West Nigeria ( MUSWEN). He was the High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2002.
OMOLEWA, Emeritus Professor Michael Abiola, diplomat, scholar, education historian and civil servant will be 80 on April 1, 2021.
Born on Tuesday, April 1, 1941 in Ipoti- Ekiti, Ekiti
State, Omolewa attended Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan from 1955 to 1958. Subsequently, he schooled at Ekiti Parapo College, Ido- Ekiti from 1959 to 1960; and later went to Christ’s School Ado
Ekiti from 1962 to 1963. From September 2003 to October 2005, he served as the 32nd president of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation ( UNESCO). While president, Omolewa led UNESCO to adopt the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data and the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
From January 2000 to August 2009, Omolewa served as permanent delegate and ambassador of Nigeria to UNESCO. At the University of Lagos, on February 6, 2019, Omolewa delivered the
5th Enoch Adeboye Annual Birthday Public Lecture, titled: Peace: The Global Quest. Omolewa is an emeritus professor of adult education at the University of Ibadan. He also emeritus Professor of History of Education of Babcock University, Ilishan, Ogun State.
He is a former deputy chair of the governing board of the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
He is also a member of the Commonwealth Advisory Council on Teacher Mobility, Recruitment and Migrations in London. In September 2008, Omolewa was given the President’s award for distinguished contribution to world peace and solidarity by Bulgaria’s President Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov. Also during 2008,
Omolewa was inducted into the University of Oklahoma’s International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
He is a board member of ILI: International Literacy Institute – within Graduate School of Education, established by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania: United States of America in 1994; plus Member, Board of Governors: Christ the Redeemer’s College, Sagamu; as well as Deputy chairman of the board of Governors: Christ the Redeemer’s College, United Kingdom; including being Board of Trustees Member at Babcock University. Omolewa is also on the Editorial Boards of New Yorkbased International Journal of Higher Education and Washington D. C. based ASALH: Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s Journal of African American History; including Journal of Research in International Education and International Journal of Lifelong Education.
TINUBU, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, accountant, economist, politician and former governor of Lagos State will be 69 on March 29, 2021. Born in Kakawa Street, Lagos on March 29, 1952, he was educated at Government College, Ibadan; he left Nigeria in 1975 for academic pursuit in the United States of America at the Richard Daley College, Chicago, Illinois where he was on the College Honour’s list.
He proceeded to the Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, specialising in Accounting and Management. He worked with American companies like Arthur Anderson; Deloitte,
Haskins and Sells, now Deloitte, Haskins and Touche; GTE Services Corporation; Consultant, Fortune 500 groups, all in the United States of America.
He also worked as a Senior Auditor and Treasurer with Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited. His political career began in 1993 when he was elected Senator for the Lagos West Senatorial District. He was Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriations and Currency.
He contested for the seat of the Executive Governor of Lagos State on the ticket of the Alliance for Democracy ( AD) and was elected Governor in 1999 and the mandate was renewed in April 2003 for a second term. He was conferred with LL. D ( Honoris Causa) by Abia State University, Uturu in November 2001; Top Seal award for Leadership in 2002.
He is the Grand Patron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Patron of the Lagos Country Club, Patron of the Island Club and Honorary member of the Yoruba Tennis Club. He is also a founding member of the Action Congress of Nigeria ( ACN), which metamorphosed into All Progressives Congress ( APC).