Prof Adebayo Adedeji dies at 87
A former Executive Secretary to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Prof Adebayo Adedeji, has died in Lagos after a protracted illness.
He was aged 87. Prof Adebayo, an Ijebu Ode-born economist and diplomat, was born on December 21, 1930. He was the founder and pioneer Chairman of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). He died on Wednesday In the early 1970s, as Nigeria’s Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and Reconstruction, he took a leading part in the negotiations that brought the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Then, as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) from 1975 through 1993, he actively promoted the creation of other regional groupings, including the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), which subsequently became the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
He was Director of the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies, a think-tank based in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria. He was also the founding Executive Director of the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (ACDESS).
Adedeji was involved in community issues in IjebuOde and became the Asiwaju of Ijebuland. He was also the chief adviser of the Ijebu Ode monarch, Oba Sikiru Adetona.
Reacting to Adedeji’s death in Lagos, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, described the late Prof Adedeji as a rare diplomat and one of the eminent Nigerians who had done his best for the country and the world in general.
Akinyemi said the late economist was one of those Nigerians regarded as lucky to have had his talents recognized nationally and internationally.
“Professor was a senior colleague before he went to join General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet and later on joined the United Nations,” he said.
The Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, described the death of the former UN UndersecretaryGeneral as a sad loss, saying he would be remembered as a foremost economist, champion of regional integration and a distinguished public servant.