One of the five authors of Nigeria’s national anthem Prof. Babatunde Ogunnaike has passed on at the age of 65.
Educationist and publisher Gbenro Adegbola confirmed his death on Tuesday, The Nation reports.
Other co-authors of the anthem were John Ilechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, Sota Omoigui, and P.O. Aderibigbe.
Born on March 26, 1956, Ogunnaike attended the University of Lagos for his bachelor’s degree, graduating with first-class honours in chemical engineering in 1976.
The Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State indigene bagged a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in chemical engineering also from the same university in 1981.
He was a research engineer with the process control group of the Shell Development Corporation in Houston, Texas from 1981 to 1982.
The educationist joined the University of Delaware in 2002 and was appointed to the William L. Friend Professorship of Chemical Engineering in 2008.
Ogunnaike acted as interim dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware beginning in July 2011 and was named dean of the College of Engineering effective July 1, 2013.
He retired as Dean on October 1, 2018, but remained on the faculty.
