Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo dies at 90

Professor Ayodeji Banjo, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, has died.

According to family sources, he died in the early hours of Friday, May 24, 2024. He was 90 years old.

Prof. Ayo Banjo was an emeritus professor of English and the pro-chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University in Oyo. Between 1984 to 1991, he served as UI’s vice chancellor.

He attended Christ Cathedral Primary School and St. Andrews Anglican Primary School, Lagos.

From 1947 until 1952, he studied at Igbobi College in Lagos State, Nigeria. earned a Master of Arts (M.A.) scholarship from the American State Department in 1966 to study linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the United States. In 1969, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, awarded him a doctorate (PhD).

In 1966, he started working as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan’s Department of English Language. At the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, he was named an associate professor in 1973 and promoted to full professor in 1975.

He was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan in 1981. In 1984, he was named Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, a role he retained until 1991. He served as the vice chancellor of the chairman committee of Nigerian universities during this time.

Between 1993 and 1994, he was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge in England and a visiting professor at the University of West Indies at Cave Hill for a year.

From 2000 to 2004, he served as the University of Port Harcourt’s pro-chancellor. Following his term, he was named pro-chancellor of the University of Ilorin, a position he held from 2005 to 2007. He was Ajayi Crowther University’s current pro-chancellor.