His comments on Prof. Kunle Lawal reads thus:
Introduction
Kunle Lawal, distinguished Professor of History, former Dean, Faculty of Arts and former Honourable Commissioner for Education, Lagos State, would have been 57 today, May 9, 2016 but Angel Asarail, the messenger of death, snatched him away before his allotted time.
The Holy Quran and Hadith contain several verses which indicate that the life span of a man is between the age of 63 and 70. Kunle Lawal changed mortality for immortality at the age of 54.
Friends, Great #LASUITES, Historians, Lagosians and Nigerian countrymen, lend me your ears. At exactly 2:00pm on December 25, 2013, Kunle Lawal was swallowed by the mother earth. However, his academic vision and mission, his good deeds and his influence on a generation of scholars remain with us to ponder upon and be inspired by.
Professor Kunle Lawal earned for himself, national and international acclaim as a first class scholar, dogged politician, consummate administrator and a great Lagosian. With over fifty-one publications to his credit, he was an established authority on the Decolonization Process in Africa, Urbanization in Lagos, as well as American Foreign Policy in Africa. His contribution to the Culture History of Lagos is also a testimony of his intellectualism.
The depth and universality of his scholarship was evident in the J. William Fulbright Senior African Research Fellowship he won in 1993.
Between 1990 and 1991, he was a consultant to the National Electoral Commission. He also served on the Accreditation Panel of the National University Commission in 2002. Between 2003 and 2006, he contributed his quota to the educational development of the nation through his membership of the National Council on Education. During the period, too, he also served Lagos State as the Honourable Commissioner for Education and later as the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Kunle Lawal’s inspiring academic contributions
My first contact with Kunle Lawal was on November 10, 1985 when I assumed duty as an Assistant Lecturer in the then Department of History and Religions, Faculty of Law and Humanities, Lagos State University, Ojo. The Department was then under the headship of late Prof. Gabriel Ogundeji Ogunremi, a distinguished Visiting Professor of Economic History. Prior to my assumption of duty, the pioneer Dean was Professor Ishmael Babatunde Balogun, but by November 1985 Prof. Oladele O. Arowolo, a Professor of Sociology, had succeeded him in office.
The pioneer Vice-Chancellor was the world-class surgeon and first class scholar, Prof. Folabi Olumide. Kunle had earlier assumed duty in October 1984 and also had the honour of being the first full-time academic staff to be appointed in the Department. Thus, Professors Deji Ogunremi and Kunle Lawal could be rightly described as the founding fathers of the Department of History and Religions, Lagos State University.
Kunle Lawal shared with Professor Ogunremi the burden of fashioning out a B.A. History Programme that would meet the approval of the National Universities Commission (NUC). At that time, he insisted that the Department should have a bias towards the study of history of the peoples of Lagos State.
Subsequently, the history programme included four Lagos-focused courses, which, before 1984/85 session, were not taught in any other Nigerian University. The courses are: “Lagos up to the 18th Century”; “Lagos in the 19th Century”, “Lagos in the 20th Century” and Economic History of Lagos.
Today, the Department of History, Lagos State University is keeping faith with the vision of the founding fathers of the university and as conceived by late Professors Ogundeji Ogunremi and Kunle Lawal.
At the inception of #LASU in October 1984, the History programme started as a unit in the then “Department of Religions and History” of the defunct “Faculty of Law and Humanities”. Following the establishment of the “Faculty of Arts” in 1989, the “Department of History” acquired an autonomous status.
In the 1996/1997 academic session, the Department under the leadership of Kunle Lawal, broke new grounds in the context of Departments of History in Nigerian Universities when, with the approval of the University’s Senate, it reviewed its curriculum and changed its name to reflect the new challenges and focus as, the “Department of History and International Studies”.
Apart from the regular degree programme, the department also mounted three new programmes, viz: Master’s in History and Diplomatic Studies, Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations and Strategic Studies and Master’s in International Relations and Strategic Studies.
As part of the restructuring process, new courses were introduced: International Relations; Defense and Strategic Studies; Public International Law; International Economic Relations; Civil-Military Relations; Theory and Practice of Diplomacy; Multinational Corporations and the Third World; Philosophical Issues in War; United Nations and World Security; Arms Control and Disarmament; Nuclear Strategy; Law of Armed Conflicts; Foreign/ Military Policies of Great Powers; Law of the Sea; Peace and Conflict Studies, History of the Commonwealth; African Union; and Nigeria in International Institutions and Organizations, among others.
This trans-disciplinary orientation, paradigm convergence, methodological unity and syllabi shift in the discipline as pioneered by Lagos State University, has become an issue for national emulation. In fact, many History Departments nationwide have now adopted new nomenclatures such as, “Department of History and International Affairs”, Abia State University, Uturu; “Department of History and Diplomatic Studies”, University of Port Harcourt; “Department of History and Strategic Studies,” University of Lagos, Akoka; “Department of History and Diplomatic Studies”, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye and “Department of History and International Studies” Adekunle Ajasin University, Akingba Akoko. For record purpose, this innovation took place during the tenure of Dr. Kunle Lawal, as the Head of Department.
While at LASU, Kunle supervised several undergraduate projects and Master’s Dissertations on diverse aspects of Lagos history.
Today, the department has a rich collection of original data on Lagos, which need to be digitalized, most urgently, for record purposes and for possible use by future researchers. LASRAB should please take note.
Kunle Lawal’s scholarship and contributions to knowledge Kunle Lawal was a leading interrogator of the history of Lagos and the decolonisation process of Nigeria; and his contributions and influence in these areas were profound.
Significant among his works in these areas were The United States and the Decolonization Process in Nigeria: 1945-1960 (1996), Britain and the Transfer of Power in Nigeria: 1945-1960 (2001), and Urban Transition in Africa: Aspects of Urbanization and Change in Lagos, 2nd Edition. Lagos, Longmans (2005).
He blazed a trail in the examination of specific aspects of Lagos history. This he did with his works like “The Awori Factor in the History of Lagos State”, 1987 (which he jointly authored with Kehinde Faluyi) and “The Ogu-Awori People of Badagry before 1950: A General Historical Survey” (1990) in a book which I co-edited with Deji Ogunremi and M.O. Opeloye. These were followed up in 1991 with “Mahin and Early Lagos”. The Role of the Ilu Committee in the politics of Lagos Society 1900-19...; “The Oloru Institution of Ojo, Lagos State; A Traditional Institution for Social Security”; “Dr John Randle: Medical Practitioner and Controversial Political Activist”; “Islam and Colonial Rule in Lagos” among others.
However, it was in his Urban Transition in Africa: Aspects of Urbanization and Change in Lagos that he was able to comprehensively address some of the major themes in the history of 19th Century Lagos. In this edited book, Kunle Lawal contributed the chapter on “Background to Urbanization” but jointly authored “Politics in an Emergent Urban Settlement: The Eleko Affairs, 1915-1950” and “A Viable System of Urban Administration: The Era of Mayoralty in Colonial Lagos, 1950-1953.”
Additionally, Kunle Lawal wrote A History of the Lagos State University, 1984-1994 Lagos, (with I.A. Ogunbiyi) (1995),
Kunle Lawal was a pioneer in the study of Adamu Orisha Worship and Eyo Festival. In this regard, he was able to identify four Orisha in the Eyo play; Adamu Orisha, Oniko, Ologede and Elegba Opopo. He also conducted admirable study on the Osugbo cult, Akala cult, Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, Awo Oga cult and Tawakalitu Reformed Ogboni Society.
He also conducted extensive study of Elegba Ejiwa (Agemo Eko), a cultural heritage of the Idejo class, particularly Oniru, Ojora and Oloto chieftaincy families.
In the same vein, he also carried out study on the Agba festival, a festival peculiar to the Oloto family and one which involved only the Oloto and the Oba of Lagos.
#KunleLawal #Kunle #Lawal #LASU
Professor Siyan Oyeweso,
Former Dean,
Faculty of Arts,
Lagos State University,
is currently affiliated with Osun State University,
Osogbo, State of Osun, Nigeria
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