Urhobo Historical Society
Mourns the Death Of
PROFESSOR OLOROGUN F.M.A.
UKOLI (1936-2004)
Members of Urhobo
Historical
Society in the United States awoke on December 21, 2004, to the grievous news of the death of
Olorogun
Professor Frank Mene Adedemisiweaye Ukoli.
He had driven
himself to a
clinic a few days earlier because he felt sick. When his condition
became much
more serious, he was transferred to Shell Hospital in Warri. His friend and cousin, Professor
Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor, a physician and a leading member of Urhobo
Historical Society, was
monitoring Professor Ukoli’s condition by telephone from his home in
Michigan
in the United States when the news of his death in the early morning
hours of
Tuesday,
December 21, 2004, was broken to Frank’s family at Warri.
Frank Ukoli
occupies a special
place in the history of Nigeria’s higher education. Having been born and
raised in
his native hometown of Warri, he had access to a good elementary school
education which
enabled him to be selected in the early 1950s to attend one of the most
highly
competitive and prestigious secondary schools in colonial times,
namely, Government
College, Ughelli. Frank followed his rich Ughelli experience with a
superb
academic training in Nigeria’s only university in the 1950s. The University College, Ibadan,
which changed into University of Ibadan in Nigeria’s year of Independence, became home to Frank Ukoli’s rich family
and academic
life until he retired in 2001 from that institution, after forty-four
years of
association and service.
Frank Ukoli
benefited from a
powerful and rich educational system, as good as any in colonial times.
More
importantly, he contributed enormously to the expansion and
strengthening of
the University of Ibadan
and indeed of university education in Nigeria, right from his debut as a young lecturer at
Ibadan in 1964 to his retirement from university
teaching as
a seasoned professor in 2001. We will leave the assessment of his
contribution
in his chosen field of Zoology to the experts in that field. But we are
impressed that such of his landmark publications as Prevention
and Control of Parasitic Diseases in Tropical Africa: The Main
Issues (Ibadan University
Press,
1992) range beyond academic Zoology to applications in Medicine with
Africa-wide references. Of the many honours
that he
received, Frank Ukoli proudly displayed
that of
Fellow of the Academy of Science (FAS) after his name, an honour he
richly
deserved and one that he and only twelve others pioneered.
Frank Ukoli’s
contribution to university administration was diverse and rich. He was
among
the first batch of Nigerian university teachers who took over
responsibilities
of administering academic disciplines from expatriate lecturers. Frank
Ukoli
was Head of Department and Dean of Faculty of Science during a period
of
transformation of the University of Ibadan. His expertise was sought in setting up
various
departments and faculties of science in newer universities in Nigeria. It was in recognition of his talents in
academic
institution building that he was appointed the first Vice-Chancellor of
Delta State University. It
is entirely
fair to say that Frank Ukoli served his country well in his chosen
vocation of
university teaching.
While he can
legitimately be
classified as among the foremost contributors to academic development
in Nigeria’s history, among his own people Frank Ukoli
will
always occupy a special place in the history of education in
Urhoboland. This
is because he was a pioneer. At its recent Fifth Annual Conference,
Urhobo
Historical Society awarded for the first time a special prize newly
named after
M. G. Ejaife, Urhobo’s first University graduate. It is remarkable that
this
first award for pioneering achievements in the history of education in
Urhoboland was presented to Professor Olorogun Frank Ukoli at
Agbarha-Otor on October 31, 2004. The short citation on the plaque
that was presented to
this highly decorated university teacher reads as follows:
Presented to Professor
F.M.A. Ukoli for pioneering
achievements in higher education, having become Urhobo's first Ph.D.,
first university
professor, first dean of a university faculty, and founding
Vice-Chancellor of
Delta State University.
His friendship with many young Urhobos and the
fame of his achievements
have inspired many Urhobos to aim high in diverse educational
fields.
For these rare
achievements,
Frank Ukoli will be in the history books forever.
Frank Ukoli’s
numerous
friends will remember him for embodying another virtue. Having hailed
from a
large Agbarha-Warri family, including that branch of his family that
bears Urhobo
as surname, Frank has been celebrated as a family man. The great G. M.
Urhobo,
founder of God’s Kingdom Society, was Frank’s father’s elder brother.
Frank’s
home was many times a place of assembly of the Ukolis
and
Urhobos. Moreover, his attachment to his children was legendary.
Between Frank
and his dear wife, Philomena Araba, we
have a strong
example of that Urhobo virtue of total service for the sake of one’s
children.
We know that Frank has left behind for his children a firm legacy of
absolute
dedication to family and children, a virtue that is highly treasured
among the
Urhobo.
Urhobos will
remember Frank
Ukoli for other achievements. In his last years, particularly after his
retirement, Frank Ukoli participated actively in the chiefly traditions
of his
people. He was awarded a title of Oboiriro
of Ogor (literarily, Doctor of Thought of Ogor). He was of course
awarded
the honorary D.Sc. of Delta State University, Abraka, a university
which he
founded as its first Vice-Chancellor. Remarkably, at many points Frank Ukoli admonished the ethics of chieftaincy
bearers, often
rebuking his chiefly peers for failing to attend to the needs of the
people
whose culture has enabled their entitlements.
We all will miss
Frank Ukoli.
None will miss him more than Urhobo Historical Society. A member of the
Society, Frank
featured prominently in the three most recent UHS Conferences. His
scholarship and
leadership
registered strongly in UHS Conferences in the United Kingdom in 2002 and 2003. In the Society’s recent
Conference
at PTI, Effurun, his review of
Warri City
and British Colonial Rule in Western Niger Delta was a star
performance
that intellectually dominated the first day of the Conference on October
29, 2004. He was
passionate in his review because, as he himself
acknowledged, Warri was his native home. It was here where he was born
on November 5, 1936. It was in his father’s hometown of Warri
where
Frank’s rich life was terminated, sixty-eight years later, on December
21, 2004.
May His Soul Rest in Peace.
Editorial and
Management
Committee, UHS
Ovie Felix Ayigbe,
B. Pharm., R. Ph.; Onoawarie Edevbie,
M.A., M.Sc.; Peter P. Ekeh, Ph.D.; Edirin Erhiaganoma,
M.Sc.; O. Victor Ikoba, M.S.N.E., MBA, P.E.; Joseph E. Inikori,
Ph.D.; Isaac James Mowoe, Ph.D., J.D.; Omokere E. Odje,
Ph.D.; Aruegodore
Oyiborhoro, Ed.D.; Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor, M.D., Ph.D.; Elehor O. Urhiafe-Bobson,
B.A. (Fine Arts). Executive:
Peter Ekeh, Chair and Editor; Andrew Edevbie,
Secretary; Edirin
Erhiaganoma, Treasurer.
December 21, 2004