University of Ibadan front gate
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Kayode Adebowale, urged affluent Nigerians to consider how they might help liberate the underprivileged. He made this appeal in his welcome address at the 90th International Conference, held on Monday in the university’s Trenchard Hall. The conference honored retired professor Bolanle Awe and carried the theme “Oral Traditions and Written Histories.”
Adebowale emphasized that “the torch lit by our matriarch must be kept burning.” He praised the partnership behind the conference as a model of the collaboration the university values, cherishes, and encourages. Awe, the first female indigenous lecturer at the prestigious Ibadan School of History, was described as a trailblazer, scholar, and mentor of a rare kind. Decades after her retirement, her academic children, grandchildren, and great‑grandchildren continue to find value in her work and celebrate her legacy. Adebowale noted that a key lesson from Awe’s scholarship is that research can—and should—serve as a tool for emancipation.
Senior convener and U.S.-based professor of African History Toyin Falola added that Awe’s efforts to promote Afrocentric ideas in the knowledge domain were aimed at fighting various battles. “On the intellectual front, she corrected the erroneous notion that Africans lacked a recordable history, a claim propagated by generations of Europeans who even manipulated scientific evidence to substantiate their racist assertions,” he said.
In her address, Bisi Fayemi, wife of the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, observed that a society that does not know its history will struggle to understand its present and navigate the future. She highlighted Awe’s contributions as evidence of the field’s importance and called for continued investment to ensure that the legacies of knowledge in this discipline and related ones endure. Fayemi described Awe as a scholar, author, teacher, development specialist, administrator, leader, and mentor.
Celebrating Awe, the honoree herself remarked that preserving the past is possible only through oral tradition, which has been the primary means of safeguarding history. “Oral tradition has become a very important factor in the preservation of our history. It has also helped in promoting our culture,” she said.
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