At 47, Felicia Adetowun Omolara Ogunsheye made history in Nigeria by becoming the West African nation’s first female professor.
The retired Professor of Library and Information Science is a well-read academic who has etched her name in gold as far as education is concerned in Nigeria. Professor Ogunsheye was the only Nigerian when she enrolled at Newnham College, Cambridge University, UK, for her bachelor’s degree in 1952.
Professor Felicia Adetown Omolara Ogunsheye is a Professor of Library Science in Nigeria.
Photo Credit: @ifeomafafunwa, Face2faceAfrica
Source: Twitter
Professor Ogunsheye, with over 50 publications to her credit, is one of the many pioneers in the education field in Nigeria.
Prof Ogunsheye’s background and early education
Born on December 5, 1926, in Benin City, Nigeria, Professor Ogunsheye is the elder sister of Lieutenant Colonel Victor Banjo and Ademola Banjo.
In an interview with Punch, the retired professor said she received her primary school education at the British Cameroon Tutorial in the Cameroons because her father, a chief clerk, had been transferred there.
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Afterwards, she took the entrance examination to Queen’s College (from 1939 to 1945) and, after her graduation, proceeded to Yaba Higher College – an all-male institution – for her Teaching Diploma in 1946. She was the only woman and became the first female to finish from the institution in 1948.
Prof Ogunsheye studied in London on scholarship
After obtaining her diploma, Professor Ogunsheye was a foundation student at University College Ibadan before she flew out of the country to study geography on scholarship at the Newnham College of the prestigious Cambridge University, London.
The retired professor explained to Punch why she left her studies at the Ibadan varsity for Cambridge, where she obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geography.
“When I finished at Yaba Higher College, one of my teachers had recommended me to take the entrance examination to Cambridge University, London. I took the entrance exam to read Geography at Cambridge but I had a problem because I did not do Latin in secondary school.
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“I taught myself Latin to qualify for the entrance exam. I got credit in Latin after the one-year study and I was able to take the entrance exams and I got government’s scholarship to study Geography at Cambridge University in 1949.”
Face2FaceAfrica reported that the retired academic became the first Nigerian woman to earn a master’s degree from Newnham College in 1956.
She also earned another master’s degree from Simmons College, Massachusetts, USA, in 1962.
Professor Ogunsheye returns to teach in Nigeria
In 1954, Professor Ogunsheye returned to Nigeria and taught geography at the Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, now St. Margaret’s School, Ilesha.
She also taught at St. Anne’s School in Ibadan, lectured at the Nigerian College of Science and Technology and at the University of Ibadan. According to Maitron, she served as the chief of the department of Library Studies and eventually became a Professor of Library Studies in 1973, the first female to attain such a height in Nigeria.
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Western Post reported that she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Ibadan from 1977 to 1979.
When quizzed about why she did not stay back abroad after her studies like others, Professor Ogunsheye, who married the now late Fidelis Ayedele Ogunsheye, told Punch:
“Because I was a government scholar, I felt like working for the government, but at the civil service, they told me they had no room for candidates that finished with university degree as teachers…”
Professor Ogunsheye was an activist
Professor Ogunsheye, who received numerous awards, including the Ford International Fellow in 1961, was an active women’s rights activist.
In 1954, Maitron reported that she was part of the Women’s Improvement Society (WIS) and was one of the most members.
She passionately championed the causes of better and equal opportunities for education and better working and living conditions for women and girls.
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Throughout her life, the well-read professor continued to be involved in causes that promote women’s social welfare empowerment at national and international levels.
UNILAG’s first female vice chancellor
Meanwhile, Henzodaily.ng previously reported fascinating things to know about the first female Vice Chancellor Professor Folasade Ogunsola of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Professor Ogunsola, born in 1958 and raised at the University of Ibadan, obtained her first degree in medicine and surgery at the Obafemi Awolowo University.
The academic was a founding member of the Nigerian Society for Infection Control in 1998 and a member of the Global Infection Prevention and Control Network.
Source: Henzodaily.ng