One of the founding fathers of the Lagos State University, Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale, OON has died at the age of 85. He served as a special assistant to the Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, and as commissioner for Education to the Government of Governor Bola Tinubu in Lagos.
The “teacher of teachers”, administrator par excellence, astute manager of men and resources and an opinion leader, is a veritable example of how a man can make significant and far-reaching contributions to the development of his country without necessarily occupying any high office.
Professor Sobowale is not a politician, nor did fate ever draft him into the office of the vice chancellor of any university, a position he is eminently qualified to occupy. But his name has gone down in history as one of the founding fathers of the Lagos State University, LASU.
The man, Sobowale
Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale achieved greatness. Born on 4th January 1941, in Ashipa near Abeokuta, to a peasant farmer and a mother who was a petty trader, he was a farmer and an apprentice mechanic in his first 12 years. It was not until January 1954 that he first saw the four walls of a classroom.
Throughout primary school, he showed a great thirst for learning, frequently leading his class. He attended the Lagos Baptist Academy for his secondary education, graduating in 1964. After his secondary education, he secured a job with the Lagos City Council as a health inspector. He was to last on the job for only six days, as a chance meeting with Mr Bisi Onabanjo, an old student of the Baptist Academy, facilitated an introduction to Mr Babatunde Jose, who employed him at the Daily Times. He was one of the pioneering students at the Daily Times Training School who were expected to complete 12 months of training before being deployed to the newsroom. He was so outstanding in class that after spending only two months, Mr. Leslie W. Riley, the Australian director of the school, recommended that he be deployed immediately.
He later attended the University of Lagos, where he earned a Diploma and a BA (Hons) in Mass Communication. In 1975, he left the Daily Times to join the University of Lagos as an assistant lecturer in the Institute of Mass Communication. A year later, he left for Syracuse University, USA, to pursue his master’s degree, but returned in 1978 with a PhD, specialising in Precision or Scientific Journalism.
Whilst in the employ of the University of Lagos, he also introduced opinion polling to Nigerian journalism by establishing a Public Opinion Polling Desk at the Punch newspaper under the leadership of Mr Sam Amuka. The findings of the first wave of surveys were published in The Punch of 11th April, 1979.
According to Professor Abisogun Leigh, a former Vice Chancellor of LASU, two people instigated the idea of establishing LASU: Idowu Sobowale and the late Professor Femi Agbalajobi.
Between 1999 and 2003, Sobowale served as the Lagos State Commissioner for Education. Later, he was appointed a Professor of Journalism by the Lagos State University. Idowu Sobowale became the pioneer Dean of the Adebola Adegunwa School of Communication, Lagos State University (2004-2007). After his tenure, he went on to develop the postgraduate programme in mass communication at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State, his home state.
On Thursday, September 29, 2005, Prof. Sobowale delivered his inaugural lecture on the topic, “Opinion Polling in Nigeria: The Neglected Route to National Development”.
Prof. Sobowale’s pioneering activities, amongst others, made the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo award him the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) during the Fourth Republic.
Prof Sobowale was a devoted Baptist member and a Deacon.
