By The name Babatunde Ogunnaike might not ring a bell to many Nigerians. Meanwhile, the Ogun State-born professor of chemical engineering, who passed away on February 20, was one of the authors of the Nigerian national anthem.
Here are ten things you should know about him.
1. Born on March 26, 1956, he grew up in Ibadan, and attended Government College Ibadan.
2. Ogunnaike graduated with first-class honours in chemical engineering from the University of Lagos — where he attended for his bachelor’s degree — in 1976.
3. In 1977, then a 21-year-old NYSC member serving in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, he responded to a call for entries into a competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Information to replace the Nigerian national anthem.
4. Ogunnaike alongside four others — P.O. Aderibigbe, John Ilechukwu, Sota Omoigui, and Eme Etim Akpan were selected. Their entries were combined to form the new national anthem which was adopted in 1978.
5. In 1978, he left Nigeria for his postgraduate studies in the US. Two years later, in 1981, Ogunnaike bagged a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Same year, he also graduated with a PhD in chemical engineering from the same university.
6. Between 1982 and 1988, he had a stint as a professor in UNILAG, working in both statistics and chemical engineering departments.
7. Upon his return to the US, he joined the University of Delaware as a full professor in 2002. He was later appointed as the William L. Friend chair of chemical engineering in 2008.
8. In July 2011, Ogunnaike was named interim dean of the college of engineering at the University of Delaware.
9. He was appointed dean of the college of engineering in July 2013 — and retired in 2018.
10. He was inducted into the Nigerian Academy of Engineering in 2012.
