Post Unilag Years: Mentoring Teaching Supervision

Full text

1
POST UNILAG YEARS: MENTORING, TEACHING AND SUPERVISION
Kunle Lawal and Olufunke Adeboye
[Lawal, K and Adeboye, O. “Mentoring, Teaching and Supervision”, in Michael Omolewa and
Akinjide Osuntokun (eds.),
J.F. Ade Ajayi: His Life and Career
(Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2014), 249-
261.]
If there was anything about Professor Jacob Festus Adeniyi Ajayi that ran through his
entire career from about the early years of Nigeria’s independence through the twilight of the
century and into the new milllenium, it was the fact that he never had any respite or low tide
period. This was because as soon as he was appointed a Professor of History by the University
of Ibadan authorities, his incredible genius sprouted, probably, beyond his own imagination at
that time. While the aspect of his career in the incipient days have been dealt with already in
this compendium, this chapter takes a look at some major landmarks and epochs in Ade-Ajayi’s
sterling and chequered academic life in the years after his return from the highly successful
tour of duty as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos. As would be seen in the sequel, the
many great strides that Ade-Ajayi was able to make after his tenure as chief executive of the
University of Lagos had their foundations laid during his Unilag days.
After his national assignment as University of Lagos Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ade-Ajayi
returned to his first love, the University of Ibadan where he continued to do what he knew how
to do best. For the next decade, Professor Ajayi, in spite of his many extra-curricular activities,
still had time to supervise and mentor many historians. This should not be surprising as
whether as a freshly minted professor at the University of Ibadan in the early 1960s or during
his hectic days as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Lagos in the 1970s, Ade-Ajayi returned a
career of service to his beloved discipline (history) and conscious service to his fellow men and
humanity.
The career of Professor Ade-Ajayi was impressive by all standards. Soon after his return to the
University of Ibadan, he was appointed the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing
Council of the Ondo State University where he was able to bring his experience as a former
Vice-Chancellor and topmost university administrator to bear on the conduct of the business of
that institution. Before then, Ade-Ajayi had been appointed a member of the Governing
Council of the Universities of Cape Coast and Lesotho. Similarly, he was appointed a member of
the Governing Council of the United Nations University which he was to chair for two years
(1975-1977) as Pro-Chancellor. In all of these high academic and administrative positions, Ade-
Ajayi maintained the dignity and integrity which informed his appointment in the first place.
No hint of controversy was heard about his tenure in these positions. Rather, he appeared to
have used these positions to affect, positively, the career of some of his junior colleagues. For
instance, it was as Chairman of the Governing Council of Ondo State University that he caused

2
the appointment of one of his erstwhile colleagues at the University of Ibadan to a full chair by
the university.1
He had a culture of giving out his books on loan to the department and eventually agreed to
turn his private library into a trust library for the department. These twin developments did
increase the stature of the erudite and selfless professor of history. In the first place, he taught
(with Dr. Gabriel Akindele Akinola) the final year course of African Historiography (HIS 401) and
HIS 701 which was “The Problem of Methods and Theories in History)- a post graduate level
course. These two courses were the dreaded courses with which students usually had
problems. The department not only acknowledged this kind gesture but immensely thanked
Professor Ade-Ajayi for “continually identifying with our needs and aspirations”.2
Appointment as Emeritus Professor
It is on record that even as a retired Emeritus Professor, Ade-Ajayi willingly gave his time to
“rescue” the Department of History during an impending visit by the National Universities
Commission (NUC) Accreditation Panel in 2002. Of course one may want to argue that what
Professor Ade-Ajayi did was in line with the expectations of an Emeritus Professor. Yet, it
should be put on record that he gave unstintingly of his time. He not only accepted but in fact,
did so in the name of some of his own colleagues. His words are of high relevance in this
regard:
Please explain to the NUC team that all the senior historians
in Ibadan have volunteered to give all the necessary post-
Graduate lectures free of charge so that none can complain
of inadequacy of staff in the History Department.3
This kind gesture was promptly acknowledged by the Vice-Chancellor of the institution himself,
Professor Ayodele Falase, whose words of significance: “I cannot thank you enough for your
1 The story is told of how this Professor was to be shortlisted for appointment as an Associate Professor after he
applied for a chair. However, based on the strength of his publications which were attested to by those who were
to do his prima facie qualification, the Council of which Professor Ade-Ajayi was the chair approved the
appointment as a full professor.
2 See Dr. S. Ademola Ajayi (Acting Head of Department) to Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi New Books in the Jadeas Trust
Library for HIS 701 Students of 22 December, 2005 in Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi’s Personal File in the History
Department of the University of Ibadan
3 See J.F. Ade-Ajayi to Acting Head of Department of History 26 November, 2002 in Professor Ade-Ajayi’s personal
File in the Department of History

3
selfless service to the development of the University in general and the Department of History
in particular.4
One of the greatest things about Professor Jacob Adeniyi Ajayi’s career as a teacher and
researcher is that he became more prolific and undoubtedly known after he had been
appointed a Professor of History by the University of Ibadan. Indeed, this view is widely
accepted as being appropriate as Professor Obaro Ikime noted in his nomination of Professor
Ade Ajayi for the prestigious position of an Emeritus Professor:
Perhaps one of the most outstanding things about Professor Ajayi is,
that it is as Professor that he has produced most of his published works.
This is to say that he has maintained a steady record of productivity since
1963 as his curriculum vitae shows. His publications are both outstanding
and numerous. He is an acclaimed scholar worldwide, who has brought
honour to both this University and the Nation.5
However, this nomination came as a direct aftermath of Professor Michael Omolewa’s
suggestion to Professor Obaro Ikime to consider nominating Ade Ajayi for appointment as
Emeritus Professor. Omolewa’s consideration for his suggestion was hinged, principally, on the
fact that Professor Ajayi was “a pride of the Department” who has had a distinguished career as
a teacher of teachers in the University of Ibadan since 1958.6 Professor Jacob Festus Adeniyi
Ajayi was, thus, appointed Emeritus Professor onthe 22nd of June, 1990.7
The appointment, being a well deserved one, deserves to be properly located within the
context of what Professor Ajayi had come to represent within the Nigerian academia as well as
without, i.e. among the pioneer inheritance elites who took over the mantle of leadership of
the historical profession in Africa and among the committee of World Historians where he
carved a niche for himself as a forward-looking, consistent scholar who was always ready to
assist his upcoming colleagues in the business of teaching and research. While this
appointment as Emeritus can be rightly seen as the necessary icing on the cake, the trajectory
of Professor ajayi’s post-UNILAG’s career after his return to the Ibadan School of History in 1979
would reveal his commitment to the furtherance of the ideals for which he, and a few others,
have laboured so tirelessly from the late 1950s through the 1960s and early 1970s to create
the brand.
4 See Professor Ayodele O. Falase (Vice-Chancellor) to Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi Appreciation of 20 August, 2003 in
the Personal File of Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi’s Personal File in the Department of History.
5 See Professor Obaro Ikime (Head of Department of History) to Vice-Chancellor Professor J.F. Ade Ajayi:
Nomination For Appointment As Professor Emeritus 17 November, 1989
6 See Michael Omolewa to Professor Obaro Ikime Professor J.F. AdeAjayi 28 June, 1988.
7 See I. Ekanem-Ita (Registrar) to Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi APPOINTMENT AS EMERITUS PROFESSOR 22 June, 1990.

4
It should be recalled that at the valedictory lecture which Professor Ade-Ajayi delivered at the
Trenchard Hall in 1989, he made what, with the benefit of hindsight and history, could be
regarded as a prophetic statement. In this lecture which was as typical and vantage Ade-Ajayi,
he openly declared that those who were expecting to read his academic obituary had a long
wait to do as he had just started!8 True to his words, Ade-Ajayi used the decade of the 1990s to
offer mentoring to a number of scholars as either supervisor or teacher of the dreaded course
on historiography at the post-graduate level – the problems of theories and methods in history.
It is interesting to note that this was the decade that Ade-Ajayi was able to produce his largest
number of doctoral candidates.
Ade Ajayi as an Academic Mentor
Professor Ade-Ajayi has always been a silent giver, a kind hearted and public spirited person.
Even while he was still in active service, Ade Ajayi used to give a substantial part of his
remuneration as charity to many indigent students.9 It is interesting that he did this, mostly, in
cognito, believing as the true Christian that he always has been, that his right hand should not
know what his left hand gives. However, this pales into insignificance when the acts of
mentoring which Professor Ade Ajayi engaged in as he matured into a “grand master” of the
historical profession in Africa in the 1980s and the 1990s. This writer can well remember that
Professor Ade-Ajayi gave of his time, unstintingly, in London in 1988 during his doctoral
research fieldwork in the United Kingdom. I [Kunle Lawal] was then attached to St Antony’s
College, Oxford and the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for
an eighteen-month period as a student of erudite Professor Kirk-Greene and Richard Rathbone.
The interesting thing about this experience was that in spite of the eminent qualifications of
these two outstanding scholars on the transfer of power processes in Africa, Professor Ade-
Ajayi still found time out of his very tight and busy schedule as President of International
African Institute to discuss my research with me. He gave of his time and resources freely that
the thesis that issued forth from the research benefitted, immensely, from the deep insight
which this erudite professor brought into my study. It was almost one year later that I
discovered to my great pleasure that Professor Ade-Ajayi and Professor Edho Ekoko had just,
then, finished a seminal essay on “The Transfer of Power in Nigeria: Its Origins and
Consequences”10, the same theme that I was working on. The joy of working on this theme, for
me, was that I was the first scholar to have access to the then newly declassified records of the
British Colonial Office, Britain’s major agency for the management of the African colonies in the
twilight of British rule.
8 See J.F. Ade-Ajayi History and the Nation (And Other Addresses) Ibadan, Spectrum Books, 1990 p.10
9 Oral Information. Interview with Dr. S.G. Nyityo15 May, 2013
10 J.F.A. Ajayi and Edho Ekoko, “The Transfer of Power in Nigeria: Origins and Consequences” in Prosser Gifford and
Wm Roger Louis (ed) Decolonization and African Inheritance: The Transfers of Power Yale, 1988.

5
Subsequently, Professor Ade-Ajayi gave me a reference to the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville, when there was a job opening. Again, it is instructive that I was still in the United
Kingdom as an ABD11 when I wrote to him. He wrote a reference letter for me and informed
me he was writing to let me know that he had done the needful. On my return to Nigeria,
Professor Ade-Ajayi kept an interest in my career and was for close to twenty years, was the
number one referee on my resume. Another major element of this rather unforgettable
mentoring relationship was the role played by Professor Ade-Ajayi in getting me a place on the
highly competitive J. William Fulbright Senior Visiting Research Fellowship just under two years
after the successful defence of my doctoral dissertation. In effect, I turned out to be the
youngest African Senior Fulbright Research Scholar attached to the Office of Scholarly Programs
of the reputable United States Library of Congress where I was able to turn out a study on the
United States Attitude towards the Decolonization Process in Nigeria, 1945-1960. Professor
Ade-Ajayi read a considerable part of the draft of that study.
Ade-Ajayi: Teacher Par Excellence
Professor Ade-Ajayi loved teaching and he took time to break down the most complex issues to
his students. This author [Olufunke Adeboye] encountered him in the final year of her B.A.
programme in the Department of History, University of Ibadan.12 As noted earlier, two of the
most dreaded courses in the department then were African Historiography, a 400 Level (fourth
year) undergraduate course and Problems of Theories and Methods of History, a 700 Level
graduate course (in the M.A. class). Because of the abstract nature of the philosophical and
methodological issues raised in both courses, successive generations of students dreaded not
only the courses but also those who taught them. Professor Ade-Ajayi came to teach us African
Historiography a couple of years before his retirement. By then he had had a very distinguished
career as a “first generation” African historian, University administrator (he had been Vice
Chancellor at Lagos) and an accomplished author. We had also read some of his books,
especially the History of West Africa, Volume I and II, which he co-edited with Michael
Crowther. Seeing Professor Ade-Ajayi in front of our class then elicited mixed emotions from us.
First, we were awestruck. We were simply intimidated by his profile, and for the first few
classes all we could say was “So, this is the Ade-Ajayi we have heard so much about?” He had
never taught my class before then and had only just returned from a leave of absence or so.
Second, we were impressed with his vast knowledge of the discipline. He taught us with
authority, as if he was a part of the events he discussed. He also took time to explain those
vague historiographical issues to us. He exposed to us a lot of the literature on the African past
and always came to class with excerpts from the works of authors we never knew existed – Jan
Huizinga, Akiga Sai, Gann and Duignan, etc. He made us discuss their thoughts in order to get a
feel of the idea of history as articulated in various climes.
11 This is an abbreviation of All But Defense (ABD) used for doctoral candidates awaiting defense of their
dissertations.
12 This is Olufunke Adeboye’s experience.

6
We always put on our best behaviour in his class and none of us would have even contemplated
any mischief. He came to class in what we came to know as his signature native wear (buba and
sokoto with cap). He was the perfect image of a father. Only the boldest among us ever
summoned enough courage to meet him in his office for further consultation or discussion. We
all felt inadequate before him. But the beauty of it was that we did well in his course during the
examinations. Without realizing it, we had soaked in all he taught us, and he became a model of
the type of academic those of us who were so inclined wanted to be.
Professor Ade-Ajayi did not teach me in the Master’s programme. By then he had retired.
Meanwhile, he continued to supervise doctoral candidates. He later came back to the
department to teach several years after he had been appointed Professor Emeritus by the
University. His ‘second coming’ to the classroom was in 2002. This was the result of a move he
coordinated to save the department after it had been denied accreditation by the Nigerian
University Commission (NUC) in 2000.13 He taught HSS 701- Problems of Theories and Methods
of History- to the Master’s class. A close look at the examination questions he set for the course
during this period reveals the scope that he defined for the course and the pertinent issues that
he raised. The course covered epistemological issues on the possibility or otherwise of historical
knowledge; the nexus between history and nation building; traditional African historiography;
relationship between history and other disciplines, especially the social sciences; the place of
ideology in history; the question of objectivity; causation; various theories of history and other
relevant aspects of historical methodology and practice.14 Only a veteran like Professor Ade-
Ajayi could have embraced all of these within a single course. To make learning easy for his
students, he also shared his resources with them. His personal library in Bodija, Ibadan –
JADEAS TRUST Library – was designated a resource centre for the Department of history,
University of Ibadan. This meant that students and staff of the department could freely utilise
the enormous resources therein. These included his publications; a vast collection of books and
journals on African history and society, as well as other general reference materials.
ADE-AJAYI AS A SUPERVISOR
In terms of thesis supervision, the 1990s up till around 2005 were Professor Ade-Ajayi’s busiest
years. Then, he supervised only doctoral theses. His personal disposition to his students at this
time was very benign and benevolent. Even though he was very professional and all his
students were adults, he still related to them in loco parentis. He looked out for each of them
and was concerned about their welfare. If a candidate was having problems with his research,
he would take it upon himself to assist in resolving such matters. Again, where a candidate, for
whatever reason, did not show up for a while, Professor Ade-Ajayi as a dutiful supervisor would
go and seek out such a student to find out what went wrong. This was the case with James
Ngozi Obiegbu in 1991 when he was overwhelmed by a heavy teaching load at the University of
13 Minutes of Meeting of senior historians held in Professor Ade-Ajayi’s house on November 3, 2002.
14 Copies of past questions on HIS 701 are available in File 53A – University of Ibadan , History Department, in
Professor Ade-Ajayi’s private papers.

7
Abuja where he was then lecturing, as a result of which he could not keep up with his doctoral
programme. Those were not the days of mobile phones. After making several unsuccessful
attempts to reach James, Professor Ade-Ajayi, during his next trip to Abuja, sought for his
student both in his office and at home in July 1991. Unfortunately, James was not around.
James was so touched when he heard his supervisor came looking for him that he immediately
reported in Ibadan to continue his work. He subsequently defended the thesis titled “The
Growth of Aba as an Urban Centre, 1900-1960: A Study of the Relative Contributions of Internal
and External Factors” on October 9, 1992.15 James Obiegbu did not stay in the University
system for too long before he moved to the Federal Civil Service where he had a distinguished
career. In October 2012, he was appointed Permanent Secretary (Career Management Office)
under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.16 In April 2013, he was
redeployed to the Ministry of Police Affairs, where he is still serving.17
Again, Professor Ade-Ajayi, as a mentor wanted the best for his students and so was always
willing to provide references for them. He wrote glowing recommendations on their behalf for
research and travel grants, academic fellowships and for job placements (including promotions
in the case of those who already had jobs). The references for fellowships and research grants
were the most numerous: Fullbright Fellowship in the USA, Commonwealth
Scholarships/Fellowships tenable in any part of the British Commonwealth, DAAD Fellowship in
Germany, SEPHIS Grants/Fellowships, CODESRIA Grants for Thesis Writing, CODESRIA academic
and various training workshops in Dakar and other parts of Africa, Leventis Fellowship at SOAS,
Cadbury Fellowship at Birmingham, the Five College African Scholars Fellowship funded by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the USA, and etc. Professor Ade-Ajayi also helped his
students to source for privately funded grants like the one endowed by Chief Raymond Zard for
the project on Archdeacon Emmanuel Alayande of Ibadan. Ade-Ajayi’s students won these and
other prestigious grants and awards due to their competence, a direct result of the sound
training he had given them, and the full backing he gave their applications through his glowing
references.
15 CODESRIA, Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations Sponsored by CODESRIA, 1988-2009 (Dakar:
CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre, 2009), available at
http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/Catalogue_Theses_Dissertations_Sponsored_by_CODESRIA_1988-
2009.pdf Accessed on 27 September 2013.
16 Senator Iroegbu, “FG Okays Posting of Five New Permanent Secretaries, Redeploys Twelve”, Thisday Newspaper,
20 October 2012.
17 “Jonathan Okays Deployment of Four Permanent Secretaries”, Frontier News, 2 April 2013. Available
at http://www.frontiersnews.com/index.php/news/3394-jonathan-okays-deployment-of-four-
permanent-secretaries Accessed on 28 September 2013.

8
Apart from James Ngozi Obiegbu, other doctoral candidates supervised by Professor Ade-Ajayi
in the 1990s included Kyari Mohammed, whose thesis was on “Borno Under Rabih Fadl Allah
1893-1902: The Rise and Crash of a Predatory State”. Kyari is now a Professor of African History
and Director, Centre for Peace and Security Studies at Modibbo Adama University of
Technology, Yola.18 Ezekiel Oladele Adeoti concluded his doctoral programme in 1995. His
research topic was “Western Education and Social Change: A Case Study of Archdeacon
Alayande’s Contribution to the Development of Ibadan, 1948-1983”. He is now a Senior
Lecturer in the Department of History, Lagos State University.19 Olufunke Adeboye was also
supervised by Ajayi in the 1990s. Her thesis titled “The Ibadan Elite, 1893-1966” was examined
in 1997. She is now a Professor of History and Head, Department of History and Strategic
Studies, University of Lagos.20
Professor Ade-Ajayi’s graduate students in the 2000s included Saawua Gabriel Nyityo, who
defended his doctoral thesis on the Tiv in 2003. This thesis was immediately published by the
University of Ibadan Press as Political Centralization and Transformation of Tiv Society, 1900-
1965. Nyityo is now an Associate Professor at Benue State University, Makurdi. Babatunde
Sofela was another candidate. His thesis titled “A Comparative Study of the Emancipados in the
Slave Societies of Brazil and Cuba in the Nineteenth Century” was examined in 2004. Dr Sofela
is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, University of Ibadan.21 There is also
Adeyinka Theresa Ajayi, who worked on “The Impact of Colonial Policies on the Textile Industry
in Eastern Yorubaland”. She is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and
International Studies, Ekiti State University. The breadth of the subjects covered by all these
theses also shows the extent of Professor Ade-Ajayi’s competence in African history on the
continent as well as across the Atlantic. He was at home supervising women’s economic history
(by Yinka Ajayi) as he was with the political issues raised by Kyari Mohammed. Social and
educational issues pursued by Dele Adeoti and Funke Adeboye were actually within his primary
turf. Afterall, he had published in 1966 a classic on the making of an educated elite in Nigeria.22
His students were indeed very privileged to have been trained by one of the founding fathers of
Nigerian and African historiography.
18 Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) “Profiles of Academic Staff”. Available at
http://mautech.academia.edu/KyariMohammed Accessed 26 September 2013.
19 Lagos State University (LASU), “Profiles of Academic Staff”. Available at
http://www.lasu.edu.ng/LASU_Nigeria/staff_personal.php?ref=AS2312 Accessed 26 September 2013.
20 Details of the research carried out by these scholars could be found in their individual files among Ade-Ajayi’s
private papers.
21 Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, “Staff: Dr Sofela, Babatunde”. Available at
http://arts.ui.edu.ng/Sofela Accessed on 26 September 2013.
22 Jacob F. Ade-Ajayi, Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891: The Making of a New Elite (London: Longman, 1966).

9
Professor Ade-Ajayi related warmly with his students. He opened his personal library to enable
them benefit from his rich resources. He also gave them opportunities to work him on several
academic projects. These special projects also served as training opportunities for them in
project execution and advanced writing. I recall with fondness my experience under his
supervision. He invited me to work with him on the UNESCO General History of Africa Project.
He had edited Volume 6 in the series, which focused on Africa in the nineteenth century.23 He
was subsequently commissioned by the Scientific Committee of the UNESCO History of Africa
Project to abridge the same volume. I felt very honoured when he asked me to assist him in the
abridgement exercise in 1990/1991. The abridged Volume 6 has since been published in the
UNESCO History of Africa Abridged Series.24 Professor Ade-Ajayi was so impressed with my
contribution to the project that he issued a personal letter of commendation on 16 September
1993, which says, inter alia:
I am pleased to inform you that the International Scientific Committee has now
approved for publication all the 29 chapters of the Abridged Version of Volume
VI of the UNESCO General History of Africa. Not only that, most of the expert
commentators reported favourably on the quality of the abridgement, as
faithfully reflecting the spirit of the main edition, and yet original in its own way,
not being just an attempt to summarise a complicated story, but picking out the
essentials of the story, and telling it in a simplified but not simplistic version. I
want to congratulate you on this and to put on record my personal appreciation
of the intellectual effort you invested in the work. As you know, the quality of
the final version depends as much on the quality of your drafts as on the
revisions I was able to make to them. I hope you would have learnt something
from the exercise which will be of value both in your teaching and in your
research.25
I was not the only one that benefitted from this type of apprenticeship. Saawua Gabriel Nyityo
was Professor Ade-Ajayi’s personal research assistant for almost a decade. They worked closely
together on several projects and it was while working as a full time staff with Professor Ade-
Ajayi that Gabriel registered for his doctoral programme and successfully completed it under
the former’s supervision. Professor Ade-Ajayi periodically granted Gabriel time off his normal
Research Assistant schedule to conduct fieldwork on his own doctoral project.
23 J.F. Ade Ajayi (Ed.), UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VI Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s
(California: University of California Press, 1989).
24 J.F. Ade Ajayi (Ed.), UNESCO General History of Africa Volume VI Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s,
Abridged Edition (Paris, Oxford and California: UNESCO, James Currey and University of California Press, 1998)
25 J.F. Ade Ajayi to Olufunke A. Adeboye, 16 September 1993. A copy of this is in Olufunke Adeboye’s private
papers.

10
To reminisce about my days on the doctoral programme under Professor Ade-Ajayi’s
supervision is also an opportunity to acknowledge the hospitality of his wife, Chief (Mrs.)
Christie Ajayi, who we all fondly call “Mummy”. Her hospitality was legendary. She did not treat
us like “students” but made us feel a part of the family, even to the point of insisting that we
join the family at mealtimes. This atmosphere of love and care made us all flourish. Most of us
successfully completed the programme.
The commitment and despatch with which Professor Ade-Ajayi handled our theses drafts must
also be acknowledged. He did not delay our work. He promptly read all drafts submitted to him
and offered copious comments. If he knew of other academic experts from whose comments
our theses drafts would benefit, he promptly arranged for our work to be sent to such
individuals. This was my experience when he gave the first draft of my thesis on the “Ibadan
Elite, 1893-1966” to Professor J.D.Y. Peel, a sociologist at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London. Professor Peel made extensive comments and suggestions, which
made me rethink many of my ideas. The immediate benefit of that exposure was that the
quality of my final thesis was greatly enhanced. In the long term, that experience also made me
appreciate the value of the multidisciplinary approach to historical scholarship. That has since
remained a key component of my scholarship, almost two decades after that encounter. That,
for me, was also the beginning of an academically rewarding relationship with J.D.Y. Peel.
Professor Ade-Ajayi’s direct students were not the only ones that benefited from his academic
mentorship. He regularly hosted foreign students and junior academics; facilitating their stay in
Ibadan or other parts of Nigeria and connecting them with various institutions and individuals
that could assist them. One of such visitors was Monica Belmonte, a PhD student at
Georgetown University, USA, who came to the Department of History, University of Ibadan in
2000 for three months.26 There are various other examples too numerous to mention.
Conclusion
Professor Ade-Ajayi as a mentor and teacher imparted several professional skills and expertise
to his various students. In terms of academic reproduction, one can confidently conclude that
not only does he have academic children, they are in two generations. Those he supervised
before his retirement in 1989 could be classified as his first-generation offspring while those he
brought forth in his post-retirement/emeritus years would qualify as the second-generation
academic children. To both generations he imparted not just historiographical skills but also life
skills. The older he became, the better he modelled to us the humane touch that must
underline teaching and supervision for them to be impactful. Of what we have received and
learned from him, we are bound to give to the generations of students that are under our
mentorship, tutelage and supervision too. Success in this regard would not only be ours but
also part of the legacy bequeathed to us by our teacher and coach par excellence, Jacob Festus
26 Monica Belmonte to J.F. Ade Ajayi, email April 29, 2000. File 53A, University of Ibadan, History Department in
Professor Ajayi’s private papers.

11
Ade-Ajayi. He has handed us a bright shining touch, it is our duty to keep the flame alive and
hand it to the generation coming after us.