Professor Babatunde Ogunnaike, the co-author of Nigeria’s National Anthem, has passed away at 65.
He died in the US where he has been a professor for over 25 years, according to Gbenro Adegbola, a notable Nigerian educationist and publisher.
Adegbola in a series of tweets on Tuesday, February 22, stated that Ogunnaike was one of the five authors whose words and phrases were combined to form Nigeria’s National Anthem.
Babatunde Ogunnaike 1956-2022.
The death has occurred of Tunde Ogunnaike, whose words make up most (if not all of) of stanza two of our national anthem.
He died in the US where he’d been a professor for over 25 years and lately Dean of Engineering at Delaware University. pic.twitter.com/iaZVIFLHL3
— Gbénró Adégbolá ن (@GbenroAdegbola) February 21, 2022
Ogunnaike, at the age of 21, wrote most of the words that make up stanza two of the National Anthem in 1977.
The Ijebu Igbo, Ogun state-born professor was one of five citizens whose words and phrases were combined to form the anthem.
He became a co-author of the national anthem during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) days after his submission for a competition organised by the federal government, calling for entries for lyrics for the new national anthem, was chosen.
Ogunnaike’s entry and that of four others — P.O. Aderibigbe, John Ilechukwu, Sota Omoigui, and Eme Etim Akpan — were combined to form the new national anthem which was adopted in 1978.
Ogunnaike, who was born on March 26, 1956, in Ogun state, attended University of Lagos (UNILAG) for his bachelor’s degree, graduating with first-class honours in chemical engineering in 1976.
He later earned a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 and also graduated with a PhD in chemical engineering from the same university in 1981.
Ogunnaike was a research engineer with Shell Development Corporation in Houston, Texas, between 1981 and 1982, and was also a professor in UNILAG between 1982 and 1988, during which he held appointments in two departments — chemical engineering and statistics.
Between 1989 and 2002, he held various positions at DuPont Central Science and Engineering and DuPont Chemical Sciences and Engineering, respectively.
Ogunnaike joined the faculty of the University of Delaware as a full professor in 2002, and was named a William L. Friend professor of chemical engineering in 2004.
He acted as interim dean of the college of engineering at University of Delaware beginning in July 2011, and was named dean of the college of engineering in July 2013. He retired as dean on October 1, 2018 but remained on the faculty.
Speaking about how he contributed to the composition of the national anthem in an interview with The Nation in 2013, Ogunnaike said;
I believe that most of the second verse of the national anthem (if not the entire thing itself) was the second verse of the poem that I submitted. My first verse had a line similar to ‘The labours of our heroes past’ which ended up in the anthem; I am also sure that many of the other submissions had lines similar to this one.
Reacting to news of his death, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement on Tuesday, condoled with the deceased’s family and friends.
The statement reads;
President Buhari notes that Ogunnaike, who contributed significantly to the lines of the National Anthem, showed his patriotism and dedication to the wellbeing of the nation in the living words that daily reinforce the faith and spirit of Nigerians.
As a scholar and administrator, the President affirms that the long hours of research, spanning into years, enhanced knowledge and understanding, and prepared generations for greater works.
