Nigeria’s First Generation Filmmaker-Photographer, Tam Fiofori, Dies at 82
. Ekiti Born First African Professor of Forestry, Kolade Adeyoju, dies at 88
Yinka Olatunbosun and Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
One of Nigeria’s first generation filmmakers, documentary photographer, art curator and writer, Tam Fiofori has died at 82. Famed for chronicling Nigeria’s history, Fiofori was born in Okrika, Rivers State in 1942 and spent his childhood years in Benin City. His father was a teacher at Edo College.
Similarly, Ekiti state born first Professor of Forestry in Africa, Samuel Kolade Adeyoju,has died.
Fiofori completed his secondary school education at the King’s College, Lagos and then proceeded to the King’s College, London.
As a school teacher, Fiofori taught the likes of Ola Balogun and J.K Randle.
As a globetrotting journalist who lived in Detroit and later Harlem, New York in the 60s, he was a friend and manager to the legendary American jazz composer, Sun Ra. Fiofori would later invite the jazz artist to Lagos for the iconic FESTAC ‘77 and the Kalakuta Republic where Fela thrilled festival visitors with massive nightlife experience.
Fiofori also cultivated friendship with the American playwright-poet, Amiri Baraka (formerly known as LeRoi Jones).
Known as the first New Music/Electronic Music Editor for DownBeat, Fiofori wrote for many other art and literary publications in the United States(US) and Europe — among them International Times and Change magazine — and has been credited with being “largely responsible for bringing underground black creativity to the American national consciousness in those heady days of the 1970s”. His writing has been regularly published over the years in a range of Nigerian outlets, including NEXT newspaper, and the blog Shèkèrè.
On the other hand, the news of the demise of Samuel Kolade Adeyoju, was made public through a statement signed by a top member of the family, Prof. Babatunde Ajayi, and made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, yesterday.
According to the statement, Prof. Adeyoju died in Ibadan, on the 19th of June, 2024, at the age of 88.
The high profile and revered academic hailed from Ijan Ekiti, in Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
Prof Adeyoju was an alumnus of the prestigious Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti and the London School of Economics, where he bagged his PhD degree.
The statement reads: “With deep sense of honour and great submission to God’s will, we announce the passing of our patriarch and respectable academic, Prof. Kolade Adeyoju, who joined the higher realm on the 19th June, 2024, during a brief illness.
“Until his demise, Prof Kolade Adeyoju was an Emeritus Professor of Forestry at the nation’s Premier University, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, where he had earlier worked and retired without blight or blemish.
“His enormous contributions to the growth of scholarship was superb. His exploits in Forestry Development and Management in Africa and across the globe, garnered wide acknowledgement and applause during his lifetime.
“Prof. Kolade Adeyoju didn’t just blaze the trail as an academic juggernaut, he boldly etched his name in gold and annals of history as the First Professor of Forestry in Africa . This remains our succour at this time.
“He was a pride not only to Ijan Ekiti and Ekiti State, but to Nigeria and Africa at large.
“May his soul find rest in the bosom of God Almighty”, the statement said.
Due to his unquenchable thirst for scholarship, Prof. Adeyoju, was at the Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, after his secondary education for the Higher School Certificate course. He bagged the B, A. degree programme in geography in 1963, while he capped it up with a doctoral programme from 1963 to 1966 at the London School of Economics, after his Masters of Arts Degree was converted into a PhD due to his exceptional academic brilliancy.
He is survived by his wife, Dr Adeola Adeyoju and highly successful children and grandchildren.
The statement added that his funeral arrangements would be announced later by the family.
