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Renowned journalism scholar and former Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale, is dead.
According to information released by the family, he died on Thursday morning, October 8, at the age of 85.
“My father, Pa Deacon Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale, OON, 85, joined the saints triumphant this morning, October 8, 2026. Details of his funeral rites to be announced by the family soon,” his son, Richard Adeyinka Emmanuel, said in a statement obtained by Daily Sun.
Sobowale was one of Nigeria’s most influential figures in journalism, communication research and education administration.
Born in Ashipa near Abeokuta, Ogun State, he started his career at the Daily Times where the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose gave him his first job.
He later earned a Diploma and BA (Hons) in Mass Communication at the University of Lagos, and after a stint as assistant lecturer at UNILAG, proceeded to Syracuse University in the United States where he obtained a PhD in Scientific Journalism in 1978.
He pioneered opinion polling in Nigerian journalism, establishing a public opinion polling desk at The Punch Newspapers under Mr. Sam Amuka, with the first poll results published in April 1979.
In academia, he was twice acting head of the Mass Communication Department at UNILAG, before helping to conceptualise the establishment of Lagos State University, LASU, in 1983.
He became Professor of Communication Studies at LASU and served as the pioneer Dean of the LASU School of Communication (2004-2007).
He later served as Dean at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, and Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, named its Faculty of Communication and Media Studies in his honour.
Sobowale also served in public administration as Special Adviser on Education to former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, and later as Commissioner for Education under Asiwaju Bola Tinubu between 1999 and 2003.
For his contributions to national development, he was decorated with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), which instituted the biennial Idowu Sobowale International Conference in his honour to celebrate his contributions to media and governance scholarship.
