NIGERIA has lost a renowned sociologist, university scholar and administrator in the death of Professor Onigu Otite on March 14. He was aged 80. The de- ceased was a pioneer in the field of Social Anthropology. Born as Kingsley John Onigu Otite on January 21, 1939 in Ok- para Inland, Delta State, Nigeria, Onigu Otite attended the Catholic school in the village and later went to St. Thomas Teacher Training College, Ibusa, Delta State, from 1950-1954.
Otite was engaged by his school and later became the Headmaster of the St Francis Catholic School, Sapele, Delta State. He later moved to the civil service and was appointed Assistant Executive Officer in the Ministry of Health and later became the Private Secretary (Defence) in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lagos.
In 1960, he attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he was one of the University’s pioneer students as well as the first Student Union Public Relations Officer. After graduation, he was employed as the administrative officer, in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Western Region, and later at the Ministry of Works and the Public Service Commission.
Otite later went abroad and was admitted into the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies in 1965. By 1969, he had earned his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology. His doctoral the- sis was on “The Political Organization of the Urhobo of the Midwestern State of Nigeria.” He returned to Nigeria and
joined the services of the University of Ibadan as a Lecturer and became a professor in 1978.
One of the pioneering anthropologists and sociologists in Nigeria, Professor Otite belonged to the class of highly respected Urhobo scholars such as Omafume Friday Onoge, Peter Palmer Ekeh, Bruce Onobrakpeya, David T. Okpako, Andrew Onokerhoraye, Isidore Okpewho Simon Umukoro, G.G.Darah amongst others.
At the University of Ibadan, he was head of Department of Sociology (1980-1986), and Senate Representative on the Staff School Board of Governors (1977-1978). He was visiting research professor at the University of Bergen, Norway (1986–1987), visiting professor of sociology, University of Pennsylvania (1987), senior social development research fellow at the African Centre for Applied Research and Training in Social Development, Tripoli, Libya (1990 – 1991).
He was a member of the editorial board of Political Anthropology (Netherlands); the Nigerian Political Science Association; the Nigerian Economic Society; the Organizing Committee, West African Regional Association of Sociologists and Anthropologists; International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences; associate editor of the African Journal on Behavioural Sciences; and a member of the Pan African Anthropological Association.
Otite was one of the earliest Nigerian scholars to acknowledge the significance of the past in understanding the present and thus creating a brighter future. He highlighted the major problems with the Nigerian tertiary education system; siting problems like mismanagement of public funds, under-funding of the universities, negligence of the importance of the educational system and poor policy implementation.
He also researched into traditional chieftaincy title in Nigeria where he described it as long and prohibitive to attain. He was a Chief of the Agbon Kingdom Uno of Agbon Kingdom. As part of his interest in his Urhobo and Niger Delta people, Otite carried out several studies on Niger Delta migration, with special focus on the Urhobo ethnic group. He co-authored several books among which are Autonomy and Dependence: The Urhobo Kingdom of Okpe in Modern Nigeria; On The Path of Progress, A Study of Rural Immigrants and Development in Nigeria.
Onigu Otite and Professor Onoge were key members of staff of the University of Ibadan who pioneered the Social Science Department in 1967. Otite introduced courses in Sociology at Ibadan University on African Social Thought.
He was one of the notable academicians that facilitated the founding of the Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Agharha-Otor, in Delta State. Professor Otite will be remembered for his scholarly contributions to Social Anthropology and nation building. We urge the government to immortalise him. We commiserate with his family, the academic community and his friends on the irreparable loss. May God grant his soul eternal repose.