Tributes for Prof Tekena Tamuno

OUTPOURING of accolades and tributes have continued for the late foremost historian and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI) Prof Tekena Tamuno as eminent faculty members have described his death as a great loss to Nigeria and the academic world at large.

The Head of History Department of the university, Professor Christopher Ogbogbo in a chat with The Guardian said: “Professor TNT, as we fondly called him , was the first alumnus to become a vice chancellor of this university.

He was a pioneer of Security Studies. One of his major contributions is in writing the history of the Niger Delta where he came from.

“We regard him as one of the few icons in Historical Studies in Nigeria and we place him alongside the likes of R.E Ayandele and E.J Alagua among others.
These scholars built what we call Badon School of History where he was one of the shakers and movers”.

Prof Ogbogbo added : “TNT contributed to the policy that brought about the development of the History Department” and “taught generation of students many of whom have become professors and deviated from core History to Peace and Conflict Studies.

“The comity of historians globally will miss him. We will miss his hard work.

Even when he was above 70, he was a regular face in the Kenneth Dike Library.

Until he died, he retained a lucid mind. The Association of Nigerian Authors has honored him severally as a poet.

“We will miss his encouragement and advice but with regard to his scholarship, he has written enough for us to continue to chew for the next century”.

To Prof. Olutayo Adesina of the Department of History, the late historian was a gentleman-scholar who was extremely profound, focused, productive and prolific.
“ He was a scholar at home with different generations of scholars and had no pretensions about his dealings with any that could be regarded as his academic junior . He related with all of us at a level that put us at ease and at the same time made it clear to us that this should not be at the expense of the well known tradition of intellectual rigor.
He was equally a good administrator , sound historian and an institution builder”.

For Adesina, Tamuno’s companionship, fine sense of humor and humility would be missed most.
“ His capacity for continuous training cannot be brushed aside; he is extremely well recognized and unfortunately, the coming generation will not be able to learn at the feet of such a master.”

Professor of Security Studies of the Department of African Studies mentored by the late Tamuno, Prof Isaac Olawale Albert said the deceased was someone whose work would continue to be significant.
“He taught and participated in research programs, he was my mentor.
Both of us specialised in Security Studies and most of my works are patterned after his . We found him to be a very deep scholar in the sense that his publications have policy implications. “

On his part, Dr Sola Olorunyomi of the Institute of African Studies said “as the Vice Chancellor of the institution, intellectual pursuit and the mentoring of the next generation were paramount to him .
Today we are celebrating and not mourning him because he mentored a lot of academic children , grand children and great grand children who are doing great.”