TNT LIVES ON

tamuno tekenaAn editorial by a reporter of the sun newspaper described the late Professor as “an accomplished scholar whose example is worthy of emulation by young academics”.
TNT, as we called him, was a strong pillar in the famous Ibadan School of History. He was a versatile scholar who continued his research and prolific publications to old age. He harmonized intellectual pursuit and administrative competence as Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.
To Muhammadu Buhari, President-elect “Tamuno was a remarkable historian who combined a career as a seasoned educationist with that of effective administration.”
Tekena Nitonye Tamuno fondly called ‘TNT’ was born on the 28th of January,1932 in Okrika, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. An historian and former Vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, he was the President of the Board of Trustees of Bells University of Technology. He was also the former President of Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), Rockefeller Foundation, and a member of the National Universities Commission. He attended St Peter’s School in his hometown of Okrika for primary education. Upon completion, he attended Okrika Grammar School, from 1953 to 1958.
He studied history at the University of Ibadan before leaving the country in 1960 to continue his studies at University of London from 1960-1962 and Columbia University, USA from 1965-1966. In 1962 he joined the Department of History at the University of Ibadan where he remained and rose to the rank of Professor Emeritus in the following order: Lecturer, 1963; Senior Lecturer, 1967; Professor, 1971;Head, department of History, 1972–1975; Dean, Faculty of Arts, 1973– 1975; Vice Chancellor, 1975-1979.
He was, indeed, the first alumnus of the premier university to head the institution as a Vice Chancellor. He was also the head of the University College, Ilorin, in 1975, and chairman of the Governing Council, University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, 1980-1988.
After his exploits at the premier university, he was appointed the Vice Chancellor of Redeemer’s University. He was also the chairman of the Presidential Panel on National Security from 2001 to 2002.
In addition to his administrative and teaching career, he was an author and has chaired public service commissions.
Tamuno died on 11th April, 2015 in Ibadan, aged 83. Professor Onigu Otite, in his tribute, described the late Professor as ‘an inspiring fellow researcher and teacher with humility and gentility rarely matched by others. Tamuno’s works and interests in history are not locked up in Arts but bridge the Faculties of Arts and the Social Sciences, thus making outstanding contributions to development studies and nation-building.
Prof. Tamuno, OFR, was an appreciated family man and a highly respected statesman. He humourised communications and relationships in serious academic as well as in friendly encounters’.
Other notable Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, among others have described the death of the Professor as a huge loss to the nation. They only had his praise to sing.
In his condolence speech, President Jonathan said Tamuno would be remembered and honoured for his significant contributions to national development that spanned several decades. He also noted that the nation owed the departed professor and poet a huge debt of gratitude for his immense efforts in the documentation of Nigerian history.
Fellow academics and historians have also eulogised him for his academic prowess, alongside his other sterling qualities. The Vice Chancellor of UI, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in his tribute said that the intellectual community has lost a foremost member, an outstanding scholar and administrator who demonstrated deep commitment to the sustenance of our common heritage.
Secretary of NAL, Prof. Olutayo Adesina, said the “Nigerian academic community and indeed the nation lost an extremely cerebral historian and foremost scholar of humanities, who combined both the rigour and flexibility needed for a better understanding of his field”.
From his PhD thesis to his very last piece of writing, it is evident that the late Professor was perpetually pre-occupied by not less than six inter-related investigations:
(i) The evolution of Nigeria, from its precolonial indigenous culture to the modern, and from the creation of amalgamated Nigeria through colonial conquest to the end of British rule;
(ii) The creation of roads and railways to provide modern infrastructure and communication systems;
(iii) Law and order in a changing state, in terms of an indigenous security system, the police force, and the army;
(iv) Institutions of governance (how federalism evolved, and how our leaders managed and betrayed us);
(v) The stages in our growth from 1885 to the present; and
(vi) Our various predicaments, including issues of underdevelopment, poverty and leadership deficit. In all, after offering a sober analysis, he would confess, as he once did in a keynote address delivered in 1983 for a conference on nation-building:
“We are humble enough to acknowledge that we know not yet all we wish to know about this great country, Nigeria, about its great people, and their great problems”.
His books include; “Nigeria and Elective Representation,1923-1947” Heinemann 1966; “The evolution of the Nigerian state: The Southern phase, 1898-1914” Humanities Press,1972; “Abebe: Portrait of a Nigerian leader” ALF Publications, 1991; “Herbert Macaulay: Nigerian patriot” Heinemann Educational,1975; “Nigeria: Its people and its problems”; “Nigerian universities, their students and their society: Factors of leadership, time, and circumstance”; “The police in modern Nigeria,1861-1965: Origins, development, and role”; “Nigeria since independence” Heinemann Educational Books; “Songs of an Egghead” (1983).
It is a paradox that history, in which the deceased excelled, is no longer taught as a subject in the nation’s primary and secondary schools. It is time this ugly trend is reversed.
ADEGBAYIBI ADEBISI

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