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Professor Femi Odekunle: A Profile In Excellence And Courage

By Damola Emmanuel

Professor Femi Odekunle, who passed on Tuesday at the age of 77, was a charismatic figure, yet fearless anti-corruption crusader who fought the national cancer till he breathed his last.

A prominent member of the Prof. Itse Sagay-led Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Odekunle was not only an icon in his area of expertise-criminology, but also renowned for his unwavering commitment to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge in Nigeria, Africa and, indeed, the rest of the world.

He contributed immensely to the all-round development of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, where he was seen as an icon and a legend, and was hotly sought after on leadership, policy and good governance matters.

Highly esteemed for his depth of knowledge, openness and integrity, Odekunle was widely acclaimed as Nigeria’s first professor of criminology. The thrust of his academic and professional career, according to his profile published in the official website of ABU, www.theabusites.com, “covered teaching, research/publications, policy advice, and public-enlightenment in the areas of sociology of law, crime prevention, and control, policing and law enforcement, courts and justice administration, security, governance/corruption, all in the context of socio-economic and political development.”

Born on May 2, 1943, in Ilesa, Osun State, Odekunle had his early education at Otapete Methodist School, Ilesa (1955), and proceeded to the prestigious Ilesa Grammar School for his secondary education (1962). He had his higher secondary school education at Molusi College, Ijebu-Igbo (1964)

He studied at the University of Ibadan (1965-1968), and Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America (1969-1974) in Sociology and Criminology respectively.

He trained at Pennsylvania on scholarship as a University of Ibadan Rockefeller Foundation Scholar as well as a Russell Sage Fellow.

Below is the slightly edited version of Prof. Odekunle’s profile published in www.theabusites.com:

Professor Femi Odekunle’s Career

After teaching Criminology and Sociology at the Lincoln University in the United States for about two years, Odekunle returned to Nigeria in 1974 to assume duties as Lecturer II at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he started the criminology training programme. In 1975, he was Lecturer I, Senior Lecturer (1977), Associate Professor (1979), and in 1982, he was recommended for the position of full Professor. It was formally conferred him effective 1985.

That is, he has been a full Professor for about 35 years. During the period, he also served as Faculty Sub-Dean; Head of Department; Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences; Senate-elected Member of the Governing Council of A.B.U; Government-appointed Member of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos; and Board-of-Regents-appointed Member of the Governing Council of Igbinedion University, Edo State.

In 1994, he was appointed by the nation’s seat of power as the chairman, Advisory Committee to the Chief of General Staff, CGS, Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, on Socio-Political and Economic Matters.

He also served on contract-appointment with the University of Abuja, where he taught Criminology and had served as the first Director of the University’s Centre for Corruption Studies for about two years (2008 -2010).

He was the first Director of the United Nations African Institute for Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (1990- 92) and was Chief Project Consultant on the Corruption Money Laundering Nexus in West Africa Survey for ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Task Force Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa (2009-2010). Currently, he is a Member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC)

Professor Femi Odekunle was instrumental to the adoption of the ‘Whistle-Blower’ policy of the federal government and the hugely successful ABU Zaria professional Masters in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement (MLCJ) programme. 

Research and Publications

As a researcher, he had conducted studies into virtually every aspect of crime-prevention and control in Nigeria and has about sixty (60) publications. He has attended and presented invited papers in about a hundred (100) academic and policy conferences/seminars/workshops in Nigeria and abroad on the subject of crime-prevention and control, corruption, security and related topics.

His many publications include two edited pioneering volumes on corruption in Nigeria: Nigeria: Corruption in Development (1983, Ibadan University Press); and Fighting Corruption and Organized Crime in Nigeria Challenges for the New Millennium (2001, Spectrum Books). He authored over 50 original articles on law, crime and crime control in Nigeria.

He has made significant contributions in community service, having served the Federal Government in many committees and has been a member of many international professional associations. In 1994 he was detained on allegation participation in a coup plot but later found not guilty and acquitted.

Awards

He has received numerous academic and service awards. He is a Fellow of the Social Science Academy of Nigeria (FSSAN) and currently the President of the Nigerian Society of Criminology and Criminal Justice Administration. He is cited in published “Who’s Who” in Nigeria and abroad and was elected a “Life-Member” of the World Society of Victimology over ten years ago.

 

Extras  

 

Membership International Organisations:

Prof. Odekunle was a distinguished member of many international bodies and institutions across the world. He was member, Executive Board of Directors of Research Committee on Deviance and Control, International Sociological Association; member, International Documentation Centre for Youth, University of Wuppertal, West Germany; United Nations National Correspondent on Criminal Justice Branch; member, University of Lagos Governing Council, 1986; Pioneer Director, United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime & Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI), Kampala, Uganda, 1990-92; Special Adviser to the Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, Aso Rock, Abuja, 1994-97; Vice President, Social Sciences Council of Nigeria.

Foreign Honours:

Recipient, Russell Foundation Scholar, 1969-70, recipient, Rockeffeller Foundation Scholar, 1970-74, University of Pennsylvania, USA; Senior African Fellow Fulbright Award, 1982-83, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA; member, International Sociological Association, ISA; member, America Society of Criminology, ASC; member, International Society for Criminology, ISC, member, World Society for Victimology, WSV; member, Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association, NASA.

Political Appointment:

Prof. Odekunle was political adviser to then Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, 1993-1997. In 1997, he was arrested, detained and jailed on alleged treasonable offence by the Gen. Sani Abacha regime (1997- 98) but was released and granted presidential pardon by Abacha’s successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998.

Hobbies:

Socializing, reading, lawn tennis.

 

 

 

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