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Parents, early life and foundational education Felix Óladèjò Dòsèkun – Emeritus Professor, was the first-born son of Baba Abel Ogunkimi Dòsèkun and Yeye Lydia Kójinmòla Dòsèkun (nee Ogunnèyè).

His father was a successful timber merchant who owned timber plantations in Ondo. He recalled that in his youth he often used to accompany his father to the timber forests. On one such visit which lasted several days he fell very ill with malaria. He directed that certain plants which he pointed out be prepared for him and subsequently recovered completely. This convinced his father that he was destined for Medicine. His own preference was to study the Law and he had already acquired much knowledge by private application after completing his Cambridge school-leaving certificate. However, his father insisted on the pursuit of medical studies.

He began his early education at Ondo Boys (Public) High School under the famous Canon Moses Craig Akinpelumi Adeyemi (M C A Adéyèmi) (a grandson of Oba Adéyèmi I, the Alaàfin of Oyo), who was the headmaster, and who was a close cousin of his own father. Emeritus Professor Dòsèkun said in a memorial lecture in honour of Canon Adéyèmi, inter alia: “My father, his (M C A Adéyèmi’s) cousin, adored him. I was his disciple, and he was my master who trusted and confided in me and whom I literally worshiped and absorbed. I listened carefully to whatever he said and watched whatever he did with attention. When I came to boarding school, I was small and so he permitted me to dine at his table and sleep on the floor beside his bed. He would go to sleep at 12 midnight, wake up at 5 a.m. and go to his study to get ready for the day. ... He infused discipline into us by example rather than precept. His philosophy of education, partly Spartan and partly Athenian was based on the following principles among others: discipline of body and mind, humility, dedication and devotion to duty, honesty, fair play, charity to all, sportsmanship, and a good sense of humour. His motto was “work hard, play hard and pray hard”. Higher Education and Career: Due to the commencement of hostilities in Europe during the Great War from 1939 to 1945, he was not able to proceed to Dublin to begin his medical studies. He therefore engaged in a stint working in Lagos. He proceeded to Trinity College Dublin immediately upon the cessation of hostilities in 1945 and attended Trinity during the years from 1945 and 1955. He obtained his BA moderatorship in Physiology in the 1946 – 47 session and was awarded First Class Certificate of Merit in the Faculty of Medicine in Physiology. He was invited in 1948/49 by Professor Kenneth Mellanby, the first principal of the new University College Ibadan (UCI) which was founded in 1948 as Nigeria’s first institution of higher learning and university, and which began its existence as one of the many colleges within University of London (it became an independent university in 1962 although its academic programmes and degrees continued to be supervised and awarded by the University of London until 1967), to lecture in Physiology and the Physiological Sciences. He was thus one of the first Nigerian senior academic staff of the University College Ibadan (UCI). After three years in that capacity, he returned to Dublin to complete his studies.

It is said of him that he was a distinctively great physiologist. An omnivorous scholar who was at ease in several branches of the sciences and the humanities. He was fluent in English, Yoruba, his Ondo dialect and read the four great Greek comedians and tragedians, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in their native Greek in his teenage years. He was also fluent in Latin. He had a sound foundation in the Classics which he imbibed from Canon Adéyèmi, and which was deepened by the curriculum at Trinity College which demanded a rigorous grounding in the humanities even for students in the sciences, especially in medicine.

In his M.B., B.Ch., B.A.D. final examination held in 1955, his performance was a remarkable tour de force. Student 1st Class in the following subjects taken, namely: Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical Jurisprudence, Public Health and Hygiene, Pathology, Bacteriology, coming first in his class in overall performance. He was student demonstrator in Zoology, Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology. He was twice winner of the Steward Hutchinson price in the medical school. He obtained the M.A. degree of Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin in 1955. His doctoral thesis for the MD degree which he obtained in 1958 was entitled “A study of some factors affecting the distribution of water and electrolytes in mammalian tissues”. He became a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London in 1955. On his return to Nigeria, he worked briefly at Adéòyò Hospital as a physician while also lecturing at the University College Ibadan . He then continued solely as a lecturer Grade I at the University College of Ibadan. He rose to Senior Lecturer position in Physiology and other branches of Physiological Sciences.

He co-wrote several peer-reviewed treatises and scientific papers in various renowned scientific and medical journals and authored a number of books on physiology and related subjects. He travelled widely in the Caribbean (Jamaica in particular), Latin America, Canada, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Sudan, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and India. In 1962, he was appointed foundation Chair of the Department of Physiological Sciences of the College of Medicine of the newly established University of Lagos (CMUL), as one of the three Foundation Professors of the Medical School and University. At the same time, he also assumed the office of Vice Dean of the Medical School, a position he held until 1967.

He held various other positions in the same university (Member of Council, Senior Member of the University Senate, etc.). He was Consultant Physician to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and doubled during his tenure as Provost of the Medical School as Chairman of the Board of Governors of LUTH. His provostship of the CMUL was between 1969 and 1976, serving three consecutive terms in that post. He was inducted into the West African College of Physicians as a Fellow at its foundation in 1976, having been instrumental in its formation. He won fellowships of various other distinguished institutions in Nigeria and overseas. It was during his tenure as Provost of the College of Medicine that the physical development of the institution achieved substantial expansion to become much of what remains standing even to this day. One of the halls of the College was named after him and the college holds a memorial lecture in his honour every two years. He was a member of the President’s Visitation Panel to the University of Benin in 1988. He was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Calabar in 1988 and re-appointed to that position for a further term of four years from September 1990. Apart from his academic appointments, Professor Dosekun held several public engagements. From 1957 to 1964 he was the first Chairman of the Western (Regional Board) Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (WNBC). He was the first indigenous Chaiman of the University College Hospital Board of Governors (?). He was Chairman of the first conference of medical education in Africa which held under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation, in the University College Ibadan, in 1961. Apart from being a foundation fellow of the West African College of Physicians (WACP), he was also at different times an executive of the Nigerian Medical Council (NMC). He was elected a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) in the Faculty of Physic (FMCP) in 1982. Near the end of his active university career, he spent part of his sabbatical year in 1981 working in the laboratory of his colleague, a distinguished Nobel Prize laureate at the Medical School of the Sorbonne University (who was this man?). He assisted in the establishment of Colleges of Medicine in other West African countries such as at the University of Ghana Medical School and the affiliated Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana. He was appointed a civilian Commissioner in the Military Administration of then Colonel (later General) Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, and served first as the Commissioner of Education and then as the Commissioner of Trade & Industries. Under his leadership, the small-scale industries were fostered and developed. Joint ventures were also encouraged and formed in different industries between Nigerian entrepreneurs and foreign firms, especially in cocoa processing and wood treatment and processing. During this period, at his request, he continued to perform his full duties as Professor and Head of Depat of Physiological Sciences at the CMUL. He was the first academic in Nigeria to be conferred with honorary the title of Professor Emeritus by the University of Lagos. After retirement from active service at the University of Lagos, he returned to his hometown and was for several years thereafter a visiting Professor of Physiology at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. In recognition of his immense contributions to the advancement of Ondo peoples and his outstanding contribution in promoting the good name and renown of the Ondo peoples of Ode Ondo, he was conferred in 1957 by the Ósémàwé of Ondo Kingdom with the traditional chieftaincy title of Bashorun of Ondo. In 1987, he was awarded the 25th Anniversary Gold Medal of the University of Lagos, and in 1988, the Èkimógun Merit Award of his hometown of Ondo for his distinguished and meritorious contributions to the town and to the fame of its sons nationally and abroad. In 1997 he was conferred posthumously with the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) (no. 77 in the list of conferees). Professor Dosekun was married to Folashade Eniola Dosekun, née Ogunmoyero, grand daughter of High Chief Odunwo Ogunmoyero of Ode Ondo, alias Oghoghomade, who was himself a prince of the blood of the Ondo royal line. They were both blessed with 5 children, all of whom achieved distinction in their various chosen fields of professional endeavours.

Professor & Mrs. Felix and Folashade Dosekun

Professor Dosekun receiving the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello in his laboratory at the College of Medicine Lagos in 1962

Felix Oladejo Dosekun Vice Dean and Head of Department of Physiological Sciences of the CMUL In Office: 1962 – 1969 Succeeded in Physiology department by: Professor Mrs. Oyin Elebute

Provost of College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL) In Office: 1969 – 1976 Succeeded by: Professor John O. Mabayòjè

Personal details Born: 31st August 1919 Died: 27th August 1996 Nationality: Nigerian Education: Ondo Boys (Public) High School Trinity College Dublin Ireland

Professional Qualifications: BA Moderatorship in Physiology M.B., B.Ch, B.A.D. MA TCD Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London (FLS) Fellow West African College of Physicians (FWACP) Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) in the Faculty of Physic (FMCP) Commander of the Order of the Niger CON Professor Emeritus Bashòrun of Ondo Kingdom

Known for: Lectureship and Professorship of Physiology Medical Education Medical Administration University Education and University Administration

Children: 5 children (including Professor Akinsan K. Dosekun) Area of specialisation: Physiological Sciences Institutions: University College Ibadan College of Medicine of the University of Lagos Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife University of Calabar as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council