Adiele Afigbo
| Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
22 November 1937 Ihube, Okigwe, Nigeria |
| Died | 9 March 2009 (aged 71) Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Fields | African History |
| Institutions |
University of Ibadan, Ibadan (1964–1966) University of Nigeria Nsukka (1966–1992) Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, (1993–1998) Abia State University, Uturu, (1998–2003) Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, (2004–2009) |
| Alma mater | University of Ibadan |
| Known for | history and historiography of Africa |
Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo (22 November 1937 – 9 March 2009) was a Nigerian historian known for the history and historiography of Africa, more particularly Igbo history and the history of Southeastern Nigeria. Themes emphasised include pre-colonial and colonial history, inter-group relations, the Aro and the slave trade, the art and science of history in Africa, and nation-building.
Afigbo took up his career as a historian in the 1950s with the celebrated Ibadan School of History, which for about three decades was the most prominent school of history in Africa. He became a prominent member of that school, which devoted its time to demonstrating the need for African history and historiography as specific genres of the world history. In pursuing the mission of this school through teaching and scholarly work, Afigbo produced works that established reconstructionist history, of African historical methodologies, and links between history and statecraft. He gave rein to eclecticism of sources and methods, using as the occasion demands and warrants elements from myth, oral sources, from archaeology, linguistics, material artefacts and written sources. In the last analysis he defined a historian as a clinical student of human experience who seeks to tell the story as it is and to explain it.
Afigbo was born at Ihube, Okigwe, in present day Imo State. His formal education began in 1944 at Methodist Central School, Ihube where he came under the influence of remarkably dedicated teachers, the most outstanding of whom was Mr. Oji Iheukumere, the head teacher, a native of Uzuakoli, in today's Abia State who was a noted church musician and disciplinarian. At Ihube Central School Afigbo's brilliance manifested early which made his teachers encourage him to go to secondary school in spite of the opposition of his parents who were intimidated by the cost of post-primary education. He succeeded in his bid and went to St. Augustine's (CMS) Grammar School, Nkwerre Orlu in Imo State. with an Okigwe Native Administration scholarship won in a competitive examination. There again he came across a crop of teachers who left a definite imprint on him. Foremost among those were Mazi F,C. Ogbalu, a teacher of Igbo language and culture and the founder of the Society for The Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture, C.G.I. Eneli a history graduate of the University College, Ibadan and E. C. Ezekwesili, the principal of the college and a history graduate of the University of Southampton, UK. These three helped to determine his future academic career. From St. Augustine's Grammar School Afigbo gained admission to study history at University College, Ibadan (then affiliated with University of London), with a scholarship from the government of Eastern Nigeria. There again, he met scholars noted for their brilliance and beneficent influence – J.D. Omer-Cooper, J.C. Anene, J.F. Ade Ajayi and K.O. Dike. There were also his colleagues – Obaro Ikime and Philip Igbafe who not only read history with him, but with him went on to pioneer the "made in Nigeria PhD" at the infant University of Ibadan with the help of post-graduate scholarships awarded by the university to the best graduating students. Adiele Afigbo had not only graduated top of his class, but also was the first among his colleagues to complete his PhD With this, he became the first person ever to receive a doctoral degree from a Nigerian university.
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