When Nigeria was approaching independence in 1960, the Western Region already had an unusually strong commitment to mass education. But its leaders believed that primary and secondary education alone were not enough. The region needed its own university, particularly one capable of producing the scientists, engineers, administrators and professionals required for a modern society.
The Federal Government’s Ashby Commission had recommended expansion of university education, but there was disagreement about how many new universities Nigeria needed and where they should be located.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Western Regional Government wanted a university that would not merely copy the colonial institutions left behind by the British. They wanted something extraordinary.
A committee was set up chaired by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Several towns were considered before Ile-Ife emerged as the preferred site. On October 24, 1960, Premier Ladoke Akintola formally announced the decision to establish “Ife University, Nigeria.”
Surprisingly, the committee looked to Israel for a design. An Israeli architect named Arieh Sharon was brought into the project.
Sharon was no ordinary architect. He had studied at the legendary Bauhaus school in Germany, one of the world’s most influential centres of modern architecture.
In May 1961, Sharon came to Nigeria and began planning the new university at Ile-Ife in the ancient spiritual and cultural centre of the Yoruba people.
Sharon had a different idea. He did not simply plant European buildings on Nigerian soil. He designed around the African sun, the tropical climate, the landscape and the environment.
Buildings rose among the greenery. Walkways provided shade. Open spaces connected the different parts of the university. Slowly, something magnificent began to emerge including:
Oduduwa Hall.
The library.
The faculty buildings.
The wide pedestrian spaces.
The distinctive geometric architecture.
What was being created was more than a university. It was a statement that a newly independent Nigeria could build institutions with a character of their own. The university eventually moved from its temporary home in Ibadan to the permanent campus at Ile-Ife.
And generations of students would later give the place a name that needed no explanation: GREAT IFE.
Sharon worked with AMY Ltd., his partner Benjamin Idelson, and later his son Eldar Sharon. Nigerian architects were also involved, including A. A. Egbor and other members of the Nigerian professional team.
The University of Ife had begun operating in Ibadan in 1962, while its permanent campus at Ile-Ife was being developed. By 1967, the university began moving into its permanent Ile-Ife home.
ℹ️ Ethnic African Stories
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