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Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Alfred Nobel Prize in Literature (Stockholm, Sweden), where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African to be so honoured. In 1994, he was designated UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communication.
Soyinka wrote the first full-length play produced on Nigerian television. The Play, titled “My Father’s Burden”, directed by Segun Olusola was featured on the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) on August 6, 1960.
While at university, Soyinka and six others founded the Pyrates Confraternity, an anti-corruption and justice-seeking student organisation, the first confraternity in Nigeria.
At the end of 1963, his first feature-length movie, Culture in Transition, was released. In April 1964 The Interpreters, "a complex but also vividly documentary novel", was published in London.
After graduating, he remained in Leeds with the intention of earning an M.A. Soyinka intended to write new work combining European theatrical traditions with those of his Yorùbá cultural heritage. His first major play, The Swamp Dwellers (1958), was followed a year later by The Lion and the Jewel, a comedy that attracted interest from several members of London's Royal Court Theatre. Encouraged, Soyinka moved to London, where he worked as a play reader for the Royal Court Theatre. During the same period, both of his plays were performed in Ibadan. They dealt with the uneasy relationship between progress and tradition in Nigeria.
In 1957 his play The Invention was the first of his works to be produced at the Royal Court Theatre. At that time his only published works were poems such as "The Immigrant" and "My Next Door Neighbour", which were published in the Nigerian magazine Black Orpheus. This was founded in 1957 by the German scholar Ulli Beier, who had been teaching at the University of Ibadan since 1950.
The first Nigerian and first living author to be represented in the Everyman's Library collection published by Alfred A. Knopf: Chinua Achebe (born 16 November 1930 as Albert Chínụ̀álụmọ̀gụ̀ Àchèbé). He popularly noted on the first page of his 1983 book, 'The Trouble with Nigeria', which coincided with the upcoming general elections: "the Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility and to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership". In 1961, Achebe became the first director of external broadcasting in Nigeria for the British Broadcasting Corporation and the first-ever Nigerian to be awarded the Nigerian National Merit Award in October 1979
He is best known for his first novel and magnum opus, 'Things Fall Apart' (1958), which is regarded as the most widely read book in modern African literature.
The father and pioneer of Yoruba indigenous fictional stories: Chief Daniel Orowole Fagunwa
The first Nigerian writer to employ folk philosophy in telling his stories: Daniel Olorunfẹmi Fagunwa MBE (1903 — 9 December 1963). He is also the author of the first novel written in the Yorùbá language (Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irunmale) and one of the first to be written in any African language. In 1968, Wole Soyinka translated the book ' Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irunmale' into English as 'The Forest of A Thousand Demons'.
The first Nigerian and African Pulitzer Prize winner in journalism (International Reporting-2005): Mr Dele Olojede
Dele Olojede, Newsday's Africa Correspondent, joined the newspaper June 6, 1988 as a summer intern. He later became a special writer covering minority affairs when, on loan to the foreign desk in 1992, he made his first of several trips to South Africa. His coverage drew high praise and prizes. Promoted to Newsday's United Nations Bureau Chief, he covered a range of international stories before his posting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prior to Newsday, Olojede was a reporter at the National Concord Newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria from 1982-84, and a founding staff writer and assistant editor at Newswatch (edited by Dele Giwa), a Lagos weekly news-magazine, between 1984 and 1987. A 1986 award-winning investigative report by Olojede resulted in the freeing of the internationally known Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti, and the dismissal of the federal judge who had sentenced him to prison on trumped up charges.
After winning a $26,000 Ford Foundation Scholars grant, Olojede left Nigeria in 1987 to earn his Masters Degree at Columbia University, where he won the Henry N. Taylor Award as the outstanding foreign student.
Olojede's other awards include the 1995 Publisher's Award from Newsday; the 1995 Educational Press of America Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Journalism; the 1992 Unity Award from Lincoln University; the 1992 Clarion Award from Women in Communications; the Media Award the same year from the Press Club of Long Island; and several awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists.
Olojede was born in Nigeria in 1961, the 12th of 29 children. He lives with his wife, Amma, also a journalist and their two children in Johannesburg.
Olojede left Newsday in December 2004.
The first sky-scrapper in Africa: The Cocoa House was built entirely from proceeds of international trade in agricultural commodities such as cocoa, rubber and timber.
Cocoa House, located at 1 Oba Adebimpe Avenue Ibadan Nigeria, is owned by the Odua Group of Companies. This 26 storey building was commissioned in 1965
Cocoa House, the 26-Floors Cocoa House, Ibadan, is the property of Odu'a Investment Company Limited, Ibadan formerly known as "Ile Awon Agbe"-translates as the "House of Farmers" was commissioned for use in August 1965. This building is owned by Wemabod Estates Limited, a subsidiary of O'dua group of companies.
The building was gutted by fire on January 9, 1985 and rehabilitated for use in August 1992
The first recorded discovery of the Nok culture was in 1928 when it was accidentally unearthed on the Jos Plateau at a level of 24 feet in an alluvial tin mine in the vicinity of the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria.
The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 300 AD in the region of West Africa. This region lies in Northern and Central Nigeria. Its social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok culture was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta.
The first evidence of human habitation in Nigeria dates to about 9000 BC
The earliest evidence of civilization in Nigeria dates back to the Iwo-Eleru rock shelter located near Akure in Ondo State. Inside this cave is a skeleton dated c.9000 BCE in the late Stone Age.
Nigeria's first Art Journal: Nigerian Teacher (Later Nigerian Magazine): 1933 by the Education Department. It specialised in the promotion of arts and culture.
The first stone storey-building in Abeokuta: Rev. Henry Townsend (Supervising).
Rev. Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) built the first colonial one-storey building which was also the first primary school in Nigeria, Saint Thomas Primary School, which begun with a class of 20 adult men who spent about 13 years in that system. The first teacher of the school was Mr. Claudius Philips (1845-1868). It grew from then to accommodate other Reverends up until the famous Arch Bishop Ajayi Crowther.
Henry Townsend was born in Exeter in 1820. From an early age he wanted to be a missionary. In 1836 he travelled to Sierra Leone to be a teacher, he was still only 21. It was during this time that he became sympathetic towards the situation of the freed Yoruba slaves, many of whom wished to return to their homeland in what is now Nigeria.
Townsend later volunteered to work for the Church Missionary Society in Abeokuta, Nigeria, from 1843. While living there, he collected artifacts from the local Yoruba people. He donated many of these to RAMM during a period of leave from Africa in 1868. These pieces now form an invaluable picture of Yoruba life in the middle of the 19th century. Among the most poignant is a set of slave chains. The museum's Accessions Register records that they were taken from "Two captives freed by Rev Townsend". Townsend finally returned to Exeter for good in 1876, and died a few years later.
The first Nigerian to win the Orange Prize for Fiction (female only competition): Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The First Black/Nigerian/African/African American/Yoruba/ SW'er To Win The Most Prestigious Award For Young Mathematics Researchers In The US, A Sloan Research Fellowship and The First Black/Nigerian/Yoruba/Yo'oba/African Woman To Publish An Article In The Annals of Mathematics: Dr. Katherine Adebola Okikiolu
The first Nigerian to win Best Cinematography from BAFTA and the British Society of Cinematographers and an Academy Nomination: Remi Adefarasin
The first Nigerian to win Best Documentary Prize at the 2010 AMAA Awards: Femi Odugbemi
The first Nigerian to be nominated for the NAACP Image Award: Obba Babatundé
The first writer ‘of Nigerian descent’ to win the PEN/Hemingway Award: Christopher Abani (better known as Chris Abani) is a Nigerian author. He was born in Afikpo, Ebonyi State on December 27, 1966 to an Igbo father and English mother.
Abani is best known for his 2004's PEN/Hemingway Award-winning novel Graceland. His other prose includes Song for Night (2007), The Virgin of Flames (2007) and Becoming Abigail (2006). He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, Master’s degrees in Gender and Culture and in English, and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California.
The first Nigerian to receive the National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award: Akintunde Ibitayo
The first Nigerian pharmacist to become first African FIP fellow: Azubuike Okwor
The first Nigerian to win the “Africa Designs” and the MNET/ Anglo Gold African designs: Deola Sagoe
The first Nigerian to win the Best Model in The World Award which took place in China: Bunmi Ademokoya
The first Nigerian on America's Next Top Model: Aminat Ayinde
The first Nigerian to win Miss New York in 2009 and also Miss Black Britain. Helen Lawal. She now lives in Pickering and is studying to become a doctor at the University of York-based Hull York Medical School.
The first Nigerian model to appear on the front cover of The Times Magazine Fashion Issue, to appear in Vivienne Westwood, Nathen Jenden, and Osman: Tokumbo Daniel
The first Nigerian to be featured in the Africa Open for Business documentary and recognized as the FATE Foundation Model Entrepreneur in 2005: Adenike Ogunlesi
The first Nigerian to win the $26,000 Ford Foundation Scholars grant and the Henry N. Taylor Award as the outstanding foreign student: Dele Olojede
The first black man to have a British Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II) sit for him to have their a portrait made: Benedict Enwonwu, better known as Ben Enwonwu was a renowned painter and sculptor.
Born in Onitsha and schooled in government colleges there before travelling to pursue secondary education in Europe, Benedict Enwonwu grew up to become perhaps the foremost Nigerian artist of his time. In England he studied Fine Art, Aesthetics, History of Western Art and Anthropology and began an artistic career in earnest. In 1946 he participated in a UN-sponsored international exhibition in Paris; two years later he held his first one-man show in London.
Working with diverse media in his painting and sculpture-wood, bronze, metal, plastics, plaster, cement, oil and watercolors, Enwonwu's work was popular throughout his career, which was brought to international attention when Queen Elizabeth II sat for him at Buckingham Palace in the late 1950s. He became the first black man on earth to get such privilege in a period when racism was alive and well. Enwonwu's work was so good that it transcended racism. In 1959 he returned to Nigeria as official art adviser to the federal government. He quit public service in 1971 to serve as a visiting professor of African studies at Howard University, Washington, D.C., and as professor of fine arts at the University of Ife, Nigeria. He retired in 1975. Enwonwu’s other notable works include the carved doors of the chapel for the Apostolic Delegation in Lagos and an elegant bronze figure of a woman donated by the Nigerian government to the UN headquarters in New York City in 1966. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1958 and received the Nigerian National Merit Award in 1980.
Enwonwu exhibited sculpture around the world, at London's Berkeley galleries (1947), Howard University (1950), the Galerie Apollinaire (1950), the Goethe Institute (1976) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2001). He also wrote of the politics contained in visual art cultures, and was a proponent of using artistic expression to provide local or individual representation, even in the face of Western art forms or techniques.
Enwonwu died in 1994.
The first non-Chinese to be honored with the prize of best actor: Nonso Anozie (born 1979) is an actor who has appeared in several stage plays and four films to date.
In the summer of 2002 he became the youngest person in history to play William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and won the Ian Charleson Award in 2005 for his performance as Othello.
He was the winner of the 2004 Magnolia Stage Performance Award in China and was the first non-Chinese to be honoured with the prize of best actor.
Anozie was hired in 2006 to provide the voice for the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison in the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. The actor was to later be replaced by Ian McKellen two months before the film is set to be released.
Nonso recently starred in Cass, a true story of one man's identity struggle and ultimate redemption.
The first troupe from Nigeria to have successfully staged plays to international audiences in Europe: Ladipo’s Troupe
In 1973, Ladipo’s troupe was invited to Nancy, France, for the Mondial du Thietre Festival. The agreement made with the festival organisers about the troupe’s transportation cost was for Ladipo’s company to be responsible for their payment to the festival and in return the organisers agreed to be responsible for their accommodation and feeding for the three weeks duration of the festival. Oba Koso was presented. The troupe’s performance was very rewarding in serving as a networking period for them and led to many positive recommendations.
The trip became a springboard for other international performance invitations that would extend to 1977, the year that Nigeria hosted the Festival of Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC).
From September to October, 1973, Ladipo’s troupe was invited to a ‘Yoruba Festival’ in Zurich, Switzerland. This international cultural event lasted a period of four weeks in which Oluweri was performed. The play is an adaptation of an Ijaw legend that was reported to have been researched by Beier, but the title of the play in Yoruba, is another name for Yemoja, the goddess of the sea. The play was such a great success ‘that an encore was requested at the glass-roofed court of the University of Zurich’ After the tour, Ladipo’s troupe was engaged in a period of intense international theatrical activities. Over a short period of time, he had presented Oluweri and Oba Koso to audiences across different continents. In 1973, they also performed at the seventh Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of Arts in Iran, the Belgrade Bitef International festival in Yugoslavia and the Rome Arts Festival in Italy. They were also meant to have gone to Israel from Rome to perform, but the plan was abandoned due to the uncertainty of whether war was imminent in the Middle East at the time.
Duro Ladipo played a major role as actor, composer and music director in the production of Ajani Ogun (by Ola Balogun with English & French subtitles), the first Yoruba film shot on location in Ekiti, 1976’.
Oba Moro was the first historical play to be staged in Yorubaland. Duro Ladipo was the first indigenous dramatist to adopt a western dramatic structure and style of presentation that fully embraces the use of the traditional language and musical instruments. He was the first to portray the aesthetic of Yoruba art in his theatre whilst challenging the mind intellectually to ponder upon the philosophies associated with the visual and musical languages of his theatre.
The staging of Oba Koso developed in complexity over time. As part of its subsequent production, the performance of the play ‘in the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, where the descendants of the three protagonists, Shango, Timi and Gbonka actually sat in the audience!’ was of great importance. We have no recorded date of the performance, but it may have taken place in 1970 since the performance was featured to accompany Ladipo’s television documentary of 1970. Ladipo’s excitement about their presence was reflected in the documentary. He acknowledged the importance of their presence and commented that a ‘new era’ had started in the history of the Yoruba, since it was the first time that such a play had been staged in Yorubaland in the presence of the descendants and titleholders of the characters concerned. The staging of Oba Koso was the first time the story of a deity in a play was being explored in a dramatisation in the history of Nigeria. No other dramatist in Nigeria had explored the story of a deity in a play before.
Oba Waja was first produced in Oshogbo in 1964. Oba Waja (‘The King has gone into the Loft’ or ‘The King is Dead’). The play was first performed on the Mbari Mbayo stage, where Ladipo’s two previous plays had been performed.
The first Nigerian dramatist to stage historical plays: Duro Ladipo. The Mbari Mbayo Club in Oshogbo. With the support of Ulli Beier who was able to secure international funding for the project, Ladipo’s dream became a reality and the centre was launched ‘on 21st March 1962’ with the staging of Oba Moro, his first historical play, and the exhibition of Susanne Wenger’s visual arts.
Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is the first African to appear on the front colour cover of the world’s most influential documentary, the American Time magazine.
Kwame Nkrumah the late Ghanaian President was actually the first black man to be featured on the Times black and white cover when that nation won its independence in 1957. (see Biafra Agony, TIME, August 23, 1968) Ojukwu was on the cover of the Times and for the last three years of the romantic decade of the ’60s was the headline, from the chilly landscape of the Scandinavians to the Siberia wastes of the Supreme Soviet.
Akeredolu Justus pioneered in creating naturalistic thorn sculpture from silk-cotton tree, with themes of traditional African scenes and activities. The style quickly gained popularity as tourist art.
Contemporary art in Nigeria can be classified into three broad chronological periods that reflect creative and conceptual landmarks in the 20th century. The classification includes the Early Period (1900 – 1940s), comprising the continuation of traditional forms with considerable shift in themes to reflect prevalent colonial experience. It also comprises the pioneering efforts of European – trained artists who reacted to influx of foreign concepts, styles, materials and techniques and mainly chose the exploration of naturalistic forms but with local subject matter.
The second phase of the chronological classification is the Middle Period (1940s – 1970s). This era witnessed a radical departure from the past and was also the beginning of the establishment of both “formal” and “informal” modes of training for contemporary artists in Nigeria.
The academically trained artists, i.e. those who were formally – trained, started to articulate art concepts, propelled by the struggle for independence, they imbibed the negritude philosophy espoused by Leopard Senghor and similar ideas by other notable politicians such as Kwame Nkruma, and Nnamdi Azikwe to agitate for African identity. The artists of this period eventually came out with a novel admixture of both traditional and modern forms. This new visual expression derived from what is now known as the theory of natural synthesis and represents the core of Nigerian modernist tendencies.
The workshop trained artists, i.e. those informally–trained, also forged a unique visual image in art that straddled tradition and modernity in its expressiveness.
The last phase of the classification of contemporary art in Nigeria is the Late Period (1970s – 2000).
Nigeria first hosted the Association of African Universities (AAU) Conference: 1967 at the University of Ibadan
The first Art Museum in Nigeria: The Essie Museum in Kwara State (1945)
Felix Idubor: The first Art Gallery in Nigeria and the first to introduce the use of chicken mesh and iron rod in large sculpture in Nigeria, as well as plastic fillers, he was also reputed to have introduced the rough textured carving and a new method of casting bronze.
He is also reputed to have established the first official Art gallery in Nigeria. The Nigerian Magazine (1967) while commenting on the establishment of his gallery – The Idubor gallery of Arts, expressed that it is not surprising that he is one of the first pioneers of art galleries in Nigeria as his dream of a home for his many works of treasure came true in 1966.
The first Director of the National Antiquities Department (1953): Bernard Fagg (1915–1987), a colonial officer in the region, established the first museums in Nigeria and headed the federal department of antiquities in Lagos, 1957–1963. His brother William Fagg made an extensive trip, 1958-1959 as an agent of the Nigerian government, purchasing Benin art work for the newly founded Lagos museum. He organized exhibitions on Nigerian art at the First World Congress of Black Arts and Cultures in 1966 in Dakar.
The first Nigerian and third African woman to be conferred with the Gusi Peace Prize International award: Catherine Dupe Atoki. She was presented with the award at the Philippine International Convention centre in Manila January 2014 for her work highlighting human rights abuses in Africa.
The first Nigerian artists to feature on ‘The Nairobi Sessions’: Temi dollface (Temitope Phil-Ebosie), June 2013. "The Nairobi Sessions" is an initiative by award-winning Kenyan music producer David "Blackman" Muthami, the unplugged Nairobi Sessions introduce you to artists that you may already know and some that you will get to know given that it's totally un-rehearsed.
The first student to be officially appointed as a Google Mapping Advocate for Nigeria: Adepoju Abiodun (2011/2012). He achieved this as a 400 level Student Computer Science of the University Of Ibadan and the first Google Student Ambassador for the prestigious University of Ibadan
The first Sports Editor in WNTV – WNBS, Ibadan and the first Manager, Sports, NTA: Fabio Lanipekun
BUSINESS
First verifiable billionaire in Nigeria: Aliko Dangote with net worth $3.3 billion (03/05/2008). Ranked no.334 on the Forbes richest list.
Nigeria's first billionaire hit the jackpot when his sugar-production company listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in 2007
Alhaji Aliko Dangote (born April 10, 1957) is a businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia. A wealthy supporter of erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo and the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), Dangote controls much of Nigeria's commodities trade through his corporate and political connections. With an estimated current net worth of around US$ 13.8 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as one of the richest African citizens and richest person of African descent in the world toppling Mohammed Al Amoudi ($12.3 billion) and Oprah Winfrey ($2.7 billion).
Dangote studied Business Studies at Al-Azhar University, Cairo.
The first Nigerian President to ring the closing bell of the NYSE: Goodluck Jonathan (on 23 September 2013). It is the first time Nigeria’s Green-White-Green flag was hoisted on the NYSE building.
An excited Mr. Jonathan posted on his Facebook, “Today, I had the honour of ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange after I had heralded to global captains of industry Nigeria’s efforts in recent times that has made our nation a prime destination for foreign investment and one that ensures some of the highest Return on Investments (RoI) in the world. This is just the beginning of greater things to come for our country and our continent.”
Nigeria made history in April 2006 by becoming the first African Country to completely pay off its debt (estimated $30 billion) owed to the Paris Club.
In November 2005, during the tenure of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Nigeria's Minister of Finance, the Nigerian government "won Paris Club approval for a debt-relief deal that eliminated $18 billion of debt in exchange for $12 billion in payments" . This discharged $30 billion of Nigeria's total $37 billion external debt.
World Bank established their first Resident Mission in Lagos, Nigeria, headed by Mahmud A. Burney (1970 April 1)
Nigeria's first Oil discovery in commercial quantities: Oloibiri in the Niger Delta (August 3rd, 1956) after half a century of exploration. The discovery was made by Shell-BP, at the time the sole concessionaire.
Oloibiri Oilfield was discovered on Sunday 15 January 1956 by Shell D'Arcy. It is Nigeria first commercial oil discovery. The discovery ended 50 years of unsuccessful oil exploration in the country by various companies and launched Nigeria into the limelight of Petro-State.
Oloibiri Oilfield is an onshore oilfield located in Oloibiri in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, about 45 miles (72 km) east of Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta. Oloibiri field is about 13.75 square kilometres (5.31 sq mi) and lies in a swamp within OML 29. Oloibiri Oilfield is named after Oloibiri, a small, remote creek community, where it is located. In Nigeria, Oilfield is usually named after the host community where it is located or local landmark. Oilfield is also given names taken from indigenous language.
The field started oil production between late 1957 and early 1958 and the first oil production from the field came at the rate of 4,928 barrels per day (783.5 m3/d). The field produced at an average rate of 5,100 barrels (810 m3) of oil per day for the first year. The production increased thereafter as more wells were completed and put onto production and reached its peak in 1964. The field was drained from eleven production wells. The oil produced from the field is sour and heavy and has an API of 20.6. The gas produced with the oil was flared off as a result of lack of gas processing and utilisation facility in the country then, so the gas was not considered necessary.
The discovery well, Oloibiri-1 was completed on 5 June 1956 as a commercial oil production well. Thus, Oloibiri-1 made history as the first truly commercial oil well in Nigeria. This brings the number of completed production wells on field to eleven.
Royal Dutch Shell laid the first crude oil pipeline in the country from the Oloibiri field to Port Harcourt on the Bonny River to access export facilities. Nigeria exported its first crude oil on February 17, 1958 from the Oloibiri oil field to refineries in Europe, initially at the rate of 5,100 barrels per day (810 m3/d). The oil was being pumped from the field through the country's first pipeline, laid by Shell.
Shell started business in Nigeria in 1937 as Shell D’Arcy. On November 4, 1938, the company was granted it's first oil exploration license.
The Oloibiri oilfield produced over 20 million barrels (3,200,000 m3) of oil during its 20 years life cycle. Oil production finally stopped in 1978 and the field was abandoned the same year. The Oloibiri oilfield was abandoned without any improved recovery to drain some of the 21.26 million barrels (3,380,000 m3) of hydrocarbon still left on the field.
1908 - Nigerian Bitumen Co. of Germany & British Colonial Petroleum begins operations.
1938 - Shell D'Arcy gets oil E&P concession throughout Nigeria.
1955 - Mobil Oil Corp begins operations in Nigeria.
1956 - First Shell D'Arcy's oil find at Oloibiri; firm changes name from Shell D'Arcy to Shell-BP.
1958: First shipment of crude oil from Nigeria.
1961 - Shell's Bonny Terminal commissioned. Texaco begins operations.
1962 - Elf starts operations as Safrap; Agip begins operations.
1963: Elf discovered Obagi field and Ubata gas field; Gulf Oil's first production begins.
1965: Agip found its first oil at Ebocha. Phillips Oil Company started operations in Bendel State
1965: Shell-BP commissioned Nigeria's first refinery in Port Harcourt.
1966 - Elf begins production in Rivers State at 12,000 b/d.
1967: Phillips drilled its first well (Dry) at Osari –I. Phillips first oil discovery at Gilli-Gilli –I
1968 - Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd formed. Gulf Oil's Terminal at Escravos starts up (Gulf Oil & Texaco later became part of Chevron).
1970 - Mobil begins production at Idoho Field; Agip starts production; Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) starts up.
1971 - Shell's Forcados Terminal starts up; Mobil's Qua Iboe Terminal starts up.
1973: First Participation Agreement; Federal Government acquires 35% shares in the Oil Companies. Ashland started PSC with then NNOC (NNPC). Pan Ocean Corporation drilled its first discovery well at Ogharefe –I
1974: Second Participation Agreement, Federal Government increases equity to 55%. Elf formally changed its name from "Safrap" Ashland'sfirst oil discovery at Ossu –I
1975 - 76: First Oil lifting from Brass Terminal by Agip. DPR upgraded to Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR); Pan Ocean begins production via Shell-BP pipeline at 10,800 b/d.
1995: SNEPCO starts drilling first Exploration well. NLNG's Final Investment Decision taken
1999: NLNG's First shipment of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) out of Bonny Terminal.
Bonga is the first deepwater project for the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) and for Nigeria. The discovery well is located in oil prospecting license (OPL) 212, which was awarded during Nigeria's first round of deepwater frontier acreage awards in 1993.
SNEPCO operates the field on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under a production sharing contract, in partnership with Esso (20%), Nigeria Agip (12.5%) and Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (12.5%).
Crude oil production from the field started in November 2005 and the first shipment from the field was made in February 2006. Production was stopped temporarily due to a militant attack in June 2008 and was resumed later in the same month.
Bonga lies 120km southwest of the Niger Delta, in a water depth of over 1,000m.
The real extent of the Bonga field is some 60km². After acquiring and processing 3D seismic data in 1993 / 94, the first Bonga discovery well was drilled between September 1995 and January 1996. Recoverable reserves are estimated at 600 million barrels of oil.
First African country to liberalize cocoa trade: 1986
Following the World Bank indication that agricultural marketing boards in the country were ineffective, and the suggestion to liberalize agriculture following to the liberalization of foreign exchange, the Nigerian Government unilaterally abolished marketing boards.
Nigeria’s first year of Cocoa export was in 1895 when twenty-one tons of cocoa were shipped
First time Cocoa was introduced to Nigeria was when Squiss Ibaningo brought cocoa pods from Fernando Po and planted them around Bonny (River State) in 1874 (Howes’ Version). Another version states that a native chief named David Henshaw introduced cocoa seeds from Fernando Po in 1880 and established a plantation near Calabar (Alan Mcphee’s Version).
Bioko (spelled also Bioco, in Europe traditionally called Fernando Pó) is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, specifically Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea with a population of 260,000[citation needed] and an area of 2,017 km2 (779 sq mi). It is volcanic with its highest peak the Pico Basile at 3,012 m (9,882 ft).
First cocoa plantation in Nigeria was established in the state through the planting of seeds and seedlings in 1893 by one Mr. Moor at a location now known as Moor Plantation in Ibadan, while breeding work started in 1912 in a 10-hectare cocoa orchard also at Moor Plantation.
Nigeria’s first botanical garden that led to the commercialization of Cocoa: Agege (Chief Coker). From here Cocoa spread to the west and other parts of Nigeria. It was introduced by the Government of Lagos to encourage the spread of the cocoa culture by distributing cocoa seedlings free to farmers sometime around 1887.
First time Nigeria’s Cocoa export exceeded 10,000 tons: 1917
Nigeria's first UTZ cocoa certification: SARO Agro-Allied Ltd, a cocoa exporter from Nigeria, and leading global cocoa processor, ADM, worked in partnership to support almost 2,000 cocoa farmers achieving the certified status.
The certificate holder, Saro, with support from ADM, organised the farmers into 50 groups or "farming clubs", to educate them about the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct. UTZ certification helps farmers produce a better quality of product at a higher volume and lower cost. This also enables them to negotiate a greater price for a better product and to improve their standard of living. As a further incentive, farmers who work with UTZ Certified in the global marketplace also receive a premium for their crop.
UTZ Certified stands for sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers, their families and our planet. The UTZ program enables farmers to learn better farming methods, improve working conditions and take better care of their children and the environment.
It was formerly known as Utz Kapeh, meaning 'Good Coffee' in the Mayan language Quiché, hence the current 'UTZ certified good inside' logo. On 7 March 2007, the Utz Kapeh Foundation officially changed its name and logo to UTZ Certified.
Teak was first introduced outside Asia in Nigeria in 1902, with seed first from India and subsequently from Myanmar. Planting in what is now eastern Ghana (formerly Togoland) started around 1905 (Kadambi, 1972). A small plantation of teak was established in Côte d'Ivoire in 1929 from plantation-grown seeds obtained from Togoland.
Teak (Tectona grandis) is one of the world's premier hardwood timbers, rightly famous for its mellow color, fine grain and durability. It occurs naturally only in India, Myanmar, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Thailand, and it is naturalized in Java, Indonesia, where it was probably introduced some 400 to 600 years ago. In addition, it has been established throughout tropical Asia, as well as in tropical Africa (including Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the United Republic of Tanzania and Togo) and Latin America and the Caribbean (Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela). Teak has also been introduced in some islands in the Pacific region (Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands) and in northern Australia at trial levels.
The first discovery of Coal in Nigeria: (Udi Ridge, Enugu in 1909)
In the search for sliver, a British mining engineer, Albert Kitson discovered Coal in Enugu, which is known as Sub-bituminous in 1909 at the Udi Ridge
First coal mine in the Enugu was the Udi mine at Ogbete in Enugu opened in 1915, but abandoned two years later when the Iva valley mine was opened to tap the same locality.
Nigeria’s first coal export was a shipment of coal to Britain in 1914
Bitumen was first discovered in 1900, with focused exploration beginning in 1905. Bitumen deposits are found in Lagos State, Ogun State, Ondo State, and Edo State. Conoco has performed a technical and economic evaluation of these deposits, and believes there to be over thirteen billion barrels of oil in these tar sands and bitumen seepages.
The first sawmill in Ondo State was established in 1909
The First Saw Mill at Sapele was established in 1935
Nigeria’s first indigenous textile mill in Northern Nigeria: Kano Citizens’ Trading Company (1950), Kano. Alhaji Alhassan Dantata (1880 – 1955).
The first company to undertake any organized industrial development (other than minerals) in Nigeria was the Miller Brothers. The company established a small sawmill at Koko on the Benin river in 1917 to make use of local timber and supply wood needed for building purposes within the country.
The first mineral deposit to attract any commercial interest in Nigeria: Tin
Nigeria’s first Private Trading Floor: GTI Securities Limited (December 2013)
Situated on the Marina axis of Lagos's main Central Business District, the trading floor is a 150-seat multi-purpose trading floor. At full installed capacity, some 150 brokers and dealers can trade on all securities listed on the NSE and NASD Plc.
The first actual discovery of tin in the Protectorate or the first conclusive evidence of its actual existence: 1902 by Sir William Wallace
As recounted by Albert F. Calvert in his book "Nigeria and its Tin Fields", 1910:
In the course of a letter I received from Sir William, dated 21st October 1910, he says: "Up to '84 we used to believe that the tin used by the Hausa people for tinning their brass ware was brought across the desert. I then, being busily engaged opening up the Benue River to trade, got a hint that the tin was being smelted in some of the Hausa States, and, on making inquiries, found that it was being produced in Bauchi. We did all possible to develop the trade in the tin straws, but with little success, as the pagan tribes would have no dealings with the Hausa merchants, and rightly so, as it would have only led to the subjection of the tribes to the Fulani, whom they kept at bay till our advent in 1902, Early in that year I went with the little army as Political Agent to subdue the Emir of Bauchi, and after settling that matter I was able to get messengers through to the Delimi River, close to the Naraguta, from whence they brought about a quarter of a hundredweight of the tin sands, the first ever procured or seen by Europeans. This sample I brought home, and submitted to the Directors of the Niger Company, who shortly afterwards took out a prospecting licence over 1000 square miles. Since then, thanks principally to Mr. Laws (the plucky and importunate mining adviser of the Niger Company), the mining industry has slowly forged ahead, until the rush came along this year. Year in, year out, I have been urging companies and encouraging prospectors to come along until I almost despaired of success ; but now, given a railway to the tin field, the industry cannot but prosper if the Government do not hamper it with too many restrictions.".
In 1902 and 1903 three expeditions were despatched to locate the tin areas. The little party, under the protection of an armed escort, (for at that time the natives, now so friendly, were somewhat hostile) proceeded to make a geological examination of the country east of the Niger, and eventually found tin in the Province of Bauchi, some 600 miles to the North-East of Lokoja. Further prospecting located the stanniferous area to the outlines of the Gura Mountains, a small range known as the Naraguta and Shere Hills in the Badiko district of that province. The Niger Company applied in 1905 for a number of mining leases in selected areas.
The first official recognition of the importance of the Bauchi tin deposits was conveyed to the public in the Colonial Report on Northern Nigeria in 1905, and in 1906 was published the First Report on the Results of the Mineral Survey of Northern Nigeria, 1904-5. "
In order to assure success, experienced men are being brought from Tasmania by the Champion Gold Reefs group, and the Naraguta Company will have the benefit of their advice. At the statutory meeting in April last the chairman stated: "We have the proud distinction of owning the property from which the first shipments of tin were made not only that, but one of the richest out there, and I am quite confident this company can look forward to a very successful career.
The credit, therefore, for placing the Nigerian tin fields before the British investor is due to Messrs. Walter, Oliver Wethered and Mr. S. R. Bastard. It was Mr. Walter Wethered, being impressed by the large quantities of metal which were being brought down by the natives and sold to the Niger Company, who formed the opinion that these fields might be suitable for working on a large scale. Having satisfied himself on this point he was able to induce Mr. Bastard, and his brother, Mr. Oliver Wethered, to join in the business, and as a result the Champion Gold Reefs of West Africa Ltd., of which Mr. Bastard was Chairman, decided in the month of September 1909 to embark its remaining capital and all its energies in the exploitation of the new Nigerian tin field. In October the first members of their staff were sent out to the properties they had already secured, to be followed on 3rd November by Mr. C. G. Lush, the well-known tin expert, who was to advise them as to the best method of developing their properties. Everything that happened satisfied this pioneer group of the value of the field, and they formed the Tin Fields of Northern Nigeria Ltd., which was registered on 7th October 1909, with a capital of 100,000. Mr. Bastard became chairman of this company.
The Nigerian Tin Corporation Ltd., was registered on 14th October 1909, with a capital of 100,000. On this occasion Mr. Oliver Wethered took the chairmanship. No further company was floated during the year 1909, but on 5th January 1910 this same group issued the Naraguta (Nigeria) Tin Mines Ltd., with a capital of 175,000. This company had already in the few months it had been working, recovered over 300 tons of tin, and had declared its first dividend. The next venture to be floated by the Champion Gold Reefs company was the Northern-Nigerian (Bauchi) Tin Mines Ltd., registered on 2nd February 1910, with a capital of 200,000, of which Mr. Oliver Wethered became a director.
The foregoing were the first five companies registered for the sole purpose of working the alluvial tin deposits of Northern Nigeria, and they were all promoted by this pioneer group, comprising Messrs. Walter, Oliver Wethered, and Mr. S. R. Bastard.
TRANSPORTATION OF THE TIN PRODUCTION FOR EXPORT
The river route is obviously the quickest and cheapest, and is the one still in use, the natives carrying the tin in parcels of 60 Ibs. weight on their heads from the field to Loko, travelling about 1 5 miles a day. At Loko, the metal is put into small steamers or barges, according to the season, and conveyed to the confluence, where it is transferred to Niger boats and taken to Forcados for shipment to Liverpool, the entire journey occupying thirty-five days and costing 29 IDS per ton.
Gold was first reported in Nigeria by Dr. J.D. Falconer while in charge of the mineral survey of Northern Nigeria instituted by the Colonial Office in 1904.
Nigeria’s first major salt deposit was discovered at Muri in Northern Nigeria: about 1905
Nigeria’s first diamond discovery was at Sokoto and Zaria provinces in 1934
The first cigarette factory in Nigeria was set up at Oshogbo in 1933 by the British American Tobacco (BAT) Company. At first cigarettes were manufactured from imported tobacco-leaf as there was no suitable local tobacco.
The first piece of legislation was the PETROLEUM ORDINANCE OF 1889 which was followed by the Mineral Regulation (oil) Ordinance of 1907, both of which laid down a basic framework for the development of petroleum and its natural resources. By virtue of the Mineral Regulation (oil) Ordinance of 1907, it was stipulated inter-alia that only British subjects or companies controlled by British subjects would be eligible to explore for oil resources.
From 1914, the date of the Colonial Mineral Ordinance, the first oil related legislation in the new colonial state of Nigeria, the grant of licenses for oil production was restricted to British companies and individuals.
Nigeria’s first opportunity to host the OPEC Conference Meeting was in 1972, which occurred in a period when the global energy situation was yet to be a matter of strategic economic concern. The second time was in 2006 when it hosted the 143rd (Extraordinary) Meeting of the OPEC Conference from 11-14 December – Nigeria’s first time of hosting while serving as President of OPEC.
The N20 (Twenty Naira) banknote with size 151 x 78 mm became the first currency note in Nigeria bearing the Portrait of a Nigerian citizen, in this case, the late Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed (1938-1976) who was the torch bearer of the Nigerian Revolution July, 1975. He was declared a national hero on the 1st of October, 1978. The note was issued on the 1st Anniversary of his assassination as a fitting tribute to a most illustrious son of Nigeria.
First time Travel Visa was required by Nigerians to travel to the United Kingdom: 1984. This was under the Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria) and Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom) regime. From November 2013, Nigerians were required to pay £3000 travel bond before entering the UK.
The UK visa policy is to restrict some visitors from six Commonwealth nations - India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They will have to pay the refundable cash in return for visitor visas that allow them to stay in the UK for up to six months. According to the UK government, these six countries pose the "most significant risk of abuse" of visas by their citizens.
Arik Air’s first international commercial flight from Nigeria into Central Africa: 13 December 2011. The commercial flight was made between Lagos, Nigeria and Luanda, Angola. At commencement, it operated twice weekly on a Tuesday and Saturday. Arik Air is also Nigeria and Africa’s first airline to operate the Bombardier CRJ900 and the Q400 aircraft (October 2006). Arik Air was Nigeria and Africa’s first airline to make use of the monitoring service of Lufthansa Technik AG. The airline is the first in Africa and second airline in the world to introduce state-of-the-art Operations Control Centre (OCC) equipment in August 2008 at its head office in Lagos.
Nigeria’s first Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with the State of Israel: Signed 29 October 2013. As a result of the agreement, all Nigerian airlines will be able to operate direct flights to Israel from anywhere in the Nigeria and Israeli carriers will be able to operate flights to airports throughout Nigeria. The State of Israel joined three other countries in the Middle East that have air services agreement with Nigeria.
The first direct flight between Lagos and Amman post Nigerian independence: August 2013 by the Royal Jordanian Airline.
The first international commercial passenger flight at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu:Ethiopian Airlines (24 August 2013). This makes the airline the first international carrier to operate from Enugu.
The first international flight that touched down at the Enugu airport: Prince Engr. Arthur Eze, an Enugu-based billionaire businessman, flew into the Enugu airport in a private jet direct from Senegal, had on Tuesday 20 August 2013. The Akanu Ibiam Airport was given approval for upgrade to an international status by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
The first U.S airline to fly directly from the United States to Abuja: The U.S.-based Delta Airlines made its inaugural direct flight from New York to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in June 2009.
The first time a Chinese airline flew directly to Africa: Chinese air carrier, China Southern Airlines from Beijing to Lagos. On 31 December 2006, the maiden flight of Beijing-Dubai-Lagos direct airline of the China Southern Airlines Company (CSAC), with the new model of Airbus 330, successfully landed at the Lagos International Airport in Nigeria. It marks the inauguration of China's first direct flight to the Africa.
The historical event was witnessed by Mr. Femi Feni-Kayode, Minister of Aviation of Nigeria, representing Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria, Mr. Xu Jianguo, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Yan Zhize, Vice Minister of Bureau of Civil Aviation of China, Mr. Liu Shaoyong, General Manager of CSAC, and other officials and distinguished guests.
The first country in West Africa to officially report illicit methamphetamine Manufacture: Nigeria (July 2011) after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) reported drug seizure.
Nigeria's first private payphone company: Telipoint (1996)
The first Nigerian bank in Ghana: UBA Ghana Limited – commenced operations in 2004; and the first Nigerian bank in Liberia
United Bank for Africa became the first bank in Nigeria to institute a foundation, UBA Foundation. Funded with 1% of PBT, UBA Foundation is committed to the socio-economic betterment of the communities in which the bank operates.
- UBA was the first among international banks to be registered under Nigerian Law in 1961.
- UBA is the first Nigerian bank to offer an IPO following its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1970.
- UBA is the first Nigerian Bank to introduce a Cheque Guarantee Scheme - the first cheque guarantee card in the history of innovative banking services by any Bank in Nigeria, known as UBACARD in 1986.
- UBA is the first and only Nigerian Bank to obtain a banking license in the Cayman Islands -1988.
- First ever and only Nigeria bank to hit the NGN1 trillion balance sheet size (including contingents).
- UBA is the first Nigerian bank to embark on a GDR programme in 1990.
- UBA is the First bank in Nigeria to institute a foundation - UBA Foundation; the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the UBA Group.
- UBA Introduced the First Visa Dual Currency Debit Card in Nigeria.
- UBA and MoneyGram opened the first dedicated MoneyGram location in Nigeria.
- United Bank for Africa (UBA) attained a landmark achievement when it interconnected its 428 branches making it the bank with the largest online real time branch network in Nigeria and Africa. An integration process that was completed months below the normal industry average of 36 months.
- Successful underwriting of the first 100 percent local funding of an ExxonMobil/NNPC Joint Venture Project.
- UBA launches Nigeria's First Cash Deposit ATMs
- The first Nigerian Bank to penetrate into the Chinese Market (2010). The Bank opened a representative office in Beijing offering an array of services to its customers in Asia, including Chinese companies seeking to enter the Nigerian Market.
Nigeria’s first tax-exempted export processing zone was established during General Ibrahim Babangida’s rule, in Calabar in 1993, and 10 zones are currently operational. The Lekki Free Trade Zone near Lagos is the first such zone where Chinese companies have a major stake. It is a 16,500 hectare area, about 60 kilometers east of central Lagos was identified by the Lagos State Government (LSG) in 2005.
One of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC)’s first Nigerian projects was a $4.8 million, 71 kilometre rehabilitation of the Papalanto–Lagos expressway in 2000–01, which was followed by a much more substantial contract, a $50.5 million, 5,000 unit athletes’ village for the eighth annual All-Africa Games in Abuja, which was completed in August 2003. CCECC rehabilitated the Ikot Akpaden–Okoroette road in 2003–04 for $5.7 million, built a new $16.7 million corporate headquarters for the Nigerian Communications Commission in Abuja in 2003–05,100 and is the main construction company at the Lekki Free Trade Zone near Lagos.
The first Chinese newspaper hosted by Nigeria or any West African country: West African United Business Weekly (August 2005)
The first time for a Chinese research team to lead an operation in an African country’s exclusive economic zone: April 2014 by the Chinese scientific research ship Dayang Yihao, or Ocean One. The research team consisted of 15 Nigerians and 66 Chinese crew and conducted research mainly on the western part of Nigerian waters. The ship was captained by Cao Yezheng.
The 245-day voyage allowed researchers to study biological diversity in hydrothermal areas in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time with the hope of gaining valuable information for future biological and geological studies. The chief expedition scientist of the research team was Tao Chunhui.
The first ever audit of the oil and gas sector: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) 2006. In a written report submitted to Oil in Uganda, they note that in 2006 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) first ever audit of Nigerian oil industry showed that, in the period 1999-2004, oil companies reported having paid US$ 232 million more to the government than the government acknowledge receiving.
As well as highlighting the missing millions, the same audit “outlined various governance lapses, financial malpractices, physical and process deficiencies,” according to Nwadishi and Enenche.
Obiageli "Obi" Ezekwesili served as the Chairperson for the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative since 2004 and pioneered the voluntary sign-on of Nigeria to the EITI Principles, and subsequently Nigeria’s first ever audit of its oil and gas sector.
The first recorded aviation activity in Nigeria: Kano, July 1925. The British government at the time was maintaining an active Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Khartoum, Sudan. On sensing the trouble in Kano due to a tense stand-off between the residents and the colonial government officials, London swiftly signaled the commanding officer of the Khartoum RAF Squadron, instructing him to fly to the Northern Nigerian city and report on the situation. Flying a Bristol fighter, the pilot made a breath- taking but safe landing on the horse race course in Kano, thus going down in history as the first recorded aviation activity in Nigeria.
The earliest known commercial aviation activity in Nigeria is credited to one gentle man, "Bud" Carpenter, who owned the earliest type of the Light aircraft, de Havilland Moth. Records show that he frequently undertook high-risk flights between Kano and Lagos, using the rail tracks as his guide and piling up extra distance in the process.
In the early 1930s, an enterprising pilot carried a few fare-paying passengers in a seaplane between Lagos and Warri. With the continuation of the annual RPLF flights, aviation activities in Nigeria became quite considerable, creating the need for aerodromes.
In 1935, the operations of the RAF were replaced by those of the Imperial Airways that flew regular airmail and passengers from London to Nigeria. These services thus pioneered commercial international operations in Nigeria, although it was not until 1936 that commercial aviation actually came to Nigeria. The Imperial Airways, the forerunner of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), operated large four-engined aeroplanes, known as the Hannibal class or the Handley, on the Nile route from Cairo to Kisumu, Uganda. Towards the end of 1936, a once-weekly service was introduced and another route, Khartoum–Kano–Lagos, flight, which took seven days, was operated with a relatively small four-engined aircraft De Havilland 86 (one of the DH 86's well-known passengers was Sir Bernard Bourdillon, who flew on the first ever commercial flight from Lagos).
TECHNOLOGY
First set of made-in-Nigeria oil and gas grade steel pipes laid by a multi-national oil company: ExxonMobil Nigeria at its Edop-Idoho offshore field (2011).
The Helical Submerged Arc Welded pipes were manufactured by SCC Mill Abuja and coated by Adamac pipes coating and services limited. The event, which was a landmark in the implementation of Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry content development act was celebrated at the quayside of Onne free trade zone and atop crawler barge at Edop-Idoho field.
First Nigerian made car: The Z-600, is the first ever all-African car. Ninety per cent of its parts are locally produced and it has a doorbell for a horn. If it had gone into mass production, it would had cost just $2,000 (£1,195), making it the most affordable car in Africa - and probably the world. The Z-600's inventor, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu (first launched in Owerri in 1997 by then Chief of General Staff Oladipo Diya during the regime of former Head of State Sani Abacha).
While the Nigerian Government was reluctant to support the development of this project, the South African Government invited Dr. Izuogu in 2005 to proceed with the production of the car in their country.
However on 11th March 2006, according to Dr. Izuogu, some armed men numbering about 12 broke into the Izuogu Motors factory on Saturday, March 11, between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. and carted away various machines and tools including the design history notebook of Z-600, the design file Z-MASS, containing the design history for mass production of Z-600 car, and the moulds for various parts of the car.
Along with the design notebook (containing ten years of research), ten pieces of locally produced Z-600 engine blocks were also stolen along with: ten pieces of locally produced pistons, four pieces of engine block mounds, four pieces of top engine block moulds, ten pieces of engine fly wheel and two pieces each of rear car and front mudguard moulds”.
Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu is an electrical/electronics engineer, a doctor of science and lecturer of communications and electronics engineering at the Federal Polytechnic, Owerri, Nigeria.
First Nigerian to make a locally produced motor car: Dr. Ezikiel Izuogu (1997). The Z-600 made of Ninety per cent locally produced parts.
He also came up with a new branch of physics known as Emagnetodynamics, the branch of physics that studies the conversion of the energy of static magnetic fields into work. According to him, “the conventional electric motor was built on the principle/law of Michael Faraday which states that Force is exerted on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.”
The two laws of Emagnetodynamics state as follows: Force is exerted on a composite magnetic pole in the vicinity of an array of like poles; and this force is in the direction of the composite polarity similar to the array.
Based on these two laws, he invented the Izuogu machine
, also called the self-sustaining Emagnetodynamics machine, a kind of electric motor that draws atomic energy from the nuclei of permanent magnets and therefore requires no input power to operate.
There are two versions of the Emagnetodynamics machine – the non-self-sustaining and the self-sustaining machine which can run for upwards of 30 to 40 years. He added that soft iron machine or the hard iron machine could be built from each of them.
Dr. Izuogu argues that unlike nuclear reactors, the Izuogu machine draws atomic energy without the dangers and complications of nuclear reactors. Izuogu said that besides generating electricity, the machine can also power big luxury buses and trams. “The M-60 prototype machine has been built and demonstrated, while the M-1000 and M-6000 have been designed waiting to be built,” he said.
The first Urine powered generator, created by four girls. The girls are Duro-Aina Adebola (14), Akindele Abiola (14), Faleke Oluwatoyin (14) and Bello Eniola (15).
The generator is on display at an exhibition in Lagos Nigeria where people from the tiniest villages to those from big cities are talking about making stuff. This is part of an initiative by ‘Maker Faire Movement’ which seeks to showcase how traditional handicrafts can be a solution in the wake of expensive robot.
Their invention ensures that 1 Liter of urine gives you 6 hours of electricity.
The system works like this:
1. Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen.
2. The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder.
3. The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas.
4. This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator.
First wholly owned Nigerian manned vessel: Marine Vessel (MV) Osayame (2010). The South African built Damen Azimuth Stern Drive tug 3211 “Osayame” set sail from quay 500 in the Cape Town harbor last weekend of January 2010 to arrive in Port Harcourt only 12 days later. “Osayame”, meaning “God’s gift”, is the first tug of its kind to be built in South Africa by Damen Shipyards Cape Town, and its owner Starzs Investments is the first indigenous Nigerian company to commission and own such a vessel. The vessel carries a Nigerian flag and is100% Nigerian manned. Tug will be working on a 5-year contract as a support vessel in the oil bunkering services of Total Oil’s Nigerian off-shore storage facility. “Osayame” has a bollard pull of nearly 70 tons from its 5,600BHP Caterpillar engines. The Lloyd’s Registered escort tug has full fire fighting and pollution control capability along with its towing, line handling and escorting functionality. Rolls Royce thrusters allow the tug to turn 360 degrees on its own axis giving ultimate maneuverability, particularly in the tight confines of a harbour.
The Nigeriasat-1 was the first satellite to be built under the Nigerian government sponsorship. The satellite was launched from Russia on 27 September 2003. Nigeriasat-1 was part of the world-wide Disaster Monitoring Constellation System. The primary objectives of the Nigeriasat-1 were: to give early warning signals of environmental disaster; to help detect and control desertification in the northern part of Nigeria; to assist in demographic planning; to establish the relationship between malaria vectors and the environment that breeds malaria and to give early warning signals on future outbreaks of meningitis using remote sensing technology; to provide the technology needed to bring education to all parts of the country through distant learning; and to aid in conflict resolution and border disputes by mapping out state and International borders.
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is a novel international co-operation in space, led by SSTL bringing together organizations from seven countries: Algeria, China, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The DMC Consortium is forming the first-ever microsatellite constellation bringing remarkable Earth observation capabilities both nationally to the individual satellite owners, and internationally to benefit world-wide humanitarian aid efforts.
NigComSat-1, a Nigerian satellite built in 2004, was Nigeria's third satellite and Africa's first communication satellite. It was launched on 13 May 2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China. The spacecraft was operated by NigComSat and the Nigerian Space Agency, NASRDA. On 11 November 2008, NigComSat-1 failed in orbit after running out of power due to an anomaly in its solar array. It was based on the Chinese DFH-4 satellite bus, and carries a variety of transponders: 4 C-band; 14 Ku-band; 8 Ka-band; and 2 L-band. It was designed to provide coverage to many parts of Africa, and the Ka-band transponders would also cover Italy.
On 10 November 2008 (0900 GMT), the satellite was reportedly switched off for analysis and to avoid a possible collision with other satellites. According to Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, it was put into "emergency mode operation in order to effect mitigation and repairs". The satellite eventually failed after losing power on 11 November 2008.
Nigeria’s first radio station: The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is the pioneer broadcast organization in Nigeria.
Available records reveal that Radio Broadcasting was introduced into Nigeria in 1933 by the then Colonial Government. It relayed the overseas service of the British Broadcasting Corporation through wired system with loudspeakers at the listening end. The service was called Radio Diffusion System (RDS).
From the RDS emerged the Nigeria Broadcasting Service (NBS) in April 1950. Prior to the NBS, the Colonial Government had commissioned the Nigeria Broadcasting Survey undertaken by Messrs Byron and Turner which recommended the establishment of stations in Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, lbadan and Kano. Mr. T.W. Chalmers, a Briton and Controller of the BBC Light Entertainment Programme was the first Director-General of the NBS.
The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) came into being in April 1957 through an Act of Parliament No. 39 of 1956. The Director General was Mr. J.A.C Knott OBE. The first ads ran on October 31, 1961, and were broadcast from Lagos.
In 1978, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation was re-organized to become the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN. The NBC was instructed to handover its stations that broadcast on Medium Wave frequencies in the States to the State Governments and it took over Short Wave Transmitters from the States. The Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria, BCNN, was merged with the NBC stations in Lagos, Ibadan and Enugu to become the present day FRCN. The Reverend Victor Badejo was the first indigenous Director-General of Radio Nigeria.
The present Management of the FRCN has transformed the Corporation to truly “Uplift the People and Unite the Nation”, a responsive radio catering for the diverse needs of Nigerians.
Royal FM is an indigenous radio station based in Ilorin. Operating on 95.1MHz frequency, the radio is the first indigenous radio station in Ilorin, Kwara State, North Central Nigeria.
The Bring Back Our Girls hashtag was first used on April 23 by a Nigerian lawayer, Ibrahim Musa Abdullahi (@Abu_Aaid), who tweeted the phrase during a speech given by Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, at a UNESCO event.
Nigeria’s first private sport radio: Brilla 88.9 FM. It is owned by the great sport analyst, Larry Izamoje
The first private radio station in Nigeria: Raypower 100.5FM. On 15th December, 1993, DAAR Communications launched the first private radio station in Nigeria with the establishment of Raypower 100.5FM and commenced commercial broadcasting in September, 1994.
On October 7, 2008, the Company launched Nigeria’s first ever indigenously owned Direct-To-Home Pay Television Platform on High Definition (HD) with the launch of DAARSAT.
DAAR Communications Plc ventured into Television broadcasting on 6th December, 1996 with the establishment of Africa Independent Television – AIT.
The Company pioneered full-time 24 hour broadcasting on Radio and Television in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
DAAR Communications Plc is the foremost private independent broadcast outfit in Nigeria. The Company was incorporated on 31st of August 1988 as a Limited Liability Company with the objective of carrying on the business of broadcasting, printing, publishing, telecommunications and other allied multi-media services. DAAR Communications Limited converted into a Public Liability Company on April 23, 2007 and has both local and international broadcast stations as well as affiliate stations. It has a management team that consists of seasoned professionals who are committed to advancing broadcasting in the most efficient manner.
The first Yoruba Bible on any smart-phone platform: Fakuade Segun. The application has the following features - text, audio Bible reading, dynamic tile, Pictorial concordance, screen touch gesture that enables users increase and decrease the scripture text size and Bible Search. As at 18th January, 2014 there were 3,566 downloads from Nigeria, UK, USA, other African countries, Europe and Asia. The project was an undergraduate project supervised byDr O. Obe of the University’s Computer Science Department.
Nigeria’s first Capital Market: Commenced business as The Lagos Stock Exchange on 5 June 1961 with nineteen securities listed for trading. In December 1977 it became known as The Nigerian Stock Exchange. In 1977, The Lagos Stock Exchange was renamed The Nigerian Stock Exchange. On 3 January 1984, The Nigerian Stock Exchange launched an All-share Index. On 30 April 1985, Second-Tier Securities Market (SSM) now Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) was launched. On 27 April 27, 1999 The Nigerian Stock Exchange transited from the Open Outcry System to the Automated Trading System (ATS). On 14 October 1999, the NSE opened its Abuja office and commenced remote trading on the ATS (On-Line Real Time with Lagos).
Nigeria's first indigenous dating website/app: 4clique (http://www.4clique.com) was launched 29th August 2013 at the Eko Hotel & Suites. It is credited as the first phone application designed and built with the Nigerian user as its primary focus.
4Clique is a website and also an application available to iOS, Android and Blackberry users, which help the user meet people, find love and date in real-time.
The first generating power plant was installed in the city of Lagos in 1898 generating 30KW of power. This is fifteen years after its introduction in England.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange opened its first trading floor branch in Kaduna in June 1, 1978
The Nigerian Stock Exchange opened its first trading floor branch in the Eastern part of Nigeria: 1979 - The Port Harcourt branch/trading floor
The Nigerian Stock Exchange opened its first trading floor branch in the Northern part of Nigeria: 1989 - Kano Branch of The Exchange
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s All-share Index hit the 1,000 points mark: September 21, 1992
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange introduced a dress code for Authorised and Unauthorised Clerks: 16 November 1994
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange introduced Percentage pricing system introduced (with 5% as the limit of the daily fluctuation band): 2 May 1996
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange was elected President of the African Stock Exchanges Association (ASEA): 1998, in Cairo, Egypt
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will sign an international MoU with a foreign Stock Exchange: 1998 with Ghana Stock Exchange
The first Cross-border listing to be admitted by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE’s) to its Daily Official List: M-Net/Supersports in 19 November 1999. M-Net/Supersports has its primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. An MoU was signed with JSE Securities Exchange of South Africa (now JSE Ltd.) in 1999.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange gets its first Female DG/CEO: 2000 - Dr. Mrs Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, OON; The NSE's All-Share Index crosses the 10,000 points mark; NSE sign MoU with International Stock Exchange of London and Egyptian Stock Exchange
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) launched the first e-Business Platform / Internet Portal in Africa: 2002
The first quoted company in the Hotel & Tourism industry to be admitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange: Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc. in 6 September 2004.
The first companies to be listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) Maritime subsector: Japaul Oil and Maritime Services on 10 August 2005
The first company to be granted dual listing on the JSE Securities Exchange of South Africa by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE): Oando Plc on 25 November 2005.
The first companies to be listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) Equity “Mortgage Companies subsector”: Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc on 24 April 2006
The first re-insurance company to be admitted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Daily Official List: Continental Reinsurance Plc on May 30, 2007.
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange will cross the cumulative annual turnover of N1 Trillion Transaction Value and 51 per cent All-Share Index: July 23, 2007
The first Nigerian company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange: Diamond Bank Plc. on January 9, 2008 with the admission of its GDR on the Professional Securities Market
The first Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) to be admitted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Daily Official List on February 26, 2008
The first Telecommunications Company to be admitted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Daily Official List of: Starcomms Plc. on July 14, 2008
The first Microfinance bank NPF Microfinance Bank Plc. was admitted into the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Daily Official List - 2010
The Nigerian Stock Exchange launched the first ever Issuers’ Portal in the Nigerian Capital Market also known as X-Issuer in 2013
The first time the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will admit the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Government Bond to its Official List: 19 February 2004 - (The N150 billion first Federal Government Bond). The Bonds were issued in 2003 with maturity periods of 3years, 5years, 7years and 10years, and with minimum subscription of N10,000.00 + multiple of N1,000.00 thereafter. This is the first FGN long-term debt instrument issued by the CBN on the authority of the Debt Management Office (DMO) and on behalf of the Federal Government.
Nigeria’s first development stock was issued in 1946. Central Bank of Nigeria took the responsibility of issuing stock at its inception. The Lagos Stock Exchange (now Nigerian Stock Exchange) was set up in 1961 to take over transactions in the stocks.
The first Banking Ordinance of 1952 was based on The G. D. Paton Report. The ordinance was designed to ensure orderly commercial banking and to prevent the establishment of unviable banks. A draft legislation for the establishment of Central Bank of Nigeria was presented to the House of Representatives in March, 1958. The Act was fully implemented on 1 July, 1959 when the Central Bank of Nigeria came into full operations.
Nigeria’s first FM Radio: Radio Oyo, Broadcasting Organisation of Oyo State, Ibadan, 1979 also the first 24 hour broadcast service.
The first privately registered television station in Nigeria: Galaxy Television channel 53. It was also the first television station to broadcast. Galaxy started full broadcasting in May 1994 from the hills of Oke-Are, Ibadan with 10 kilowatts Areodyne transmitter.
The first Private TV Station in Nigeria: Clapperboard TV / Studios (March 1992 – August 1994).
Austeen Eruka, Founder / Chief Executive Officer
Licenced in 1992, Superscreen Television (then known as Clapperboard TV) is the first privately owned and operated television station in Nigeria. Superscreen Television has a potential reach of over 26 million people spread conveniently over four major states in Nigeria.
The first Cable TV Company in Nigeria to migrate from analogue to the digital platform: The Cable Mission TV (CMTV). The company was founded by Sir Godfrey Nnamdi Ohuabunwa, a pioneer innovator in the pay TV industry in Nigeria.
The first recorded Eclipse in Nigeria: A total eclipse of the sun occurred on May 20, 1947.
First television station in Africa: The Western Nigeria Television (WTN), Ibadan
Television began broadcasting on 31 October 1959 under the name Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation (WNTV) it was based in Ibadan and was the first television station in Sub-Sahara Africa; other Northern parts of Africa already had a television station.
The first live broadcast was from Ibadan by Madam Anike Kuforiji Agbaje-Williams the first face on television in Africa as an announcer. This was at WNTV-WNBS Ibadan on 31 October 1959.
WNTV was later taken over by the Federal Military Government (when state governments were banned from owning broadcast stations) and is now NTA Ibadan.
The first television station to launch regular/permanent colour broadcasts in Africa: Benue-Plateau Television Corporation (BPTV) commencing with color test transmissions on 1 October 1975. The BPTV was established in 1974 and was based in Jos.
The first railway in Nigeria was opened in 1898 between Lagos and Abeokuta, a distance of 96km. In common with the railways of other British colonies in Africa, the chosen gauge was 3ft 6in (1067mm), and this gauge was used for subsequent expansion.
On October 3, 1912 the Lagos Government Railway and the Baro-Kano Railway were amalgamated,[1] starting nationwide rail service under the name Government Department of Railways. With the passing of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act of 1955, the company gained its current name as well as the exclusive legal right to construct and operate rail service in Nigeria.
The first indigenous car manufacturing plant in Nigeria: Nnewi, the second largest city in Anambra State.
First wholly Made-in-Nigeria motorcycle (NASENI M1) was manufactured in Nnewi by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).
The first Igbo man to own and drive a car was HRH Igwe. Orizu I (Eze Ugbo Onya Mba) in 1912.
The first Aeroplane landed in Kano in the year 1925.
The first officially recorded Eclipse of the Sun by the Moon occurred in Nigeria in 1947.
First Nigerian to own a car: Herbert Macaulay
The first generating power plant was installed in the city of Lagos in 1898. From then until 1950, the pattern of electricity development was in the form of individual electricity power undertaking scattered all over the towns. Some of the few undertaking were Federal Government bodies under the Public Works Dept, some by the Native Authorities and others by the Municipal Authorities.
Lagos was founded by the Bini in the sixteenth century on the site of an earlier Yoruba settlement, and was known as Eko. The rulers of Lagos since then have all descended from the Benin warrior Ashipa who was the first king of the town, although the aristocracy are Yoruba. Ashipa's son built his palace on Lagos Island, and his grandson moved the seat of government to the palace from the Iddo peninsula. In 1730 the Oba of Lagos invited Portuguese slave traders to the island, and soon a flourishing trade developed.
The first recorded flight of an aeroplane in Nigerian was in 1925, when some Bristol Fighter aircraft of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom visited Nigeria from Cairo, Egypt.
In October 1931, a seaplane arrived in Nigeria from England in an attempt by an English company to establish commercial flying in Nigeria and West Africa generally.
Nigeria’s first modern wharves were built at Apapa and were opened in 1926. They had four berths. It was built to provide better harbour facilities to Nigeria.
The Lagos-Ibadan Telephone trunk line was completed by 1929
The development of commercial air transport in Nigeria dates from May 1946 when, by an Order in Council, the West Africa Air Transport Authority was constituted for the control and development of commercial civil aviation in British West Africa. The same Order in Council authorised the formation of the West African Airways Corporation to operate services between and within the West African Colonies (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gambia). Aircrafts were bought from the United Kingdom and operations commenced from 1947.
The first major commercial aircraft accident: The Bristol 170-type aircraft near Calabar in 1955. The 45-seater Bristol Aircrafts were introduced in 1945 to reduce operating and maintenance costs, thereby increase revenue. The Nigerian internal air services which was operated by the BOAC, alongside the WAAC services.
The first carrier telephone trunk circuit was put into service between Lagos and Oshogbo in early 1950.
The first automatic telephone exchange in Nigeria was opened in Port Harcourt in November 1950. The second was opened in Lagos in 1953.
The first Very High Frequency (V.H.F.) multichannel link was opened between Lagos and Ibadan in 1953, with 12 Telephone Channels.
The first installation of 3 ultra-high frequency (Microwave or U.H.F.) equipment, which could provide up to 240 channels on one path were brought into service on 1 January 1960, providing facilities for telephone subscribers in Lagos and Ibadan to dial each other direct.
Nigeria’s first indigenous motor brand: Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM)
Innocent Chukwuma is the founder and CEO of the Innoson Group of Companies – the conglomerate which owns IVM. He began his career as an auto-sales apprentice in Nnewi in 1976. In 1981, he began selling motorcycle parts before moving towards motorcycle manufacturing. During this time he also established the Enugu-based plastics manufacturing company – Innoson Technical and Industrial Company Limited. Today, it is the largest manufacturer of plastic products in Nigeria, as well as the largest manufacturer of crash helmets in West Africa.
The youngest among six children, Chief (Dr) Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma (OFR), was born into the family of Mr & Mrs Chukwuma Mojekwu of Uru-Umudim, Nnewi, in Anambra State, without the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.
But, what he lacked in affluent parental background, he made up for with intelligence, hard-work, discipline and business acumen – qualities that have continued to interplay remarkably in his many ventures.
In February 2007, Chukwuma embarked on what some analysts perceived then as a mission impossible, when it incorporated INNOSON Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM), to produce sundry commercial automobiles, utility vehicles and passenger cars, in collaboration with a consortium of Chinese auto manufacturers.
With the public display of some of the vehicles at the 2nd Nnewi International Auto Trade Fair held at the Beverly Hills Hotels (Gabros Sports Complex) in the last quarter of 2009, IVM did not only silence the critics, but made a bold statement about its readiness to achieve the avowed mission of being the first (indigenous) auto maker to produce truly Nigerian vehicles that are affordable and reliable.
Innoson’s IVM Motors was set up with the assistance of Chinese expatriates. At its inauguration in 2010, IVM already had in its product line SUVs, mini and long buses, heavy-duty vehicles, patrol vans and pick-up vans, easily establishing itself as a versatile automobile company capable of meeting a wide range of product demands.
The engines for IVM vehicles are imported, 60 percent of other parts are produced locally, making both assemblage and repair quick and convenient.
IVM’s models are more affordable than many foreign brands, which gives the company a distinct advantage. But IVM still has a long way to go if it hopes to gain a foothold in the hearts and minds of Nigerian consumers.
The first Nigerian Soldiers to manufacture hand-made grenades and mortars (Ogbunigwe): Biafran soldiers. In May 1969, Count Carl Gustaf Von Rosen launched “Operation Biafran Baby” against Nigeria troops
Count Carl Gustaf Ericsson von Rosen (August 19, 1909 – July 13, 1977) was a Swedish pioneer aviator, humanitarian, and mercenary pilot. He flew relief missions in a number of conflicts as well as combat missions for Finland (whose first military aircraft his father had donated in 1918) and Biafran rebels. His flights for the Biafran rebels were notable for using the small Malmö MFI-9 in a ground attack role.
Von Rosen's involvement in Africa did not end with the Congo Crisis. He gained international fame seven years later when he flew relief missions for aid organisations into war torn Biafra, a breakaway republic of Nigeria. These flights included flying a DC-7 from São Tomé to Uli at only a little above sea level in August 1968.
Disgusted at the suffering the Nigerian government inflicted on the Biafrans and the continuous harassment of international relief flights by the Nigerian Air Force, he hatched a plan in collaboration with the French secret service to strike back at Nigerian air power. He imported five small civilian single engine Malmö MFI-9 planes produced by SAAB, which he knew could also be used for a ground attack role in warfare. He had the planes painted in camouflage colours and fitted with rockets from Matra, and proceeded with a crew of two Swedes and two Biafrans to form a squadron called 'Babies of Biafra' to strike the air fields from which the federal Nigerian Air Force launched their attacks against the civilian population in Biafra. On May 22, 1969, and over the next few days, von Rosen and his five aircraft launched attacks against Nigerian air fields at Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin and other small airports. The Nigerians were taken by surprise and a number of expensive jets, including a few MiG-17 fighters and three out of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28 bombers, were destroyed on the ground.
Despite his controversial methods, Count Von Rosen would later be remembered for his efforts to modernize relief efforts.
The last action Count von Rosen saw was again in Africa in 1977, during the Ogaden War between Ethiopia and Somalia. Again flying famine relief for refugees, he was killed on the ground on 13 July 1977, during a sudden Somali army attack in Gode at the outbreak of the war.
The first airplane in Nigerian territory landed on a horse course in Kano city, 1925, from Khartoum, Sudan
The first Nigerian to discover an asteroid: Dr. Alphonsus Ekwerike
The first Nigerians to refine petroleum without using sophisticated refining machines or procedures: Biafra, Igbo during the Nigerian Civil War.
The first Nigerian locally fabricated Armoured Vehicle: Quaritch: Biafran Armoured Vehicle as displayed in the National War Museum, Umuahia
My appreciation goes to Philip Uko Efiong and the the entire family of Major-General Philip Efiong for the permission to share this piece of Nigerian ingenuity.
The Founder of Nigeria’s first licensed private refinery: Usua H. Amanam
The first edition of the Nigeria Register of Dams: 1995. Faced with the dangers of dam breaks as was epitomized by the failure of the Bagauda Dam in 1988 and the attendant destruction of lives, property, and downstream ecology, the Government decided to complete an inventory and register of dams. The objective of the project was to verify the location, distribution, and the vital statistics of dams. The project was successfully completed in 1995 with the production of the first edition of the Nigeria Register of Dams.
The first major Dam in Nigeria: Kainji Dam - Completed 1968. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in western Nigeria. Construction of the dam was carried out by Impregilo (a consortium of Italian Civil Engineering Contractors) to designs by Joint Consultants, Balfour Beatty and Nedeco, and began in 1964 to be completed in 1968. The total cost was estimated at US$209 million, with one-quarter of this amount used to resettle people displaced by the construction of the dam and its reservoir, Kainji Lake.
The first Nigerian racing team to represent the continent at world motorsports: Nigeria Racing Eagle (NRE), August 2012.
London-based entrepreneur Ribi Adeshokan has entered his country into the lavish and highly-competitive world of car racing and has ambitious plans to drive African motorsport and build a multi-million dollar racing industry on the continent.
The team unveiled a green and silver Audi R8 LMS as the team's car, and says it hopes to compete at major motor racing events over the next few months, including the FIA GT3 series and sports car endurance races.
An engineer by training, Adeshokan's association with motorsport first started as a hobby in early 2000. But he soon turned his passion into business and in 2007 he set up a racing company called GRC Motorsport.
GRC is looking to develop a racing championship in Nigeria and is also setting up a domestic academy to develop young drivers and prepare them to compete at the global stage. It has also teamed up with Tiger Racing, a UK-based sports car manufacturer, to create a development center to train young mechanics and engineers in the West African country.
The drivers who would be competing alongside other teams at the British GT Series for the 2013 season were officially unveiled on Friday 8th March 2013, they are ex Formula One Red Bull test driver Adrian Zaugg and Paris based Christian Ebong. The other drivers unveiled on the day are Sam Collins, Gugu Zulu and the junior drivers, Nathan Wright and Ovie Iroro.
Team Nigeria Racing Eagle will race an Audi R8 LMS in the 2013 championship that starts on Easter Weekend at Oulton Park.
The first Nigerian Team Principal/Owner of an International Motor Racing Team: Ribi Adeshokan who owns the Nigerian Racing Eagle Motorsport Team.
PROFESSIONALISM
First Nigerian Judge at The International Criminal Court (ICC): Chile Eboe-Osuji (11 March 2012)
Barrister (or more appropriately, Judge) Chile Eboe- Osuji was born in Anara, Imo State of Nigeria, on 2 September 1962.
He obtained his Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Calabar and got his Master of Laws Degree from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He then went on to get a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986 and practised law in Nigeria for just a short period.
From 1997 to 2005, he worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as prosecution counsel and senior legal officer to the judges of the tribunal.
On 16 December 2011, he was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC). He won the office in the fifteenth ballot in the Assembly of States Parties with 102 votes. He was sworn in on 9 March 2012 and took to office on 11 March 2012.
The first female CEO to be appointed in Total E&P Nigerian Ltd, Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd and other subsidiaries operating in Nigeria: Elisabeth Proust. She succeeded former CEO Guy Maurice.
The first Nigerians to qualify as medical doctors when they simultaneously gained the M.R.C.S. of England at King's College, London: Africanus Horton and William Davies (1858).
Africanus Horton was born of Ibo parents in the village of Gloucester, Sierra Leone, on 1 June 1835. In an age of phenomenally high infant mortality, he was the lone survivor of eight children. He had his preliminary education at the village school in Gloucester under Rev. Beale. When, in 1847, he entered the Sierra Leone Grammar School. His studies included Latin, Greek, and English literature, which provided the classical education which was to feature subsequently in his prolific prose. Horton went on to Fourah Bay Institute (later called Fourah Bay College) where, like William Davies before him, he passed two years with the intention of training for the ministry. When in 1855 the British government wanted to train promising West Africans for medical posts in the Army, Horton, who had by then left his mark as a potential intellectual, was chosen and sent to London.
Horton graduated at King's College in 1858 after an eminently successful undergraduate career. Dr. R. Jelf, D.D., the principal, in a testimonial commended "the excellent conduct and diligence of Dr. James B. Horton" during his studentship when "he gained the prize for surgery and five certificates of honor [sic] in different branches of medical education". On graduation, the principal and professors recommended to the Council Horton's election to the Associateship of the college, "a distinction which always implies not only proficiency in studies, but also an unimpeachable academic character".
On 19 October 1858, Horton matriculated at Edinburgh University. In March 1859, he submitted his thesis entitled "The medical topography of the West Coast of Africa, with sketches of its botany" for the M.D. which he gained with commendation on 1 August 1859. On the title-page he referred to himself as a "native of West Africa" and christened himself "Africanus". Many scholars of African nationalism hailed this new name as evidence of the political awakening of Horton. That was probably correct. It is also possible that the erudite Horton took his cue from the practice of older scholars who often latinized their names on gaining eminence. Thus Jacques Dubois, the French anatomist, became Jacobus Sylvius and his illustrious pupil, Andrew Wesel of Brussels, later christened himself Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis.
Horton retired from the British Army in West Africa in 1880 as a Surgeon Major. Thereafter, he took up banking, and against manifold odds, succeeded in founding his Commercial Bank of West Africa in December 1882." He died in Sierra Leone in October 1883 from a severe attack of erysipelas.
The first Nigerian to practise modem medicine in his own country was Nathaniel King, who graduated from King's College, London, in 1874. He thereafter studied in Edinburgh before returning to Lagos to serve as the medical attendant to the agents of the Church Missionary Society.
Although Dr. King occasionally acted as locum at the Colonial Hospital of Lagos, the first Nigerian "Colonial surgeons" in that hospitalwere Obadiah Johnson and John Randle who were both brought into the colonial medical service of Lagos in 1889 by Governor Moloney. After he became M.R.C.S. of England at King's College, London, in 1884, Johnson went to Edinburgh and obtained the M.B., C.M. in 1886. While in Scotland, he became acquainted with a fellow Nigerian, John Randle, who had entered Edinburgh University in 1884 and later graduated M.B., C.M. in 1888.
The fourth child in a family of seven, Obadiah was born at Hastings, Sierra Leone on 29 June 1849. His educational career which began in 1855 at the Day School in Hastings was continued in Nigeria in 1858 as a result of the transfer of his father to Ibadan. After a spell at Kudeti, Ibadan, Obadiah Johnson entered Faji Day School, Lagos, in 1864 where his brother, Nathaniel, was a school-teacher. Obadiah left Faji in 1868 and became apprenticed to a Lagos carpenter. After two years he returned to Sierra Leone to study at the Grammar School in Freetown from where he entered Fourah Bay College in 1877. When that college became affiliated to Durham University in 1876, two annual open scholarships were created to encourage the best students to go to Fourah Bay. Obadiah Johnson, who topped the list of the candidates in a competitive examination, went on to pass the B.A. degree in 1879.
Randle was born on 1 February 1855 in Regent, a village situated at the foot of the Sugar Loaf mountains in Sierra Leone. His father, Thomas Randle, a liberated slave, came from an Oyo village in Western Nigeria, and ultimately returned to Lagos to establish a successful haberdashery trade at Aroloya.52 From the village school in Regent, John Randle went to the Grammar School in Freetown. In 1874, he enrolled as a student dispenser at the Colonial Hospital, Freetown, and qualified in 1877. Thereafter, he left for the Gold Coast where he was involved in many public health programmes, including extensive smallpox vaccination. He impressed his superiors with his unusual diligence and enthusiasm so that they helped him to achieve his ambition to study medicine. Randle was said to have saved almost every penny he had in order to finance his studies, which began at Edinburgh University in 1884, and were successfully completed in 1888 when he graduated M.B., C.M. and gained the gold medal in materia medica.
Randle came to Lagos in December 1888 as a locum Assistant Colonial Surgeon at the Lagos Colonial Hospital. In November 1890, he married Victoria Matilda Davies, eldest daughter of the rich James Labulo Davies and of Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies, the Yoruba slave girl who was adopted and educated at the personal expense of Queen Victoria. The name Victoria was given to Matilda Davies at her christening by Queen Victoria who also gave her a life-long allowance of forty pounds sterling and a "solid gold christening set" which is still preserved in Lagos by Randle's son, Romanes Adewale. Maltida's wedding gown was the gift of the queen, "who kindly chose the material and before sending the gown to be fitted on, she had it made up for her own and her family's inspection and then sent the bride a very pretty message to say they hoped she would think it as charming as they did".
Randle died on 27 February 1928.51 In 1940 his remains were moved from the rear to the front of the Ikoyi cemetery in Lagos - a symbolic gesture, which recognized his achievements.
Dr. Leigh-Sodipe was the first Nigerian doctor whose name had an African ring about it. He was born in Lagos and obtained his qualifying and postgraduate degrees from the University of Durham
First Nigerian pilots to fly an Airbus A340-500 aircraft: Captain Horace Millar-Jaja and Flight Officer Imomoh Bodeame (2009) (maiden flight on the A34Q-500 aircraft from London Heathrow to Lagos on Sunday, July 19, 2009).
Nigeria’s first Commercial Pilot: Robert Hayes in 1955 Trained at the Air Science Training College, Hamble, Southampton, England.
The first set of· British-trained Nigerian physiotherapists returned to the country between 1958 and 1959 - about 75% of them were men.
The first professor of statistics in Africa: The late Professor S. O. Adamu
First President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers: Engr. Chief. G.O. Aiwerioba (FNSE)
The first president of The Nigerian Cardiac Society: Professors A.U. Antia
The Nigerian Cardiac Society was founded in March 1971.The society has since then regularly held its annual scientific conference as well as an annual general meeting. Founding fathers to whom credit must be given include: Professors A.U. Antia (First President), Edington, Abraham, Cockshott, Brokington, Parry, Ikeme, Ogunlesi, Akinkugbe, Carlisle, Udekwu and Dede Ihenacho.
The Nigerian Cardiac society strives to disseminate current and evidence-based information on cardiovascular diseases to the public, as well as promote the adoption of healthy life-styles by the general public through adoption of cardiovascular disease preventive measures that have been borne out of research.
During the 7th World Congress of Cardiology in 1974, the Society was admitted to the membership of the International Society and Federation of Cardiology (ICSF) now World Heart Federation. The President of the Nigerian Cardiac Society is invited as a special guest to the Annual Scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
The Pan African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) was inaugurated in 1981 at ASCON Badagry through the efforts of the Nigerian Cardiac Society and the financial support of the Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (now Associated Pharmaceutical Products).
Membership of the society is open to certified persons within and allied to the cardiovascular healthcare delivery disciplines. Persons who are in training in these disciplines are welcome as Associate members.
The first Nigerians to drive a British Monarch on a Petrol Locomotive Train in Nigeria: Akabosu, assisted by S. O. Roberts, D. B. Desalu and E. O. Adegbesan. During Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Nigeria in 1957 in which she was driven from Lagos to Ibadan by Akabosu, afterwards, the drivers interchanged through the journey to Kaduna where they were joined by the Queen who had alighted at Ibadan and flewn to Kaduna. From Kaduna she was driven by train to Kano from where she flew back to England.
The first private practitioner to be elected president of the Nigerian Medical Association: Kofoworola Adekunle "Kofo" Abayomi. Abayomi was a founding member of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) in 1933 and became the first Nigerian Chairman of the Board of the University College Hospital, Ibadan in 1958, a position he held until 1965.
Abayomi was born on the 10 July 1896 in Lagos. He was of Egbe origin. He was educated at Methodist Boys' High School Lagos and thereafter studied pharmacy at the Yaba Higher College, then attended the Medical School, University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1925. He was retained as a demonstrator for a period before he returned to Nigeria to work under Dr. Oguntola Sapara. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1930 to study tropical medicine and hygiene, and returned again in 1939 for a postgraduate course in ophthalmic surgery and medicine. As an African doctor with British training, Abayomi had to join the British Colonial Medical Service to make a living, and had to cope with British doctors who felt that Africans were inferior.
Sir Kofo died peacefully at home on 1 January 1979 at the age of 82, leaving behind a widow, Lady Oyinkan Abayomi, who was herself a prominent figure in the history of Nigeria.
The first distinguished Professor of Cultural Diversity at the University of Wisconsin: Osonye Tess Onwueme (born September 8, 1955)
Osonye Tess Onwueme is a Nigerian playwright, scholar and poet, who rose to prominence writing plays with themes of social justice, culture, and the environment. In 2010, she became the University Professor of Global Letters, following her exceptional service as Distinguished Professor of Cultural Diversity and English at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
She was born in Ogwashi-Uku, present-day Delta state, to the family of barrister Chief Akaeke and Maria Eziashr. Osonye was educated at the Mary Mount Secondary School: it was while at the school that she first dabbled in writing. After secondary education, she married an agronomist, I. C. Onwueme, and bore five children, during the time she attended the University of Ife, for her bachelor's degree in education (1979) and masters in literature (1982). She obtained her PhD at the University of Benin, studying African Drama. In 1998 she married Obika Gray, a Jamaican political scientist.
The first official director general of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA): Vincent Maduka, a former engineer. Prior to his appointment Maduka was General Manager of Western Nigeria Television, Ibadan, which was Africa's first television station.
Nigeria's first indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle: GULMA, designed and constructed by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), was presented to President Goodluck Jonathan in Kaduna on December 17, 2013, Tuesday.
First-ever Nigerian to be awarded the Nigerian National Merit Award in October 1979: Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. In 1992 he became the first living writer to be represented in the Everyman's Library collection published by Alfred A. Knopf.
Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was best known for his first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
The first chairman, Governing Council, Ogun State College of Education ( now Tai Solarin College of Education); chairman, Ogun State Council of Arts and Culture: Professor (Senator) Afolabi Olabimtan - B.A. London, Higher Dip in Education (Dublin) M.A. Lagos, PhD Lagos
Professor Afolabi Olabimtan was born on the 11th of June 1932 in Ilaro, Yewa South, Ogun State, Nigeria. He attended Christ Church School, Ilaro between 1939 and 1947 and later proceeded to the famous Methodist Boys High School (MBHS) Lagos where he passed out with flying colours in 1953.
Nigerian who designed General Motor’s first Electric Car-The Chevrolet Volt: Mr Jelani Aliyu
He is a northerner (from Sokoto State), a Muslim, he grew up in Nigeria, left the university to complete his studies in a polytechnic.
He first studied Architecture, the closest thing to car designing in Nigeria at the Birnin-Kebbi Polytechnic. He later enrolled at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan where he studied Transportation Design. Upon graduation from the College for Creative Studies, Mr. Aliyu obtained a position with General Motors, where he worked at the GM Tech Center for about three years and then an international assignment took him to Germany for nearly two years to work at Opel. After his tenure at Opel, Jelani returned to the GM Tech Center, where he came up with the design for the Chevrolet Volt Electric Car.
The Chevrolet Volt concept car debuted at the January 2007 North American International Auto Show, becoming the first-ever series plug-in hybrid concept car shown by a major car manufacturer.
The Volt concept car became the first application of the E-Flex (Voltec) drive system with a combination of an electric motor, the same used in theChevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell, a 16 kWh (58 MJ) lithium-ion battery pack with 136 kW of peak power, and a genset consisting of a small 1.0 L, 3-cylinderturbocharged flex-fuel capable engine linked to a 53 kW (71 hp) generator.
On March 31, 2010, the first factory-built Volt was produced at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant in order to test the production line and for quality control purposes, both of the tooling and the pre-production vehicles produced before regular production began.
The first Volt built for retail sale was earmarked for display at General Motors' Heritage Center museum in Sterling Heights, Michigan and the first retail vehicle was delivered to a customer in Denville, New Jersey on December 15, 2010.
The first Veterinarian in Nigeria to graduate with an MBA degree from the University of Lagos: Dr. Olatunde Aiyedun Agbato. Agbato attended Wesley School, Ogere Remo, Ijebu Ode Grammar School, and the University of Ibadan, where he studied Veterinary Medicine and obtained the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1975 with distinctions in Pathology and Parasitology.
Agbato served for about 16 months as a lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan before enrolling for the Master of Business Administration programme at the University of Lagos; thus graduating 15 months later with an MBA degree; becoming the first Veterinarian in the country to do so.
Agbato is the recipient of the first Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan.
The first Chairman of the Lagos Country Club was Mr. R. Simpson (a Briton) while the first Nigerian was a Medical Doctor Dr. Williams.
The Lagos Country Club was founded on 3rd August 1949 and incorporated under the Land Perpetual Succession Ordinance, CAP 107 on 30th October 1956.
The original site of the Club was the hanger of the Royal Air Force by the West African Airways Corporation (WAAC) owned by Anglophone West African Countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. Upon independence of Nigeria in October 1960 WAAC was changed to Nigeria Airways.
The first molecular identification of any myiasis-causing fly species in Nigeria: Ndudim Ogo (2011). An original research work by Ndudim I. OgoI, Emmanuel OnovohI, Oluyinka O. OkubanjoIII, Ruth C. GalindoII, Jose-Manuel P. de la LastraII, Jose de la FuenteII on Molecular identification of Cordylobia anthropophaga Blanchard (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae collected from dogs (Canis familiaris) in Jos South, Plateau State, Nigeria. It is suggested that the research method may serve as a reliable alternative to morphological identification where samples are not well preserved or difficult to identify to species level.
The first West African woman to achieve a Certificate of the Apothecaries of the Pharmaceutical Society of London:Oreoluwa Green - Born in 1885, she attended St Peters School and the CMS Girls Seminary, as well as private tuition under Rev W.B. Euba. She travelled to the UK in 1912 and obtained the following qualifications: 1st Class Certificate, Theory of Music from The London School of Music; Certificate of the Central Midwives Board (Honours Certificate) from the Clapham School of Midwifery and Clapham Maternity Hospital; Certificate of the Apothecaries of the Pharmaceutical Society of London, the first West African woman to achieve this; Certificate of the Westminster College of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Botany; Certificate of Licence as a qualified Druggist, and lastly a Certificate of Cookery (Distinction for Invalid Cookery). She worked as a dispenser at the Eye and Ear Hospital, Soho, before returning to Nigeria in 1917. She then worked with Dr Savage as a Druggist and Midwife and later with Dr Ladipo Oluwole, as a Health Visitor.
First Nigerian & the first ever Howard graduate recipient of the Poincaré Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology for postgraduate studies (1st class degree in Electrical Engineering at HOWARD University, USA): Miss Oluwatosin Otitoju
The first Nigerian to become a People's Peer of England's House of Lord: Lord Adebowale
Victor Olufemi Adebowale, Baron Adebowale, CBE (born 21 July 1962) is the Chief Executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point and was one of the first to become a People's Peer.
Adebowale joined Turning Point as Chief Executive in September 2001. Turning Point is the UK’s leading social care organisation and provides services for people with complex needs, including those affected by drug and alcohol misuse, mental health problems and those with a learning disability. Turning Point runs projects in 244 locations across England and Wales and last year had contact with 130,000 people. In addition to providing direct services, Turning Point also campaigns nationally on behalf of those with social care needs.
Adebowale was born to Nigerian parents Ezekiel & Grace Adebowale and was educated at Thornes House School, Wakefield and the Polytechnic of East London. He began his career in Local Authority Estate Management before joining the housing association movement. He spent time with Patchwork Community Housing Association and was Regional Director of the Ujima Housing Association, Britain’s largest black-led housing association. He was Director of the Alcohol Recovery Project and then Chief Executive of youth homelessness charity Centrepoint before taking up his current post.
Adebowale was a member of the Social Exclusion Unit’s Policy Action Team on Young People and was Chair of the Review of Social Housing Co-ordination by the Institute of Public Policy Research.
Adebowale divides his time between a wide range of influential policy-making bodies. He is involved in a number of taskforce groups, advising the government on mental health, learning disability and the role of the voluntary sector. He is Co-Chair of the Black and Minority Ethnic Mental Health National Steering Group and is a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Adebowale is a patron of Rich Mix Centre Celebrating Cultural Diversity, a patron of Tomorrow’s Project and of the National College for School Leadership. He is a member of the National Employment Panel, the New Economics Foundation Board and the Institute for Fiscal Studies Council. He is also on the policy advisory board of the Social Market Foundation, and on the board of the National School of Government.
Adebowale has an honorary PhD from the University of Central England in Birmingham, an honorary doctor of letters from the University of Lincoln, an honorary PhD from the University of East London and most recently an honorary doctor of the university from the University of Bradford, where he is involved with their Centre for Inclusion and Diversity, in December 2007. He is an honorary fellow of South Bank University and Honorary Senior Fellow in the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham.
In 2000, Adebowale was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honour List for services to the New Deal, the unemployed, and homeless young people. In 2001, Adebowale became one of the first group of people to be appointed as people's peers and the title was gazetted as Baron Adebowale, of Thornes in the County of West Yorkshire on 30 June.
On 12 December 2008, Adebowale was installed as Chancellor of the University of Lincoln.
The first review editor of the Harvard Law Review; first Nigerian OR non- American citizen to be a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice; First Nigerian to lead a group of investors to buy Gatwick Airport: Adebayo Ogunlesi
The first oil company owned by a Nigerian: Wale Tinubu (Onado)
The first Nigerian to head the FAO (part of the UN): Kanayo Nwanze
The first Nigerian to head a United Nations Peace Keeping Force: General Martin Luther Agwai
The first Nigerian President of Rotary International: Jonathan B. Majiyagbe, President, Rotary International 2003-2004; First African President of Rotary International and First Black President of Rotary International
The first Nigerian CEO of Divaderme: Olabisi Waller
The first Nigerian to be the vice president of East Lansing’s high-end Web-development firm, Artemis Solutions Group, CEO of the electronic payment startup, Enliven Software, and director of an “education portal” company in Africa called Splashers Technologies: Bunmi Akinyemiju
The first Nigerian to become the director of the U.S./Africa Materials Institute and the Director of the Undergraduate Research Program at The Princeton Institute of Science and Technology: Winston Wole Soboyejo
The first Nigerian Vice President for the African Development Bank: Arunma Otteh (Now DG of the SEC).
The first African to coach a British Clubside: Michael Emenalo (November 2010)
He was appointed Assistant First Team Coach, moving up a position from Head Opposition Scout. He took over from Ray Wilkins who was let go by Chelsea.
Africa's first producer on television in 1959 at the WNTV now NTA Ibadan: Chief Segun Olusola (right) and Segun Sofowote (left), co-dancers in a dance drama 1960s. Segun Olusola was Born at Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, on March 18, 1935, he attended the Roman Catholic School Iperu- Remo between 1941 and 1943. He was also at Wesley School Iperu from 1944 to 1947 and the Remo Secondary School, Sagamu from 1948 to 1953. His working career began with the ECN now PHCN. His stay in the accounts department was short-lived. A broadcasting career had already beckoned. He took up the offer to work on the small screen in 1955 at the Ibadan station of the Nigerian Broadcasting Service. He had the distinguished honour of becoming Africa's first producer on television in 1959 at the WNTV now NTA Ibadan. His career on television endured till 1987.He served as Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON). He supervised the coverage of the Second All Africa Games in 1973 and became NTA's director of Commercial Operations in 1986. In furtherance of his broadcasting career, he attended various institutions including the Syracuse University New York (USA) 1960, BBC Management of Resources Course (UK) 1974, Pittsburg University Management Program for Executives (USA) 1980, and at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Jos 1982. He was Nigeria's longest-serving ambassador to Ethiopia (1987 - 1993). Olusola was also a civil society activist with his African Refugees Foundation. Culture icon Chief Segun Olusola passed on 22 jun. 2012. Source: Segun Sofowote (Pictures on website).
The first African to head the Shell Geological Laboratory in Nigeria and established with others the conceptual model for the development of the Niger Delta basin by Escalator Regression: Dr. M. Ebi Omatsola
He is the first recipient of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Sponsored-NMGS/Chief M.O. Feyide's Award for Excellence and Continuity in Petroleum Geology/Engineering in Africa (March, 1999), the first recipient of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) sponsored-Aret Adams Distinguished Award to Best Petroleum Geoscientist for Significant Contributions to the Earth Sciences as related to Oil & Gas (November, 2001) and the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences (NMGS) Shell Award for the Recognition of Consistent Excellent Contribution to the Development of Mining and Geosciences in Africa (March 2006).
The first Nigerian Managing Director of Chase Merchant Bank: Dr. John Abaelu
In 1960, Chase received a license from the Nigerian government to engage in commercial banking in the country, and a Chase subsidiary acted as the lead partner in organizing Nigerian Textile Mills, the first major private industrial project with an American interest in Nigeria. Chase opened a branch in Lagos, Nigeria, the following year that offered a full range of commercial banking services.
In 1975, Chase formed the Chase Merchant Bank Nigeria Ltd. At the same time, Morgan Guaranty, another predecessor firm, joined three local financial institutions to form a merchant bank — Icon Ltd.
By 1985, both Morgan Guaranty and Chase withdrew their interests in the merchant bank ventures, while Chase proceeded to open a representative office in Nigeria — Chase Manhattan Nigeria Limited. Today, J.P. Morgan has a subsidiary in Lagos, Nigeria, that operates as a representative office.
J.P. Morgan Chase was formed in 2000, when Chase Manhattan Corporation merged with J.P. Morgan & Co.
Chase Merchant Bank is currently listed as a company of engineering consultants and contractors and is involved in the construction of industrial equipment.
The first female presenter to present a programme on the first private Radio station in Nigeria:Oluwayemi Adenuga on Ray Power 100fm
Oluwayemi Adenuga, best known as Yemi Adenuga and often referred to as "Energy in Motion" is a broadcaster for over two decades. She hosted a talk show, 'Sharing with Yemi' from 1996–2003 on Nigeria's First private Television Station, Africa Independent Television (AIT). Yemi is also a Human Resource practitioner/Consultant, Media Personality/Consultant, Project Management Consultant, Compere extraordinaire, social entrepreneur, motivator, mentor, researcher, international speaker, versatile scriptwriter, presenter, Television producer and Television director for both Radio and Television.
Yemi was the director/producer of the first programme to be aired African Independent Television (AIT), “Africa, what hope for tomorrow”
Yemi is the Project Manager for Cultúr, an Irish government funded community organisation in Ireland, working with migrants to promote equal rights and opportunities and develop an intercultural County Meath. She serves as the Chairperson of the steering committee of the M.I.M.E project (Migrants Integrating in Meath Equally), Ireland, the Vice-President of the Meath Intercultural Network (MIN), Ireland and the Chairperson of the Migrant Women Leaders Council, Ireland. Yemi has a vision to empower women and through her AWDI project has motivated many African women in Ireland to continually develop and educate themselves. She is married to Deji Adenuga. one of Nigeria's A-List Nollywood actors and they live in Navan, Ireland with their children.
In his pioneering work History of the Yorubas (1921), Samuel Johnson recorded the various scarification designs used by the Yoruba subgroups. Aside from group identification and healing, scarification may also be linked to times of war and the transatlantic slave trade.
Scarification is the practice of marking an individual with deliberate cuts and filling them with a charcoal mixture; they heal into permanent, black scars. These scars are usually on the face to easily identify ethnic and clan affiliation. The most common design is a short series of cuts in different directions across the cheek. Scars on a person’s face, however, may simply indicate the application of traditional medicine in an open cut.
Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Shenyang, China in 1996. Professor Michaek U. Onuu became the first black man to visit IMR for research and was involved in creep studies and characterization of Nigeria’s locally produced steels and also composite materials, at intermediate and high temperatures, which was used by Mitsubishi Motor Company, Japan in the production of engine of racing cars.
The first recorded international cricket match involving Nigeria was against the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1904. Cricket was introduced into and first played in Nigeria by British colonial administrators in the 19th century. In 1959, Rex Akpofure made history by becoming the first Nigerian to captain a joint Nigerian team (expatriates and locals) in a series against Ghana. Nigeria won the first 10 editions of the West Africa Cricket Conference (WACC) Quadrangular featuring the four West African countries of Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone from 1976 to 1997.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has visited Nigeria on three occasions, in 1976, 1994 and 2004. In 1976, the MCC won all its matches convincingly; however in 1994, it experienced its first defeat in West Africa, losing once to an inspired Nigerian team on 19th January by three wickets in the first of a two-match series.
The first sub-Saharan bank and first Nigerian joint stock company, listed on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse: 2007 - Guaranty Trust Bank plc Registered in 1990 by Central Bank of Nigeria. GTB successfully placed Nigeria’s first private Eurobond issue on the international capital markets raising an IPO of $750 million in 2007. GTB Plc is a partner of Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas
HEALTH
The first Successful Kidney Transplant: Through the leadership of Dauda Mbaya, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) in collaboration with the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital and the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (2010)- Donor of the kidney, Abubakar Usman, 27, donated his kidney to his brother, Suleiman Usman willingly.
The first Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) banking and analysis facility in Nigeria (March 2011): The Nigerian military (second on the African continent, after the South Africa Police DNA laboratory).
The bank designed and installed by a US-based firm, Integrated Technologies and Services International.
The facility, which was established by Defence Headquarters, would provide accurate identification of personnel and remains of fallen heroes, paternity testing, forensic testing, to convict or freed suspects, genomic-based biomedical research and development of genomic-based treatment.
The first open-heart surgery in Nigeria was performed on 1 February 1974 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu. The team of surgeons included M. Yacoub (from the UK), F.A. Udekwu, D.C. Nwafor, C.H. Anyanwu, and others. Dr. R. Carlisle, a cardiologist in part-time employment at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan and the Baptist Medical Centre, Ogbomoso established the first Cardiac Registry at the UCH, Ibadan in 1964. His efforts drew attention to the hospital prevalence rate of the diseases and constituted the early reports from West Africa without much attention to surgical interventions.
The first fully trained cardiothoracic surgeon in Nigeria, certified by the American Board of Surgery as well as the American Board of Thoracic Surgery: Professor Fabian Udekwu (The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu (UNTH). After visiting the United Kingdom many times to understudy the latest techniques under Sir Magdi Yacoub, a renowned cardiac surgeon in the United Kingdom (UK) and to solicit his assistance for their first open heart surgery at UNTH.
After an extensive preparation, training and assembly of his team, the first open heart surgery was performed at the UNTH, Enugu in January 1974 by Sir Magdi Yacoub from UK, Professors Udekwu, C H Anyanwu, D C Nwafo, B U Umeh, E O Okoroma, H N C Ihenacho, C C Okechukwu and other colleagues.
Dr. John Okereke was the first cardiologist in Nigeria to bring his personal 2-D echocardiogram with colour Doppler for demonstration during the annual conference of the Nigerian Cardiac Society in Ibadan.
On December 19, 1978, the first open heart surgery was performed at UCH, Ibadan by a team of Nigerian cardiac surgeons that included Professor Isaac Grillo, Drs Samuel Adebonojo, Olu Osinowo and ’Wole Adebo. The anaesthesiologists were Drs Funsho Akinyemi, and Ekundayo Famewo. The perfusionist was Mr. Osanyituyin and Mrs Omotosho was one of the operating room nurses.
The UCH, Ibadan procedure was the first open heart surgery performed by a team of all Nigerian cardiac surgeons, nurses, perfusionist, anaesthesiologists without on-site assistant from abroad. The patient died intraoperatively due to incorrect preoperative diagnosis of ASD that turned out to be a Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR). The second operation on September 18 1979 was our first successful open heart procedure performed by the same group of Nigerian cardiac surgeons and anaesthesiologists at UCH, Ibadan.
The first organised Veterinary service organisation in Nigeria was the Veterinary Department established in 1913 with its headquarters at Zaria in the Northern Province of Nigeria under the leadership of Mr. F. R. Brandt, Chief Veterinary Officer. The department operated with skeletal staff conducting livestock census and disease surveys and controlling diseases by isolation, quarantine, etc with the help of village heads and Native Authority Administration. By virtue of the Agricultural Research Institute Decree 35 of 1975, the name Federal Department of Veterinary Research was changed to National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI)
The Veterinary Department actually took off from Foron District of Plateau State in 1921/1922 at Katra (for Cattle Ranch) in Simenti, after Mai-idontoro on Shen-Vat Road. The headquarters was relocated to Vom in Jos, South Local Government Area of Plateau State in 1924 as a Veterinary Laboratory. VOM is therefore the Pioneer Institute in the West African Sub-Region in the production of Anti Rinderpest Serum and Animal Vaccines.
The first Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute, VOM, Plateau State: Capt. W.W. Henderson (1925 – 1945).
The first Indigenous Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute, VOM, Plateau State: Dr. M. Goni (1969-1975)
The first female Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute, VOM, Plateau State: Dr.(Mrs) L. H. Lombin (2001 – 2010)
The first Nigerian asylum was established in the southern city of Calabar in 1904, and shortly afterwards (in 1907) the Yaba Asylum was established in Lagos, also in the south. These asylums were run by medical officers, as there were no psychiatrists, and provided essentially emergency and custodial interventions. In 1954, the Aro Mental Hospital was established in Abeokuta by the British colonial government in response to the need for improved mental health care (Asuni, 1967). It also provided an opportunity for the country’s first indigenous psychiatrist, Dr Thomas Adeoye Lambo, to spearhead service delivery on his return from the UK in 1952. The hospital, later to be known as the Aro Neuropsychiatric Hospital, was to play a central part in the development of psychiatry in Nigeria with community and World Health Organization initiatives.
The first Nigerian to pass the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS): Samuel Layinka Ayodeji Manuwa, KT, CMG, OBE (1903–1976)
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1934. In 1966, he was elected president of the World Federation for Mental Health. During his lifetime he served as a Nigerian aristocrat, holding the chieftaincy titles of the Obadugba of the Ondo clan, the Olowa Luwagboye of the Ijebu clan and the Iyasere of the Iteba Lineage, all of the south-western region of the country.
Oloye Sir Samuel Manuwa was born to the family of Reverend Benjamin Manuwa. He attended the Church Missionary School, Lagos and King's College, Lagos for secondary education, completing his studies in 1921. He then proceeded to study at the University of Edinburgh where he received a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Medicine in 1926. He graduated with a several awards: the Robert Wilson Memorial Prize in Chemistry and the Welcome Prize in Medicine. He later went to study in Liverpool thereafter and completed a course on Tropical Medicine. He became a medical doctor in 1934.
He returned to Nigeria in 1927 after finishing his studies on tropical medicine and joined the colonial medial services as a medical officer. He subsequently became a surgeon specialist and senior specialist in the service, where he gained acclaim as a skilled surgeon. Though, he received various offers for administrative positions early on, he continued his surgical work for over 18 years. While practicing as a surgeon, he invented an excision knife to treat tropical ulcers.
In 1951, he was made the first Nigerian director of medical services and subsequently the Inspector General of medical services.
He later went on to become a member of the Privy Council of the Federation of Nigeria, President of the Association of Surgeons and Physicians in West Africa and the first Nigerian Commissioner of the Federal Public Service Commission.
As Inspector General of Medical Services, he worked assiduously for the establishment of a University Teaching Hospital in the country. The result was the creation of UCH, Ibadan,the first bigest hospital in Africa.
The first Nigerian to practice modern medicine in Nigeria: Dr. Nathaniel King
Nathaniel King was born to Yoruba parents in Hastings, Sierra Leone on 14 July 1847. His father, Rev. Thomas King, together with Ajayi Crowther, translated several catechisms and portions of the Bible into Nigerian dialects.
The transfer of Thomas King from Sierra Leone to the Yoruba mission in Nigeria in 1850 allowed Nathaniel to gain early association with his country of origin. His intellectual brilliance caught the attention of A. A. Harrison, M.D., the missionary doctor who, under the impetus of Rev. Henry Venn, started a "medical school" at the Church Missionary Society Theological Institute at Abeokuta, Ogun State in 1861.
The Church Missionary Society sent King to Sierra Leone in 1866 to prepare for a career in Medicine, anticipating his future admission into the Army Medical Service like Horton and Davies before him. In 1871, he entered King's College, London, and gained the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) in 1874. He obtained from Edinburgh the Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery in 1876; he earned his M.D. in 1879.
King was back in Lagos in 1878 where he gave his services to the Church Missionary Society for "fifty pounds per annum" until January 1882 when his annual salary was increased to seventy-five pounds. A highly talented and popular man, his wholehearted service to his patients and his charming personality enabled him to break the confines of colour and discrimination, leading him to be the consulting physician to most of the European firms in Lagos. An early death on 12 June 1884 cut short his promising career. He had been in the vanguard of the efforts which led to the improvement in sanitation in old Lagos. His contemporaries acknowledged his profound literary and scientific knowledge, comparable to that of Horton. Apart from speculations that he was collecting material for a future book on science at the time of his death, there is nothing substantial to show for the erudition of Nathaniel King.
The first hospital in Nigeria: Sacred Heart Hospital was established in Abeokuta, Ogun State on 27th January 1895.
The Colonial Hospital in Lagos first employed European Nurses in May 1896. Nigeria got its first contingent of Colonial Nurses in March 1898 for the West African Frontier Force. The Colonial Nursing Association (CAN) was established by the Colonial Office in 1896 for the Crown Colonies after European firms operating on the coast of West Africa insisted that whites who fell ill should be cared for in nursing homes, thus, the CAN was called upon to staff them.
The first Psychiatric Hospital was established in Calabar, Cross Rivers State of Nigeria in the year 1903.
Nigeria’s first public hospital: St. Margaret Hospital, Calabar.
Nigeria’s first two AIDS cases were diagnosed in 1985 in Lagos, the largest city in the country, and reported at the international AIDS conference that took place in 1986. The first case of HIV Victim in Nigeria was a 13 year old Ghanian Prostitute who had visited Nigeria from Cote d’Ivoire. The first HIV testing centres in Nigeria were established by the government in 1987, with the assistance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) after the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) set up the National Expert Advisory Committee on AIDS (NEACA) and requested assistance from the WHO.
The first Nigerian man to openly declare he was gay on TV: Bisi Alimi in 2004. He appeared on the popular NTA talkshow hosted by veteran broadcaster, Funmi Ayanda, New Dawn. Alimi wanted to challenge the misconception that there were no gay people in Nigeria. Following his appearance on TV, he was violently attacked and fled the country to Britain where he sought asylum.
In 2001, Olusegun Obasanjo hosted the Organisation of African Unity’s (OAU) first African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Other Related Infectious Diseases.
The first HIV sentinel surveillance as a means of monitoring HIV/AIDS in Nigeria was established by the Federal Ministry of Health in 1991.
Nigeria's first Neurosurgeon: Profession: E. Latunde Odeku (29 June 1927- 20 August 1974). The second black man and the first African Neurosurgeon in 1962.
His father was a deacon in the Baptist church and he would later attend the St. John's School in Aroloya, Lagos State for his primary education in 1932. A bundle of intellectual gifts, he then proceeded to the Methodist Boys' High School (MBHS) in 1945 after which he left for America as a beneficiary of the New York Phelps-Stokes Fund Scholarship for Medical Education. He had also passed the London Matriculation Examination in the same year leading the whole set in English, Geography, History, Chemistry and Biology. It was in MBHS that he shortened his name to Latunde.
According to Professor Kahn, Odeku was the very best of all the residents that he trained and he even co-authored a textbook of neurosurgery with him, Correlative Neurosurgery. Odeku also majored in neuropathology under the legendary late Professor Carl Vernon Weller, MD for his postgraduate internship. (Weller's son, Thomas Huckle Weller of Harvard University would later win the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1954 as an American virologist for showing how to cultivate the polio virus in a test-tube using tissues from monkeys).
In 1961, after he finished his training under Dr. Kahn, he returned to Howard University and became a member of the faculty of neurosurgery and a lecturer in neuroanatomy and later, consultant neurosurgeon at the Freedmen's Hospital of the same school from 1961-1962 under a special programme organized by the United States Public Health Service. At that time, he was the 2nd black to be certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the first US-trained black neurosurgeon.
He would later go to the University of Western Ontario, Canada where he bagged the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC) in 1955. One major reason why he went to Canada was to have a better understanding of the problems facing medical practice in tropical regions since he would later work in the tropics of Africa. He later became an authority in tropical neurology.
Odeku headed for Nigeria after turning down job offers to remain in the United States and by October 1962, he was already at the University of Ibadan as a lecturer in neurosurgery where he started the first neurosurgical department in Nigeria. He became a Senior Lecturer in 1963.
He was an outstanding teacher and also an excellent writer. He published not less than 100 scientific papers. He sent his earliest papers to local journals in a bid to spread the news of the new discipline of neurosurgery in Ibadan to all West Africans. He also published extensively in scientific journals abroad. He was on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Nigerian Medical Association, African Journal of Medical Sciences, West African Medical Journal and the International Surgery Journal. He was also:
- Medical Officer, Lagos General Hospital, Federal Medical Service of Nigeria (August 1955- June 1956).
- Assistant General Surgery Resident, University of Michigan (1956).
- Neurosurgeon Resident (1957-1960), Junior Clinical Instructor, Senior Clinical Instructor (St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, the Veterans Administration Hospital, Michigan & the Wayne County General Hospital, Eloise, Michigan).
- Research Training Fellow, Experimental Neurology, Neurosurgery Department, University of Michigan.
- Recipient, Relm Foundation Special Grant of $3,400. He used the funds to do his postgraduate study in neuropathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC (July 1960 to June 1961).
- Chief Resident, Paediatric Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Pennsylvania, USA.
Overview of Awards, Honours & Achievements:
- B.S/M.D. (Howard University, BS in Zoology (1950), MD (1954)
- Licenciate of the Medical Council of Canada, University of Western Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons (LMCC).
- Diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, DABNS, Grace New Haven Hospital, Yale University (1961).
- Fellow of the International College of Surgeons, FICS, (1966)
- Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, FACS (1963).
- Fellow of Medical College of Surgeons, FMCS (Nigeria).
- Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (May 1968-July 1970).
- Head, Department of Surgery, University of Ibadan, (January 1969-September 1971).
- Member, Ford Foundation Team of West African Medical Educators (1969).
- Recipient, Howard University Alumni Medal for Distinguished Service, Charter Day Exercises, March 2, 1973 (in recognition of his outstanding postgraduate achievement in medicine and medical education in Nigeria and throughout the world).
- Recipient, Matriculation Certificate, University of London (June 1945).
- Probational Officer, Custom & Excise Department of Nigeria (1946-47).
- Member, Kappi Pi Honour Society, Howard University.
- Member, American Association of Neuropathologists.
- Member, The Harvey Cushing Society.
- Member, Congress of Neurological Surgeons of the USA.
- Member, New York Academy of Sciences.
- Member, Science Association of Nigeria.
- President, Nigerian Society of Neurological Sciences (1970-1973)
- Member, Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences.
- Fellow, College of Surgeons of West Africa.
The first kidney transplant performed by a Nigerian University hospital: The Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH) on 13 January 2014.
Surgeons and Nephrologists from the hospital in collaboration with a medical team from the University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the United States of America operated on both the donor and recipient. In the collaboration exercise that lasted for about two and a half hours, the recipient, a 23 year-old patient received a kidney donated by his mother. The Lead Transplant Surgeon was Juan Arenas and the Chief Medical Director of DELSUTH was Dr. Leslie Akporiaye.
RELIGION
Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1809 - 31 December 1891) was a linguist and the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Born in Osogun (in today's Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria), Rev. Dr. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a Yoruba man who also identified with Sierra Leone's ascendant Creole ethnic group.
Ajayi was 12 years old when he was captured at war with his father, mother and toddler brother and other family members, along with his entire village, by Muslim Fulani slave raiders in 1821 and sold to Portuguese slave traders. At Badagry, where the slaves were taken enroute their destination, the elderly man looking after them was said to have been favourably disposed to Ajayi. He sent him on errands and had wanted to keep him in Badagry but for the sudden arrival of the Portuguese slave traders. However, before leaving port, his ship was boarded by a Royal Navy ship under the command of Captain Henry Leeke, and Crowther was taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone and released.
While there, Crowther was cared for by the Anglican Church Missionary Society, and was taught English. He converted to Christianity, was baptized by Rev. John Raban, and took the name Samuel Crowther in 1825.
While in Freetown, Crowther became interested in languages. In 1826 he was taken to England to attend St Mary's Church in Islington and the church's school. He returned to Freetown in 1827 and attended the newly-opened Fourah Bay College, an Anglican missionary school, where his interest in language found him studying Latin and Greek but also Temne. After completing his studies he began teaching at the school. He also married Asano (i.e. Hassana; she was formerly Muslim), baptised Susan, a schoolmistress, who was also on the Portuguese slave ship that originally brought Crowther to Sierra Leone.
Crowther was selected to accompany the missionary James Frederick Schön on the Niger expedition of 1841. Together with Schön, he was expected to learn Hausa for use on the expedition. The goal of the expedition was to spread commerce, teach agricultural techniques, spread Christianity, and help end the slave trade. Following the expedition, Crowther was recalled to England, where he was trained as a minister and ordained by the bishop of London. He returned to Africa in 1843 and with Henry Townsend, opened a mission in Abeokuta, in today's Ogun State, Nigeria.
Rev. Dr. Crowther began translating the Bible into the Yoruba language and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. In 1843, a grammar book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published; and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer followed later. He also began codifying other languages. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.
In 1864, Crowther was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church. That same year he was also given a Doctorate of Divinity by the University of Oxford. Bishop Crowther was on the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean west of Morocco for a conference. He was accompanied by his son, Dandeson, an arch-deacon, on church business in March 1881.
Crowther's attention was directed more and more to languages other than Yoruba, but he continued to supervise the translation of the Yoruba Bible (Bibeli Mimọ), which was completed in the mid-1880s, a few years before his death. In 1891, Crowther suffered a stroke and died December 31st of the same year.
His grandson Herbert Macaulay became one of the first Nigerian nationalists and played an important role in ending British colonial rule in Nigeria.
Bishop Ajayi Crowther is also the first man to translate the English Bible into a Nigerian languages (Yoruba and Nupe Language). This original translated bible is said to still reside in the first story building in Nigeria which is at Badagry.
G. C. A. Oldendorp, a German missionary, was the first person to produce a book containing material written in Igbo, which consisted of a few words and phrases. His book, Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen (History of the Evangelistic Mission of the Brothers in the Caribbean), was published in 1777. The first book in Igbo, Isoyama-Ibo a primer, was produced in 1857 by Samuel Ajayi Crowther, an ex-slave and teacher who was also an outstanding African linguist, leader, and Africa's first Anglican bishop.
First Nigerian Nuncio appointed by Pope Benedict(2008): Rt. Rev. Monsignor Jude Thaddeus Okolo (first in West Africa and third in entire Africa to hold the post).
First Nigerian and Native African to head his diocese as Archbishop of Onitcha (26 June 1967): Francis Arinze, Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni (succeeding Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI) since 2005.
The first Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Agency was set up in 1975 when an edict was promulgated.
Alhaji Idi Hadejia was a surveyor with the Hadejia native Authority, (NA) which he used to represent annually at the Kano office of the Northern Nigerian Pilgrimage Board set up in 1965. Serving with diligence as a Pilgrims Welfare Officer on the annual pilgrimage, Alhaji Idi rose to become the first Zonal Officer for Kano when the Nigeria Pilgrims Board was set up in 1975. He acquired fame as a result and his wealth of experience has made him an authority on Hajj organisation in contemporary Nigeria.
The first pamphlet advocating the establishment of an African Church was published in 1881. Seven years later in 1888 the first ‘African’ Church was formed, the Native Baptist Church.
Islamic Trust of Nigeria, Zaria – Organised the first National Conference on Hajj in July 1983 (Zaria).
Alhaji Shehu Adamu, retired Social Welfare Officer with the Kano State Government used to be deployed annually during the Hajj Season to the Kano state Pilgrims Welfare Agency between 1975-1980. As a pioneer staff of the Agency he was partly instrumental to the shaping of the agency’s functions and structure and had vast and bitter experience from pioneering a venture in which the nobility and the commoners have equal stake.
Alhaji Maiwada Abubakar’s name in Kano is synonymous with the Makkah and Medinah (Pilgrimage) Travel agency, which he set up in 1961 in partnership with Alhaji Sani Hanga, Alhaji (late) Labaran Nakyauta, Alhaji (late) Malam Na-AlhajiNasidi and Alhaji Abdu Nagogo. Alhaji Malam was to set up his own agency later and to become a member of the pioneer board of the Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Agency set up in 1975, following which all private agencies were banned.
Nigeria's first Sharia execution(Jan. 2002): Sani Yakubu (27-year-old) was convicted of killing a woman and her two young children during a robbery at their home in the northern state of Katsina.
First church building to be erected in the north - 1929: St. Bartholomew Church, Wusasa, of the Anglican Communion.
Blessed Cyprian 'Iwene Tansi' Michael is the first Nigerian to be beatified January 2007-born in 1903 in southern Nigeria (died in Leicester on Jan. 20, 1964 - declared venerable in 1995 and became the first Nigerian to be beatified in 1998-His remains were taken to Onitsha for burial in 1988 and are now enshrined in Aguleri).
The first Nigerian Roman Catholic Mass: held at 19 Bocco Street, Calabar in 1903.
The first baptism among the local community did not take place until 1903 and included only seven adults. This “conversion rate” was not uncommon among missionaries working in Nigeria. Ebute Metta, a neighborhood in Lagos, was started as a settlement in the 19th century by Christian refugees from Abeokuta.
The (Anglican) Church Missionary Society (CMS) set up its first missions in Nigeria in the south-western towns of Badagry in 1845 and Abeokuta in 1846. This mission was by far the most active and influential in Nigeria prior to the 20th century. Several CMS missionaries were part of the first Niger River expedition in 1841. In 1851, the CMS established a mission in Ibadan. The mission served as an overseas extension of the Anglican Church of England. Some attribute the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and the development of the antislavery movement in Nigeria to the tireless efforts of the CMS. Missionaries devoted much of their time to establishing legitimate commerce.
The Europeans first encountered Yoruba Moslems at Ajase, Port Novo in 1726
Christianity was first introduced into Yorubaland in 1842, when the missionaries arrived in Abeokuta. Their evangelical work included the preaching of monogamous doctrines as part of the basic Christian expectation.
The first president of the National Laity Council of Nigeria (NLCN): Raymond Amanze Njoku. The association began gradually in 1971, and was officially launched on March 16, 1973.
The first Chaplain of the National Laity Council of Nigeria (NLCN): Reverend S. Sanusi of Ijebu Ode.
Islam in Hausaland began first in Borno in the 11th Century A.D., a town in the northern fringes of Nigeria.
The first missionary house in Nigeria at Badagri.
On 13 January 1874, leaders of the Methodist community, including Charles Joseph George, met to discuss founding a secondary school for members of their communion as an alternative to the CMS Grammar School. After a fund-raising drive, the Methodist Boys School building was opened in June 1877. On 17 February 1881, George was one of the community leaders who laid the foundation stone for the Wesley Church at Olowogbowo, in the west of Lagos Island.
The first missionaries arrived in Nigeria in 1867, but they stayed only briefly because of a war in France. The Holy Ghost Fathers arrived in eastern Nigeria in 1885, setting up a mission at Onitsha. An estimated 15 percent of Nigerians today are Roman Catholic, with the largest concentration in the southeast.
William de Graft was a prominent Methodist missionary who assisted in the establishment of the first Western-style school in Badagry.
Fr. P. J. Arowele – The first Akoko son to be ordained Catholic Priest. Akoko is a large Northeast Yoruba settlement in Yorubaland, the area spans from Ondo state to Edo state in southwest Nigeria.
The first attempt by Europeans and African Christians to spread Christianity to the interior of Nigeria was in 1841 (The Niger Expedition).
Christianity was first introduced in Nigeria by Portuguese traders to the Benin Kingdom in the 16th century; however, it did not become a major religion in Nigeria until the mid 19th century. European, particularly British missionaries settled in Lagos, Abeokuta, and Lokoja.
The first (Anglican) Church Missionary Society members arrive in Nigeria during an expedition on the Niger River: 1841
The first Christian Mission: The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, Badagry (1842)
The first Christian Mission established at Abeokuta: The Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1846.
The first church built in Ibusa, Delta State: St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ibusa (Igbuzo, also known as Ibusa, is a town in Delta State, Nigeria).
The first ever Ijebu-Ode District Churches Council Meeting: December 11, 1991 at the Adeola Odutola (Anglican) Church, Ijebu-Ode. The Church is named after the man that built it, Adeola Odutola.
The first Anglican Diocesan Bishop of Ijebu: Reverend I.B.O. Akintemi
The first Mosque built in Lagos: The Shitta Mosque, located on Martins street in the heart of Lagos is said to be the first in Lagos and was constructed by the Brazilians in 1886. According to the Chief Imam of the mosque, it has hosted many dignitaries from around the world. It is owned by the Shitta Bey dynasty.
Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman (1809 - 1890) was the first man to arrive in Badagry on September 21st, 1842 and he began to preach the gospel under a tree. He was followed by Reverend Henry Townsend on December 17th, 1842.
Freeman was born in Twyford, Hampshire, England. Little is known of his early life. His mother was English, his father an African freed slave. When he was accepted as a Wesleyan Methodist missionary in 1837, he had been head gardener on a Suffolk estate but had lost his post because of his Methodist activism. In 1838 he arrived in Cape Coast, Gold Coast (Ghana), where a Methodist church of indigenous origin was being tenuously supported by a succession of short-lived English missionaries.
The publication of his Kumasi journals made him a celebrity, and the then-current popularity of the African vision of T. F. Buxton favored his success.
He had a cordial meeting with the Egba paramount Sodeke at Abeokuta, and on his own initiative he established a mission in Yorubaland, first at Badagri, with de Graft, later at Lagos, and eventually at Abeokuta. He never, however, obtained the resources for the large-scale mission he envisioned.
In 1857 charges of overspending forced his resignation as general superintendent. To repay what had exceeded the budget, he took the thankless government post of civil commandment of Accra but was dismissed by a new governor in 1860. He remained in the Gold Coast, farming, writing, and preaching; he had married a local woman in 1854 (two previous wives had died soon after their respective arrivals in Africa). In 1873, at age 63, he reentered the Wesleyan ministry and became an active and innovative pastor, prominent in revival movements and skilled in conciliation.
The first Papal Visit to Nigeria: Pope John Paul II on 12 February 1982.
Roman Catholic Mission stations had been established in the Northern part of Nigeria around seventeenth Century. In 1708, they had about a hundred Catholic members in the Kororofa where a Catholic priest built a sixty- bed hospital for treating the sick people in the area. In 1708, Father Carlo da Geneva, was appointed Prefect for Bornu Mission, but he declined to accept the offer.
On 25 March 1920, the Yoruba Mission Stations and Northern Nigeria Mission Stations were constituted into the Lagos Diocese. The Reverend Frank Melville Jones was its first Bishop.
The first American Baptist missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention to work in Nigeria: Reverend Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814 – 1875). He arrived in Nigeria in 1850 and started work in the southwestern city of Abeokuta. One of his greatest contributions was his Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba Language in 1858. The first Baptist University in Nigeria, Bowen University, Iwo, which was founded in 2002 is named him.
In 1913, Mr. M A. Adeniran established the first Baptist Mission Station in Zaria. According to Crampton, the Nigerian Baptist Convention posted Reverend J.A. Adejumobi to Kaduna as its first Pastor to oversee the rest Mission Stations of the Baptist faith in the Northern Nigeria in the year 1925
In 1853, David Hinderer introduced Christianity in Ibadan. In 1856, Christianity was established in Ilesha. In 1859, Christianity was planted in Ile- Ife. In 1875, David Hinderer introduced Christianity in Ode, Ondo. In 1877, Charles Philips was posted to take over from Hinderer. This was during the period that Oba Ajimekun the then Osemawe of Ondo land and some of his Chiefs embraced Christianity. In 1876, the first worship Centre was built for Christians to worship. In 1877, Philips demanded for another land to build a bigger place of worship in the town because the population of Christians increased daily. The land that was given to the Christians to build a Church was the land of the evil spirits. It was a place where people who died unpleasant death were buried. The evil forest was allocated to Christians in order to discourage them from serving Jesus Christ. The adherents of the traditional religion hoped that Christians would be afflicted with incurable diseases. However, the Church accepted the land and their spiritual leader in person of Philips prayed over the land for God’s protection. On the land, there was an Iroko tree that the Ondo people believed that evil spirits inhabited. The adherents of Christianity prayed on the site for seven days and the tree that was believed to be the abode of witches fell down.
The first Catholic priest in the Calabar Diocese: Cardinal Dominic Ekandem
Ekandem was born 1917 at Obio Ibiono, diocese of Uyo, Nigeria. He is the son of Chief Ekandem Ubo Etok and Nwa Ibong Umana Essien. He was baptized in 1926, at 8 years of age. He had his education at Minor Seminary of Onitsha, Onitsha; Major Seminary, Enugu-Okpala and St. Patrick's College, Calabar.
He was ordained, December 7, 1947, Calabar. He was the first priest in the whole of Ibibio, Efik and Annang lands of what was then the Calabar diocese. He had his pastoral ministry and was rector of the Minor Seminary, Calabar from 1947 to 1952. He was Rector of Queen of Apostles Seminary, from 1952 to 1953.
He was elected titular bishop of Gerapoli di Isauria and appointed auxiliary of Calabar, August 7, 1953. Consecrated, February 7, 1954 in Calabar, by James Moynagh, SSPME, bishop of Calabar, assisted by Paul-Joseph Biéchy, C.S.Sp., titular bishop of Telepte, vicar apostolic of Brazzaville, and by Peter Rogan, bishop of Buea. He attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 and was Officer of the British Empire and Commander of the Order of River Niger. Ekandem transferred to the see of Ikot Ekpene, March 1, 1963 and was apostolic administrator of the see of Port-Harcourt, from 1970 to 1973. He was elected president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria in 1973 occupying the post for two terms. He was the founder of the Missionary Society of St Paul of Nigeria.
Ekandem created cardinal priest in the consistory of May 24, 1976 and received red biretta and the title of S. Marcello, May 24, 1976. He participated in the conclave of August 25-26, 1978. He also participated in the conclave of October 14-16, 1978. He attended the I Plenary meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Vatican City, November 5 to 9, 1979; the V Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 26 to October 25, 1980. He became Ecclesiastical superior of the new mission sui iuris of Abuja on November 6, 1981 and transferred to the see of Abuja, with personal title of archbishop on June 19, 1989. He resigned the pastoral government of diocese on September 28, 1992 and he attended the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa, Vatican City from April 10 to May 8, 1994. He was the first cardinal from Nigeria.
Ekandem died on November 24, 1995 in Garki, Abuja and was buried in the pro-cathedral of Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Garki, Abuja.
The First Church in Nigeria: St Peters Cathedral, Ake, Abeokuta, and J.J. Ransome-Kuti was the Church organist.
Cardinal Dominic Ekandem (1917–1995). Born in Ibiono, in Cross River State, Ekandem was baptized in 1928. He was the first Catholic priest in the Calabar Diocese. In 1952, he served as rector at the Queen of Apostles Seminary. Two years later, he became a bishop, making him the youngest religious official in British West Africa. In 1963, he relocated to Ikot Ekpene. After the civil war, he acted as an administrator in the Port Harcourt Diocese. He was president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria for two terms in the 1970s. He was the first archbishop of Abuja, and in 1976 he rose to the rank of cardinal. Ekandem died in Abuja.
The first African vicar of the Pro-Cathedral Church of Christ: Bishop Adolphus Williamson Howells (1866–1938). Howells was born in August 1866 in Abeokuta. As a young man, he attended Ake School and the Christian Missionary Society’s Training Institute in Lagos. He began teaching in the mid-1880s in Badagry and Lagos. In 1891, he traveled to Sierra Leone to study at Fourah Bay College. He also studied in England. In 1894, he taught at the Church Missionary Society Grammar School in Lagos. Three years later, he became deacon of a church. He became an ordained priest in 1897. In 1919, he became the first African vicar of the Pro-Cathedral Church of Christ. One year later, he became a bishop at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He served in the Niger Diocese from 1920 to 1933. Howells returned to Abeokuta in 1933 and served there until his retirement as resident bishop. His son, A. W. Howells, carried on his father’s legacy as a pastor in Enugu and provost at a Catholic church in Lagos.
Jehovah’s Witnesses is Christian-based religious movement that was started in the 19th century by Charles Taze Russell in the United States. The religion first arrived in Nigeria in 1928.
Koranic Schools. The establishment of Koranic schools in Nigeria coincided with the spread of Islam into West Africa starting around the 11th century. In the Sokoto Caliphate, palace Koranic schools were attended by slaves, women, and children. The Koranic schools were the first type of formal education in Nigeria.
The first missionary to arrive in Nigeria on behalf of the United Presbyterian Church in 1846 via Scotland: Hope Masterton Waddell (?–1895). Waddell was a missionary from Dublin, Ireland, of Jamaican descent who spent 29 years doing missionary work in the West Indies. He was the first missionary to arrive in Nigeria on behalf of the United Presbyterian Church in 1846 via Scotland. Waddell went to Calabar and opened a missionary school in Duke Town and Creek Town. He focused on spreading Christianity among the Efik. Between 1847 and 1849, he was sent to do missionary work outside Nigeria. In 1858, Waddell resigned from his travels and focused on Nigeria. In 1895, he constructed the Hope Waddell Training Institute for girls and boys. Waddell died just days before the opening of the institute in 1895. In 1902, the institute opened its first library.
The first indigenous Missions Secretary; pioneer of Baptist work in the Ishan area of Edo state: Rev. Dr. Paul Omieka Ebhomielen. He was also a delegate to the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland, and a former Conference Secretary Bendel (now Edo/Delta) Conference.
The first Nigerian president (now President Emeritus) of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso: Rev. Prof. Osadolor Imasogie; He is also a former Vice-President of the Baptist World Alliance.
The first Christian contact between the Kabba and the Anglican Church: Mr. Daniel Olowolayemo. Olowolayemo was a freed slave as a result of the abolition, who settled at Abeokuta and became a devout Christian. By 1900, he returned home to Kabba and began to preach the gospel.
The first Mission Station agent sent to Kabba to continue the spread of the Gospel: Mr. Paul Aribido (1906).
The first batch of the Sudan Interior Mission that came to Nigeria: Walter Gowans, Thomas kent and Roland Bingham in 1893
The first Mission station opened by the Sudan Interior Mission (now called the Evangelical Church of West Africa) Missionaries: Patigi among the Nupe people by Roland Bingham in 1902
The first Christian the people of Ogga in current Kogi State ever had in their village: Daniel Onisanaiye. He read the Gospel from the Yoruba Bible to them daily and they listened to him and he was able to convert some of them to Christianity.
Daniel Onisanaiye was captured as slave at Ogga in Kogi State and was taken to Abeokuta. At Abeokuta, he grew to adulthood and was able to redeem himself from slavery. He left Abeokuta for Lagos. There he took up painting as a profession. Daniel responded to the gospel, and began to attend Araromi Baptist Church, Obalende. Evangelist Dr. Agbebi was in charge of the Church. He taught his Church members to read and write in Yoruba and English languages. Onisanaiye participated in the reading and learning processes. He bought a Yoruba Bible, read it and taught others the Bible stories. Daniel married in Lagos and had a son. As he studied the Bible, he had a vision to go to Ogga his home town to share the Gospel with his own people. This is because as at that time, Missionaries had not reach Ogga to plant Christianity in the area.
The first Nigerian General Secretary (and chief executive officer) of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (1960's): Rev. Dr. James Tanimola Ayorinde; He was also a national delegate to the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland.
The first Nigerian Baptist Evangelist: Evangelist Job Adegboyega Alabi; He was also a former Pastor of First Baptist Church (Jebba), set-man of Covenant of Peace Evangelistic Association (Ogbomoso); Bible teacher greatly influenced by Billy Graham; and Initiator/proclaimer of the move of the Holy Spirit throughout Baptist Churches in Nigeria and beyond.
The first Nigerian Medical Secretary of Nigerian Baptist Convention, appointed in 1969: Dr Olaleye Aremu. He was dental surgeon at the Baptist Dental Centre Oke Bola, Ibadan.
The first indigenous medical Superintendent Baptist Hospital Shaki: Dr Victor Olubi Fatunla. He also pioneered the expansion of Baptist Hospital Saki to a fully Fledged Hospital. Dr Victor Olubi Fatunla established the Baptist Nursing and Midwifery School Shaki, Nursery, Primary & Secondary School for Baptist Hospital Saki; He worked tirelessly to also establish Clinics in the Oke-Ogun Sub-region of Oyo State, he is a Core Missionary Doctor who was also the Director of Medical Services for Nigeria Baptist Convention.
The first indigenous medical Superintendent, Baptist Medical centre, Ogbomoso: Dr Peter Olusola Elemile
INTERNATIONAL
The first Nigerian to be proclaimed goddaughter to a reigning British Monarch: Sara Forbes Bonetta (Born 1843, died 1880, 37 years old) was a West African Egbado Omoba who was orphaned in inter-tribal warfare and subsequently captured by slave-raiders. Intended by her Dahomeyan captors to be a human sacrifice, she was rescued by Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy, who convinced King Ghezo of Dahomey to give her to Queen Victoria, "She would be a present from the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites," Forbes wrote later. He named her Sara Forbes Bonetta, Bonetta after his ship the HMS Bonetta. Victoria was impressed by the young princess' exceptional intelligence, and had Sara raised as her goddaughter in the British middle class.
In 1851 Forbes Bonetta gained a long lasting cough, believed to be caused by the climate of Great Britain. She was sent to school in Africa in May of that year, at age eight, but was unhappy and returned to England in 1855 at the age of twelve. In January 1862 she was invited to and attended the wedding of the princess royal Victoria. She was later sanctioned by the Queen to marry Captain James Davies at St Nicholas' Church in Brighton in August, 1862, after a period which was to be spent in the town in preparation for the wedding. During her subsequent time in Bristol, she lived at 17 Clifton Hill in the Montpelier area. Captain Davies was a Yoruba businessman of considerable wealth for the period, and the couple moved back to their native Africa after their wedding.
Sarah visited the Queen in 1867 with her daughter and then returned to Lagos where she had two more children.
Sara was subsequently baptized at a church in the town of Badagry, a former slave port. She died at the age of 37 in 1880 of tuberculosis. Her husband had previously been concerned about her because she appeared to have had a cough that would not go away; she was eventually diagnosed with what was termed the consumption. She died at the age of 37 in 1880 and was buried in Funchal Madiera.. Her daughter by him, christened Victoria, also served as the goddaughter of the Queen of the British Empire. A great many of both her and her daughter's descendants now live in England and Sierra Leone while a separate group of them, the aristocratic Randle family of Lagos, remains prominent in contemporary Nigeria.
In his journal Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy writes:
“Of her own history she has only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been.
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and have and great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection: and with her, been an excellent specimens of the Negro race.”
The first Nigerian man to ask a reigning British Monarch for permission to marry the Queen’s goddaughter:Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies for permission to marry Sara Forbes Bonetta the Queen’s goddaughter on August 1862.
First Nigerian and first African face to Model for Maybelline cosmetics: Yomi Abiola.
Yomi started her modelling run way walk at the age of 15 after being spotted by a model scout in London. She has graced the pages of Vogue Italia, British Elle, Harpers Bazaar to name but a few. She is the founder of Stand Up For Fashion (STUFF) a platform that generates creative solutions to social issues within the fashion industry. She is a graduate of both Columbia School of Journalism and Sciences-Po Paris.
She is also an associate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chair of Human Rights.
First Black Police Commander in London: Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa
Born in Warri, Delta State in 1963, he started his career in Surrey Police in 1982 before transferring to the City of London Police in 1990 as detective inspector in the Fraud Squad.
Victor Olisa lives in Surrey with his physiotherapist wife and two teenage children is one of the three chief superintendents from black minority ethnic background working for the Metropolitan Police.
Chief Superintendent Olisa took over as borough commander from Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer last week and is tasked with overseeing all policing matters in the area.
After a spell working at the Home Office, Olisa transferred to the Metropolitan Police in 2006 as Southwark's superintendent. Before moving to Bexley, he was found taking the lead on the Met's Stop and Search Team.
In 2005 he was awarded a PhD in Criminology by the London School of Economics.
First Nigerian player to lift the prestigious English FA Cup(1985): Daniel ‘The Bull’ Amokachi
First Non-Nigerian to be an Osun Shrine High Priestess in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria: Suzanne Wenger (Adunni Olorisa). She died on January 12, 2009 at the age of 94 years.
First Nigerian NBA manager: Masai Ujiri (2009)
First Nigerian and first black player to win state singles title in badminton in Minnesota, United States (2009): Olamide Fadahunsi, a 15- year- old Nigerian, from Otan Ayegbaju, headquarters of Boluwaduro Local Government Area in Osun State.
OPEC's first Female minister member: Diezeni Allison-Madueke
Port Harcourt, Nigeria, First City in Sub-Saharan Africa to be Elected World Book Capital in 2014: (July 2012)
Port Harcourt was named as the “World Book Capital 2014” at the conclusion of the selection committee meeting, which was held on 5 July 2012 at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. The city of Port Harcourt was selected “on account of the quality of its program, in particular its focus on youth, and the impact it will have on improving Nigeria's culture of books, reading, writing and publishing to improve literacy rates”.
The selection committee included representatives of the International Publishers Association (IPA), the International Booksellers Federation (IBF), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and UNESCO.
Says IPA Secretary General Jens Bammel: “The number of applications received this year is the highest (11) since the UNESCO program commenced in 2001 following an IPA initiative. A lot of them were very good. In that context, IPA was quite impressed by the quality of the application file submitted by the city of Port Harcourt: a clear, exciting, and ambitious programme for 2014 and beyond as it is aiming at generating enthusiasm for books and reading. We are very much looking forward to cooperating with our Nigerian member, the Nigerian Publishers Association. Congratulations Port Harcourt!”.
Port Harcourt, Nigeria, is the fourteenth city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogotá (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), and Bangkok (2013).
The first Black Head of Chambers (1968): Tunji Sowande - Born in Lagos in 1912 to a clergyman. His siblings included Fela Sowande. Tunji attended Kings College, Lagos and Yaba Higher College, qualifying as a Pharmacist in 1946.He travelled to the UK in 1947 to play music, his first love. A Baritone, he also played the Saxophone and Piano, forming a band called the Chocolate Dandies. He also played as a duo with Pianist Rita Cann and was part of the Regents Park set of young activists that included Paul Robeson and John Payne. He recorded a number of singles, including: “Ihin rere” and “Igi t’olorun”. He studied Law at Kings College and was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1952, practising at 3 Kings Bench Walk, from where he rose to become the first Black Head of Chambers in 1968 and first Black Crown Court Judge in 1978. He mentored several Lawyers, including Kim Hollis QC. He died in 1999, aged 87.
The first Nigerian Pilot to head an Airline: Captain Robert Hayes - He was among the first set of Nigerian Commercial Pilots, who qualified in 1955 and were employed by the West African Airways Corporation. He and Festus Orimoloye were the first Nigerian Pilots to gain Captain’s Wings in 1962. He rose to Managing Director of Nigeria Airways, from where he retired.
The first Nigerian to be a Chief justice of another Nation: Justice Udo Udoma (Uganda).
The first Nigerian to be appointed To The US National Cancer Advisory: Olufunmilayo Falusi Olopade. She is also the first GCA award to a Nigerian American physician
The first Nigerian to win an MC battle (with over 3000 contestants) beating Tempa T in the final in London: Joseph Junior Adenuga
The first Nigerian to win an Emmy Award for News Anchor (works for New York's WABC Channel 7): Sade Baderinwa
The first Nigerian to design an outfit for a US First Lady: Duro Olowu
The first Nigerian to win World's 'longest Freestyle' Record (9 hrs, 15 mins, 15 secs): Chidi Bang
The first Nigerian artist whose work will grace Trafalgar Square's (London) fourth plinth: Yinka Shonibare
The first Nigerian rapper to be nominated twice the Grammy Award: Hakeem Seriki (aka Chamillionaire)
The first Nigerian female (in British history) to have successfully sold over 110 million albums worldwide: Helen Folasade Adu. She is also the first Nigerian to win “Grammy” Music Award 1986; in the best new Artiste category:
Helen Folasade Adu, is a British-Nigerian singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award-winning English group Sade. In 2002, she received an OBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace for services to music, and she dedicated her award to "all black women in England". In 2012, Sade was listed at number 30 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music. Sade has a contralto vocal range.
Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means "honour confers your crown". Her parents, Adebisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse, met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria. Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties, Anne Hayes returned to England, taking four-year-old Sade and her older brother Banji to live with her parents. Later on Sade and her brother lived with their grandparents just outside Colchester, Essex. When Sade was 11, she moved to Holland-on-Sea, Essex to live with her mother, and after completing school at 18 she moved to London and studied at Saint Martin's School of Art.
While in college, she joined a soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals. Her solo performances of the song "Smooth Operator" attracted the attention of record companies and in 1983, she signed a solo deal with Epic Records taking three members of the band, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman, with her. Sade and her band produced the first of a string of hit albums. Their debut album Diamond Life appeared in 1984. She is the most successful solo female artist in British history.
The first Nigerian male singer to receive 3 international music awards: A recipient of BRIT, MTV and Grammy Awards: SEAL (Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel)
The first Nigerian to hold the World Champion and World Indoor champion in triple jumper: Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu - representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Idowu also won the silver medal representing Team GB at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a gold medal at the 2009 World Athletics Championships.
First Nigerian to win 5medals + in an Olympic game: Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu
- Silver 2008 Beijing Triple Jump
- World Championships
- Gold 2009 Berlin Triple Jump
- Commonwealth Games
- Gold 2006 Melbourne Triple Jump
- Silver 2002 Manchester Triple Jump
- World Indoor Championships
- Gold 2008 Valencia Triple Jump
- European Indoor Championships
- Gold 2007 Birmingham Triple Jump
The first Nigerian to win the Best Male Model of the Year in the National Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television and Art Awards: Ibukun Jegede
In 2008 Ifeoma Jones became the first Nigerian to be signed by Ford Model World, the biggest model agency in the world. Ifeoma's success is a follow-up to her success in beating 16 other young Nigerian girls to the 2006 Nigeria Model Awards (NMA) held in December of that year. The 19-year-old slugged it out on the New York runway with 44 other models from different countries for the Ford Model World. Though she failed to emerge as one of the five runners-up, who were from Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Brazil and Belarus, Ifeoma's outstanding outing earned her a modelling contract with Ford.
The first independent film by a black film-maker to gain a national release in Britain: Newton Aduaka
Born in Ogidi, Eastern Nigeria, in 1966, Newton Aduaka moved to Lagos in 1970 after the Biafran War, and then to England in 1985. Following a diploma course in video arts and post-production, he studied film history, art and technique at the London International Film School, graduating in 1990. He wrote and published short stories while working as a sound mixer on a wide range of productions.
In 1997 he set up Granite FilmWorks with Maria Elena L'Abbate to produce personal, cutting-edge and uncompromising films. As a director, his short films include Carnival of Silence (1994), Voices Behind the Wall (1990) and On The Edge (1997), which won him three prestigious awards and numerous special mentions.
His debut feature Rage (2000) was released to huge critical acclaim, becoming the first independent film by a black film-maker to gain a national release in Britain. It was also very successful in international film festivals, winning many prizes including Best Director at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.
The first book of fiction, written by a Flemish author of African origin: Chika Unigwe (Enugu, 1974) is a Nigerian-born author and she writes in English and Dutch.
Chika Unigwe has a Ph.D in Literature from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Her debut novel, De Feniks was published in 2005 by Meulenhoff and Manteau (of Amsterdam and Antwerp) and was shortlisted for the Vrouw en Kultuur debuutprijs for the best first novel by a female writer. She is also the author of two children's books published by Macmillans, London.
She has published short fiction in several anthologies, journals and magazines including Wasafiri (University of London), Moving Worlds (University of Leeds), Per Contra, Voices of the University of Wisconsin and Okike of the University of Nigeria.
In 2003, she was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Fiction. In 2004, she won the BBC Short story Competition and a Commonwealth Short Story Competition award. In the same year, her short story made the top 10 of the Million Writers' Award for best online fiction. In 2005, she won the 3rd prize in the Equiano Fiction Contest. Her second novel, Fata Morgana, was published in Dutch in 2008 and will soon be released in English. Her first novel, De Feniks, was published in Dutch in September 2005 and it is the first book of fiction, written by a Flemish author of African origin. In 2009, Chika Unigwe's new novel On Black Sisters' Street about African love-peddlers living and working in Belgium, was published by Jonathan Cape.
She lives in Turnhout, Belgium.
Chioma Matthews (nee Ezeogu) is a former England international netball player. She signed for Hurricanes from Mavericks this season during the January 2009 transfer window.
The athletic Londoner is known for her elevation and agility on court and has a style of Netball that has left crowds in awe of her Ariel elegance.
She won Bronze with England at the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne and has played for England at all levels since the age of 14. She has represented England in the World Youth Championships and was named most valued player for England U21’s during a tour to the Caribbean.
She is also a Financial Consultant in the City.
Nneka Ogwumike (born July 2, 1990) is a basketball player at Stanford University. She is 6 foot 2 and plays the power forward position. She attended Cypress Fairbanks High School and led them to a 5A State Championship in her senior season.
Ogwumike chose Stanford over Baylor, Duke, Connecticut, Tennessee and Notre Dame. She was a member of USA Under-18 Team that won gold in Argentina on July 23-27, 2008. Nneka tallied 20 points and 15 rebounds in the championship game of the Under 18 Fiba Americas. She led team USA to a 5-0 undefeated record while leading the team in scoring and rebounding. She was named MVP of this tournament in Argentina.
Nneka has a sister, Chiney, who is a 6 foot 3 high school basketball player.
Hajia Ladi Kwali (c.1925-1984) was a Nigerian potter.
She was born in the village of Kwali Northern Nigeria, where pottery was a common occupation among women. She learned to make pottery as a child using the traditional method of coiling.her work became known in Europe, Britain and America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, her work was shown to great acclaim in London at the Berkeley Galleries. She became Nigeria's best-known potter, was awarded a doctorate and was made an MBE in 1963. The Abuja Pottery Centre was renamed the after her and a major street in Abuja is called Ladi Kwali Road.
The first president of the African Students’ Union in the United States: Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe (1915–1990). Born in March 1915, Mbadiwe attended the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar and various colleges in Lagos. For his advanced degrees, he studied in the United States at Lincoln University, Columbia University, and New York University. He started the Daily Telegraph newspaper in 1936. He also worked as a local representative for the West African Pilot in several towns across southern Nigeria in 1937. He became a member of the House of Representatives and the federal minister of communications and aviation. In 1943, he and three other African students formed the African Academy of Arts and Research in the United States, which was designed to educate Americans about Africa. In 1945, he was the first president of the African Students’ Union in the United States. During the 1950s, he acted as a leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). He was a member of two constitutional conferences during the mid-1950s as well as a member of the 1979 constitution drafting committee. In 1958, he cofounded the Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroons as a splinter party of the NCNC. Mbadiwe was one of the earliest voices calling for indigenization. He served as the African affairs adviser for President Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in 1963. In 1979, he became a member of the National Party of Nigeria.
Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy MBE, a London-based visual artist. The first black artist to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II when commissioned to paint the official Golden Jubilee portrait. She was chosen as one of the UK Women of the Year in 2002 and 2003, represented the UK at the Council of Europe and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia. During 2006 her work was represented on the national postage stamps of six countries. In 2008 she addressed the Cambridge Union Chukwuogo-Roy is a regular contributor to the BBC and other current affairs programmes. In 2009 she was made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
The first Nigerian to become MP for Newcastle, England: Chinyelu Susan "Chi" Onwurah (born 12 April 1965) is a British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, replacing the previous Labour MP Jim Cousins, who decided to step down and left the seat. She is Newcastle's first black MP and the first female British MP of African origin.
During the depression of the 1930s, Onwurah’s maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in Tyneside shipyards. Her mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on Newcastle’s quayside. Her father, from Nigeria, was working as a dentist while he studied at Newcastle Medical School when they met and married in the 1950s.
After Chi was born in 1965, her family moved to Awka, Nigeria when she was still a baby. Just two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it, forcing her mother to bring the children back to Newcastle, whilst her father stayed on in the Biafran army.
Onwurah went on to gain a degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1987. She worked in hardware and software development, product management, market development and strategy for a variety of mainly private sector companies in a number of different countries – Britain, France, US, Nigeria and Denmark while studying for an MBA at Manchester Business School.
Prior to becoming an MP she was Head of Telecoms Technology at OFCOM, with a focus on broadband provision.
The first Nigerian woman to be elected as a Conservatives’ MP: Helen Grant (born 28 September 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician and solicitor. She is the current Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald in Kent and the current Minister for Sport and Tourism. She was elected at the 2010 general election, replacing the constituency's previous incumbent, Ann Widdecombe, who had decided to step down as an MP. Grant was the first black woman to be selected to defend a Tory seat and her election made her the Conservatives' first female black MP.
Grant was born in Willesden, north London to an English mother and Nigerian father, but grew up in a single parent family after her parents separated and her father emigrated to the United States. She was raised in Carlisle where she lived on the city's Raffles council estate with her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She said in a 2008 interview with the Daily Mail that as the only black resident of the estate she was the victim of racist bullying.
Grant met her husband, Simon, in 1990, and the couple, who married in 1991, have two sons, one of whom was serving in the Royal Marines in Apr 2013. They have a home in Kingswood, Surrey and in the constituency in Marden, Kent.
The first Nigerian and black footballer to command a £1million transfer fee: Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu (19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out to the press later in his career, becoming the first English professional footballers to be openly gay. He was also the first black footballer to command a £1million transfer fee, with his transfer from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in August 1981, but had little success as a player afterwards, although he continued to play at senior level until 1994.
Fashanu was the son of a Nigerian barrister living in the UK and a Guyanese nurse called Pearl. When his parents split up, he and his brother, John, were sent to a Barnardo's home. When he was six, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk. Justin Fashanu excelled at boxing as a youth, and was rumoured at one time to be pursuing a professional boxing career instead of his footballing career.
The first recipient of the Grand Prix Award for the 1st World Ceramic Biennale 2001 in Korea: Lawson Oyekan (born in London, England 1961), is a contemporary ceramic sculptor and the first recipient of the Grand Prix Award for the 1st World Ceramic Biennale 2001 in Korea.
Lawson Dokun Oyekan was born in 1961 in England and grew up in Ibadan, son of a Nigerian high court Judge, attended Loyola College, Nigeria, West Africa, returning to England in 1983 to study art where he attended the art foundation course in East Ham. Initially learning the practice of throwing with porcelain, Oyekan created diaphragm-like artworks with a lifted center. He then moved on to making hand built larger, monolithic forms. Both of these constructions include his experiences as a Londoner, as well as an African. His pieces are adorned with piercings and sometimes include text in English or his native language, Yoruba. There is a presence in Oyekan’s forms that speak of his experiences and his upbringing. “My intent is to express human endurance and deliver a message of reassurance: that human suffering can be healed.”
Beginning his studies in Nigeria with applied Chemistry and later studied a diploma in general art at The Ibadan Polytechnic, Ibadan. Lawson then returned to England in 1983 to pursue art. First studying at Central School of Art and Design in 1985 on a degree course, he then went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London from 1988-1990 where he was lectured by the likes of Eduardo Paolozzi. During his studies he received the Darwin Scholarship Award in 1989, and is most notable for receiving the Grand Prix Award in the 2001 Korean Biennale for his piece “Healing Being,” from his Coming up for Air series. As a contemporary sculptor currently making work, he shows and exhibits work all over the world in Europe, Korea, Japan, and the United States.
The first black Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign,USA: Professor Ilesanmi Adesida (August 2012)
Born in Ondo State, Prof Adesida is a Nigerian Engineer whose outstanding work in the field of Nanotechnology has received much acclaim in the scientific community.
He obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently went on to develop a body of work in the processing of semiconductors and other materials at the nanometer-scale level.
After his studies, he worked in various capacities at what is now known as the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He was also the head of the Electrical Engineering Department at Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria.
Prof Adesida is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Vacuum Society, and the Optical Society of America. He is also the past-president of IEEE Electron Devices Society.
Prof. Hilary I. Inyang: A renowned Nigerian-born U.S environmental scientist. He was the first black person to be endowed as a distinguished professor in environmental engineering in the United States, as well as the first African immigrant to Chair a Committee of the congressionally mandated national science advisory body of a US agency.
He pioneered the incorporation of fundamental chemo dynamic mechanisms into contaminant leachability models for estimating emission source terms for materials under scenarios in which they are subjected to both load and environmental stresses. His models and experimental data on physic-chemical interactions between natural/synthetic polymers and lateritic soils have provided rational bases for aqueous polymer application in dust control to safeguard human health in many countries
He is a former President of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria and Founding Director of the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. In 2008, he was a finalist for the position of United Nations Under Secretary-General and Rector of United Nations University in Tokyo.
He has helped establish research institutes and operate educational programs in Brazil, Japan, Korea, India, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, United Arab Emirates and China at where he has been an Honorary Professor/Concurrent Professor (CUMT and Nanjing University) since 2004 and 1999, respectively.
The first African ambassador for Elizabeth Arden: Adeola Ariyo, a Nigerian model
The first African partner at prestigious American law firm, Hughes Hubbard & Reed: Beatrice Hamza Bassey. Bassey went to the University of Maiduguri and moved on to the Harvard Law School where she attracted the attention of the firm.
The first Nigerian Ambassador for Nike: Osaretin Osabuohien aka Sarz (October 2013), Sarz became the first Nigerian to sign an endorsement deal with top-flight sports equipment company, Nike.
He was unveiled in Lagos as a brand ambassador and would be involved in many Nike events and activities in Nigeria.
The first Black Marchioness in Britain: Emma McQuiston
Emma McQuiston, the daughter of Nigerian oil tycoon Ladi Jadesimi, with a British mother, made history when she married the Viscount Ceawlin Thynn, of Britain on Saturday 8th of June 2013.
The first Nigerian nominated for a Canadian Radio Music award: D'Ija (Hadiza Blell) in 2009 for her first singe Rock Steady. Di’ja was Born in Lagos, Nigeria. Her mother is from Northern Nigeria and her father, Joe Blell, is the former deputy minister of Sierra Leone. Di’ja grew up in Nigeria and Canada.
Paula Vasco-Knight became the first BME female CEO of a foundation trust in 2008 and is now the only female CEO in the NHS with an African heritage. Difference and equality inspired Paula from a young age. Her two very different grandfathers, one from Nigeria and one from Scotland, had a strong friendship based on respect and embracing and celebrating their differences. This had a profound impact on her - and her approach to leadership.
The first West African to go to the United Kingdom as a volunteer for the RAF (1941) and the first to be commissioned in the RAF and the first to qualify as a pilot: Emanuel Peter John Adeniyi Thomas, a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Reserve, born in Lagos, Nigeria. Before the war, he was a civil servant in Lagos. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force with his heart set on becoming a pilot. He died on 12 January 1945 age 30 and his death was recorded in The Times (January 30 1945) in their obituary section under "Fallen Officers, Royal Air Force" . He is buried in Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery. Plot 39. Sec. H. Row E. Grave 225. His commissioned headstone is made from Portland Stone.
His gravestone has been photographed and can be seen on the website of The War Graves Photographic Project (Reference: Stephen Bourne).
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