Babatunde Ogunnaike, Co-author Of National Anthem Dies At 65
by Abiodun Sivowaku
Babatunde Ogunnaike, co-author of the national anthem, is dead.
He reportedly died on Sunday February 20 at the age of 65.
He became a co-author of the national anthem after his submission for a competition organised by the federal government, calling for entries for lyrics for the new national anthem, was chosen.
Ogunnaike’s entry and that of four others — P.O. Aderibigbe, John Ilechukwu, Sota Omoigui, and Eme Etim Akpan — were combined to form the new national anthem which was adopted in 1978.
Ogunnaike, who was born on March 26, 1956, in Ogun state, attended the University of Lagos (UNILAG) for his bachelor’s degree, graduating with first-class honours in chemical engineering in 1976.
He later earned a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 and also graduated with a PhD in chemical engineering from the same university in 1981.
He was a research engineer with the Shell Development Corporation in Houston, Texas, between 1981 and 1982, and was also a professor in UNILAG between 1982 and 1988, during which he held appointments in two departments — chemical engineering and statistics.
