University of Ibadan Road Network
Background to the Names of Roads
In a document titled, Background to the Names of Roads and Halls, published in 1969, by the Ibadan University Press, edited by Dr. O Adewoye of the History Department later, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Ade Ajayi, also of the Department of History, had emphasized in the foreword to the booklet the extent to which the Department of History has been closely associated-with the naming- of roads on the University Campus. Dr. K. O. Dike then Head of History Department was Chairman of a road-naming committee between 1955 and 1960. The committee was revived in 1962 and Dr Adewoye was appointed chairman. Even by 1966, the History Department had difficulty in recollecting the exact significance of some of the names. It was a good thing to have embarked on the compilation and keeping proper record of which, no doubt, will be of interest to members of the university community and friends of the University.
The reproduced notes here are based on the files by the Road Name Committee; others were compiled under Professor Ade Ajayi’s direction by two postgraduate students, Messrs. A. L Asiwaju and D. Nwasike in 1966-7 and later edited by Dr. O. Adewoye.
Roads
ABDULLAHI ROAD in the north-west area of the University, runs north from the junction of Saunders Road, Laird Road and Phillipson Road and links Parry Road with Elliot Close.
It is named after ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad (1763/67-1829), the younger brother of Shehu Usuman dan Fodio, and the first Emir of Gwandu. ‘Abdullah (known locally as Abdullahi) was a great scholar, poet, teacher, religious reformer and administrator. His well-known and significant works in Arabic include Tazyin al- Waraqat, an edited version of which was published by the University of Ibadan Press in 1963.
AFRICANUS HORTON ROAD branches southwards from Niger Road near the Athletic Tracks, runs between the Mathematics and Chemistry Departments and leads to the University Computing Centre.
It is named after James Africanus Beale Horton (1835-1883), a scientist, a medical practitioner and author. He was born in Sierra Leone of Igbo parents. He attended the C. M. S. Grammar School and the Fourah Bay Institution in Freetown. In 1853, on the recommendation of the C. M. S. authorities, he was sent to Edinburgh University, where he took his M. D. degree in 1859. In the same year he published his thesis, “The Medical Topography of the West Coast of Africa”. He was assigned to the Army Medical Service and he spent the years 1859-1880 at various stations on the West coast from the Gambia to the Bight of Biafra. A writer of note, he was concerned with the development of the African. Among other things, he advocated vocational education, the establishment of a West African university, and political independence. His writings in this sphere include Political Economy of British West Africa (1865) and West African Countries and Peoples (1868).
AKINYELE ROAD branches off Barth Road to the south and leads to the International School. It is named after a distinguished Ibadan family which was among the first to adopt Christianity in the City and has produced a number of educators as well as leaders in Church and State. Among these were the late Diocesan Bishop of Ibadan, the Right Reverend A. B. Akinyele (1875-1968), a well-known theologian, an exponent of Yoruba language and philosophy, founder and first principal of Ibadan Grammar School; and Oba I. B. Akinyele (1882-1964), the Olubadan of Ibadan (1955-1964), president of the Christ Apostolic Church and author of a history of Ibadan, published in Yoruba and English.
ALZAYYATI CRESCEN branches off Phillipson Road in the northwest after about 400 feet from the junction of Saunders Road and Laird Road.
It is named after AI-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Zayyati (or AI-Fasi), the Arab traveller and scholar more popularly known as Leo Africanus (c. 1485-c. 1554). As a young man he travelled extensively on commercial and diplomatic missions in North Africa. He also journeyed through the Western Sudan, visiting the present-day Northern Nigeria. In about 1518 while travelling by sea from Constantinople to Morocco, he was captured by pirates and taken as a slave to Pope Leo X. The Pope converted him to the Christian Faith and in 1520 baptised him with his own names Johannes and Leo. Alzayyati moved in literary circles, acquired Latin and taught Arabic. His greatest work The: History and Description of Africa (originally published in Italian in 1526) is an important source of information on the peoples of Western Sudan in the sixteenth century.
AMINA WAY, lying north of Oduduwa Road, forms a loop linking senior staff residential quarters in the older section of the University.
Queen Amina, after whom the road ‘is named, was said to have ruled Zaria in the middle of the sixteenth century. Tradition credits her with many exploit. She was supposed to have built the famous ancient walls in Hausaland (Ganuwar Amina or Amina Walls). According to the Kano Chronicle she conquered as far south as Kwararafa and Nupe, exacting tributes from every conquered town. Trade flourished in. her reign. For some time at least she succeeded in unifying the various Hausa states.
APPLETON ROAD runs from Carver Road between Physics and Zoology Departments and leads to the Physics Experimental Site and the Climatological Station.
It is named after Sir Edward Victor Appleton, C. B. E., K. C. B., D. Sc., an English Physicist, born in 1892 at Bradford, Yorkshire. He was for some time professor of Natural Philosophy at Cambridge University. During the Second World War he was in charge of the British atomic bomb research. From 1939 to 1949 he was secretary to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and was later principal and vice-chancellor of Edinburgh University. He won the Nobel Prize in 1947 for his researches into the physics of the atmosphere, particularly for the discovery of the ionized layer of the atmosphere named after him.
ATIBA ROAD is the northern entrance to the University running past the Senior Staff School and the Police Post to the centre of Abadina.
It is named after Atiba, the first Alafin of present-day Oyo (c. 1839-1858). He was the son of Alafin Abiodun. He established a new capital of the Oyo Empire at Ago-Oja (later called Oyo) after the destruction of the former one by the Fulanis from Ilorin. He made efforts to unify the Yoruba in the face of incursions from Dahomi and Fulani invaders. He abolished the tradition of crown princes dying with the ruling Alafin and thus revolutionized the law of succession in Oyo.
BARTH ROAD forms part of the present (1968) southern boundary of the University. It branches southwest-wards off Lander Road.
Heinrich Barth (1821-1865) was a German scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the Western Sudan, including what is now Northern Nigeria between 1849 and 1855. His Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, 1849-1855 is a rich source of information on the history geography and ethnography of the areas he covered.
BATUTA ROAD is the first turning to the left on Saunders Road coming from its eastern end. It links Saunders Road and Sankore Avenue.
Abu Abdallah Mohammed Ibn Batuta (or Battutah) 1304-1368 was a great Muslim Berber traveller and scholar born in Tangier. His journeys between 1325 and 1355 extended from the Niger basin to China. He also visited Southern Persia, Iraq, Yemen and touched on such important East African towns as Mombasa, Kilwa, and Mogadishu. His book, Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354, translated into English by H. A. R. Gibb, is a wealth of information and geographical descriptions.
BENUE ROAD branches westwards off Emotan Lane near the University Mosque past the Faculty of Education and a number of Flats to link with Massaba Road.
It takes its name from the river Benue, an important tributary of River Niger. The Benue rises from the Adamawa mountains, to the north of the Cameroon highlands. It runs for about 800 miles approximately from east to west- before it joins the Niger at Lokoja. It is navigable as far as Garua during the rainy season by fairly big steamers.
BINI ROAD branches off Amina Way and runs northeast almost to the centre of the loop formed by Amina Way.
The road is named after the Bini people who are today in the Mid- Western State of Nigeria. They claimed to have come from Egypt. After a brief sojourn at He-Ife, they arrived at their present location in historic times. They founded the Benin kingdom which expanded far and wide between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries to become one of West Africa’s largest and best organized states. Its jurisdiction extended as far as Onitsha and beyond, east of the Niger and as far west as Lagos, Badagry and Whydah. . (Lagos was originally founded by a Benin army). The kingdom also expanded to the northeast and the northwest, exercising jurisdiction over parts of the Yoruba country. It lost her independence in March 1897 when a British military expedition captured Benin City, its capital. The Bini people are known for their arts and crafts, especially for their brasswork, ivory and wood carvings. It has been estimated that over 20,000 works of arts were taken away from Benin City during its capture in 1897. Benin works of art are now found all over the world.
CARR ROAD, in the southwest area of the campus, is the first turning to the right going south on Ekwuno Road.
It is named after Henry Rawlinson Carr (1863-1945), a most distinguished Nigerian mathematician, educationist and administrator. He was government inspector of Education, 1889-1918, and commissioner of Lagos Colony, 1918-1924. His well-known library of about 30,000 volumes formed the nucleus of the University of Ibadan Library.
CARVER ROAD runs parallel to Niger Road to the south of it along the Chemistry and Physics Laboratories.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was an Afro-American scientist who devoted his life to agricultural research. Born of slave parentage, he received his education from a number of American colleges, including the famous Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From his research he showed the value of diversification of crops. He also experimented with a wide variety of food crops and discovered ways by which they could be converted to other products. A great philanthropist, he gave out his life savings of $33,000 to establish the Carver Foundation in. 1940 to carry on his research.
CHAD ROAD passes by the Faculty of Education and the Institute of African Studies and links Cross Road with Benue Road.
It takes its name from the Lake Chad on the .northeast corner of Nigeria. The Chad is a basin of inland drainage, about 850 ft above sea level. It is fed by a. number of rivers, the largest of which is the Shari which brings down enough water to swell it to a maximum height of 24ft in December and January. The lake is at its lowest in Mayor June, losing its waters largely by evaporation and seepage.
CHAPEL ROAD runs approximately northwards from the front of the University Bookshop, crosses Emotan Lane and passes through Abadina to the junction of Atiba Road, Farm Road and Dina Road. Along it are the Roman Catholic Chapel (the Chapel of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom) and the Protestant Chapel (the Chapel of Resurrection) from both of which the road takes its name.
CHIMA ROAD runs northwards from Atiba Road near the Motor Transport Yard.
Chima was the legendary founder of the town of Onitsha in the East Central State of Nigeria. After their fight with the Bini on the west of the Niger, Chima led his people across the river to the present town of Onitsha. He is also credited with instituting the Obiship and creating titled chiefs to help in the administration of the town. . The western Ibos are sometimes referred to as the children of Chima (umu Eze Chima)
CROSS ROAD is the road that links the new extension to the main Library and the Institute of African Studies.
It is named after River Cross in South-Eastern Nigeria. The Cross rises in the highlands of Southern Cameroon and flows in a great arc round the Oban hills and then southwards into the Atlantic at Calabar. With a total length of about 300 miles it is an important means of transport and communication during the rains. It served this purpose to European missionaries and traders in the nineteenth century.
CROWTHER LANE branches off Amina Way near the Department of Veterinary Medicine and runs northeast-ward into another residential area.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1806-1891) was a famous Nigerian Christian leader, a distinguished missionary and educationist and pioneer of linguistic studies of Yoruba, Nupe, Ijaw and others. Captured as a slave in the Yoruba country in 1822, he was educated in Sierra Leone and, Britain. He was a member of the Niger Expeditions of 1841, 1854, and 1857, travelled extensively and worked in different parts of Nigeria. He played a dominant part in translating the Bible into Yoruba which has become the basis of written Yoruba language and literature. He founded the C. M. S. Niger Mission in 1857 and was consecrated bishop in 1864, thus becoming the first African bishop of modern ‘times. He was awarded an Oxford D. D. for his linguistic studies and a Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his accounts of his travels.
DAN FODIO ROAD also branches off Amina Way. It begins near the University Provision Shop, runs eastwards to meet Bini Road.
It is named after Usuman dan Fodio (1754-1817), the great Muslim scholar and reformer who led the Fulani jihad against the Habe rulers of Hausaland in 1804. The jihad led to the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate that brought unity to the Hausa states and the bulk of Northern Nigeria outside Bornu and is therefore an important milestone in the evolution of Nigeria. The best known writings of Dan Fodio include Kitab al-Farq, Nur al-Albab, Tanbikhu ‘l-ikhwan and Wathiquat abl-al-Sudan.
DINA ROAD is the continuation of Chapel Road beyond the intersection of Farm Road and Atiba Road.
Dina was the original owner of the land on which Abadina now stands. Abadina is really “Abaa Dina”, meaning Dina’s Cottage.
DYKE ROAD runs from the southeastern corner of the University Court between Tedder Hall and the Students’ Union Building and leads to Emotan Lane
Montague Dyke was an Englishman who devoted” his life largely to the problems of agriculture in West Africa. In the course of a long life of service in the agricultural departments in West Africa he built up a famous scientific library of some 10,000 books, journals, pamphlets and reprints which he presented to the University of Ibadan Library.
EBROHIMIE ROAD is in the southeast area of the University. It branches east from Lander Road and runs parallel with Oduduwa Road.
Ebrohimie was the town founded in the latter half of the nineteenth century by Olomu (c. 1810-1883), a great trader on the Benin River. It was made famous by Olomu’s son, Chief Nana (1852-1916) who was appointed governor of Benin River (1884-1891) by the British Administration. The strategic location of the town at the mouth of the Benin River leading into Urhobo country and the hinterland of Ethiope and Jameson rivers gave Nana a virtual monopoly of the trade of the area. He later quarrelled with the British and his town was captured on September 25, 1894 - after two previous abortive attempts. Nana was prominent among Nigerian leaders who began by seeking to trade with the British and ended up resisting their political ambitious.
EKWUNO ROAD links Macaulay Road and Carr Road and meets Ijoma near the southern end of Pepple Road.
Ekwuno (born c. 1745), otherwise known as Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, was taken as a slave from his home in Igboland to Virginia, U. S. A. and later to England. While in England he purchased his freedom in 1766 and took an active part in the anti-slavery movement. His autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa (London 1789) is a most important written source of information on Igbo society in the mid-eighteenth century.
EL KANEMI ROAD branches southwest-wards from. Lander Road and leads to Nnamdi Azikiwe and Independence Halls of Residence.
It is named after Shehu Mohammed EI-Kanemi, the effective ruler of Bornu between 1809 and 1835. It was largely owing to his reforms of the military, administrative and religious life of Bornu that Bornu was able to resist incorporation into the Sokoto Caliphate. He was a distinguished Muslim. scholar and administrator and perhaps the best known of his writings was his exchange of letters with Sultan Mohammed Bello on the causes and the nature of the Fulani Jihad. The dynasty he founded still reigns in Bornu.
ELLIOT CLOSE is the cul-de-sac north of Parry Road at the northwestern corner of the University campus.
It is named after the Rt. Hon. Walter E. Elliot (1888-1958), P. C., C. H., M. C., F. R. S., F. R. C. P. He was a distin-guished physician, parliamentarian, minister of state, writer and broadcaster. He was also closely associated with the administration as Rector of two Scottish Universities - Aberdeen and Glasgow. As Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education in West Africa (1943-1945) he paved the way for the foundation of the University of Ibadan and similar institutions of higher learning in Commonwealth West Africa.