Francis Egbokhare

Last updated
Professor

Francis Egbokhare
Born
Francis Oisaghaede Egbokhare

(1963-09-22)22 September 1963
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Nationality Nigerian
Alma mater University of Ibadan, University of Benin
Occupation(s) Linguist, Professor, Scholar
Employer University of Ibadan
Partner Olayinka Egbokhare
Children2

Francis Egbokhare (born September 22, 1962) is a prolific scholar, academic linguist, writer, and professor from Nigeria, and a fellow and the immediate past president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] He has held positions at the University of Ibadan for many years as a professor of linguistics and as the Director of the Distance Learning Centre. He lives in Ibadan.

Contents

Bio and academic career

Born Francis Oisaghaede Egbokhare from Afuze in Edo State, he attended St John’s primary School, Igarra, Edo State between 1967 and 1972, and then St. Gabriel Primary School, Agenebode, also in Edo State between 1972 and 1973. He proceeded to Otaru Grammar School, Auchi, between 1973 and 1978, and to Edaiken Grammar School, Okhuaihe, Benin City, from 1978 to 1979. He attended the University of Benin for his BA (1979-1983), and the University of Ibadan for his MA (1985) and PhD in 1990. [1]

While at the University of Benin, he met and began to work with American professor Ronald P. Schaefer with whom he went on to have a long and sustained collaboration over thirty years, and published about 35 books and essays on Emai, his mother tongue, in the space of 20 years. [6]

From 1985 to 1988, Egbokhare was Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan. From 1988 to 1991, he became Lecturer II in the same department. From 1991 to 1994, he became Lecturer I, and from 1994 to 1999 a Senior Lecturer. In 1999, he became a full Professor of Linguistics in the same department, becoming one of the youngest professors in the university at age 37. [7] [8]

His research areas are in Ethics, Historical Linguistics, and Syntax. His columns in Nigeria's national newspapers under the title "Preying Mantis" focuses on education, politics, integrity in public service, faith, language, among others. In collaboration with Professor R. P. Schaefer, he has produced a 552-page "Dictionary of Emai" (2007) and two volumes of oral tradition narratives running to 1,261 pages.

Francis is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.

In 2010, he was shortlisted with five others vying to become the Vice Chancellor of the university. [9]

Head of the Distance Learning Centre

In 2004, Egbokhare assumed office as Director of the University of Ibadan's Distance Learning Centre (DLC). At this time, the Centre had no impact on the financial and administrative operations of the University. It had only 800 students at a point and was barely able to cover its financial needs. Under his leadership, DLC surpassed the university's Postgraduate School in contributions to the internally generated revenue of the University. At the end of my tenure, it had cash savings of over 800 million naira and significant assets and investments.

The DLC pioneered e-learning delivery, web based, radio based delivery, computer-based testing, student support operations in addition to developing and digitalizing 564 Courseware and Learning materials. The total student population grew under him to about 15,000, more than either of the undergraduate or postgraduate student population of the University of Ibadan. He engaged in extensive regulatory reforms, change management training, capacity building and program expansion (which increased from 6 to 38) with the support of Senate and Management. He mobilized academic and non-academic staff to move the DLC from obscurity (derisively regarded as Siberia) to the foremost Distance Learning operation in Africa. The DLC contributed enormously to and enhanced the positive evaluation of UI all over the world.

A paper he co-wrote “Learners Acceptance of the Use of Mobile Phones to Deliver Tutorials in a Distance Learning Context: A Case Study at the University of Ibadan." in The African Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 5 No 3:80-93 has been downloaded over eight hundred and fifty times. [10]

Personal life

Egbokhare lives in Ibadan with his wife, Olayinka Egbokhare, and their two children.

Selected publications

Books

Papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benin City</span> Capital city of Edo State, Nigeria

Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 1,500,000 as of 2016. It is situated approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Benin River and 320 kilometres (200 mi) by road east of Lagos. Benin City is the centre of Nigeria's rubber industry, and oil production is also a significant industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoruba language</span> Language spoken in West Africa

Yoruba is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 50 million, plus about 5 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria and Benin with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edo language</span> Edoid language spoken in Nigeria

Edo, colloquially called Bini (Benin), is a language spoken in Edo State, Nigeria. It is the native language of the Edo people and was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Ladefoged</span> British phonetician (1925–2006)

Peter Nielsen Ladefoged was a British linguist and phonetician.

The Edoid languages are a few dozen languages spoken in Southern Nigeria, predominantly in the former Bendel State. The name Edoid derives from its most widely spoken member, Edo, the language of Benin City, which has 25 million native and secondary speakers.

Kay Williamson, born Ruth Margaret Williamson, was a linguist who specialised in the study of African languages, particularly those of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, where she lived for nearly fifty years. She has been called "The Mother of Nigerian Linguistics" and is also notable for proposing the Pan-Nigerian alphabet.

Eggon, erroneously referred to as Mada - formerly a Plateau language spoken in central Nigeria. It is one of the major language in Nasarawa State.

Chief Ògúnwán̄dé "Wán̄dé" Abím̄bọ́lá is a Nigerian academician, a professor of Yoruba language and literature, and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ife. He has also served as the Majority Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chief Abimbola was installed as Àwísẹ Awo Àgbàyé in 1981 by the Ooni of Ife on the recommendation of a conclave of Babalawos of Yorubaland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adiele Afigbo</span> Nigerian historian (1937-2009)

Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo was a Nigerian historian known for the history and historiography of Africa, more particularly Igbo history and the history of Southeastern Nigeria. Themes emphasised include pre-colonial and colonial history, inter-group relations, the Aro and the slave trade, the art and science of history in Africa, and nation-building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Benin</span> 1180–1897 kingdom in modern south-south Nigeria

The Kingdom of Benin, also known as the Edo Kingdom, or the Benin Empire was a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria. The Benin Kingdom was "one of the oldest and most developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa". It grew out of the previous Edo Kingdom of Igodomigodo around the 11th century AD, and lasted until it was annexed by the British Empire in 1897.

Igue festival is a celebration with its origin in the Benin Kingdom of Edo State, Nigeria. One tradition states that the festival date coincided with the marriage of Ewuare to a wife named Ewere. Celebrated between Christmas and New Year, the festival includes the Oba's blessing of the land and his people. During the Igue ritual season, the Oba is prohibited from being in the presence of any non-native person.

Ladipo Ayodeji Banjo, is a Nigerian Emeritus professor of English language, educational administrator, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria as well as former pro-chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayo Bamgbose</span> Nigerian linguist

Ayọ̀ Bámgbóṣé is an academic linguist, the first professor of Linguistics in Nigeria. He has made contributions to education and linguistics, achieving recognition in form of honours and election to offices in professional bodies.

Tayo Lamidi is a Nigerian academic. He is the professor of Generative Syntax and Contact Linguistics at the Department of English, University of Ibadan. He is one of Nigeria's notable generative syntacticians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald P. Schaefer</span> American linguist

Ronald P. Schaefer, also known as Ron Schaefer is an American academic, English professor, and linguist. He is the first person "to devise a written version of a language called Emai", a language reported in 1997 to be spoken by about 30,000 Emai people in Edo State of Nigeria. He has been described as one with "fevered intellect, the sharp chin, the untamable kineticism."

Hounkpati B Christophe Capo is a Beninese linguist, and professor of linguistics at the Université d'Abomey-Calavi in the Republic of Benin.

Philip Aigbona Igbafe was a Nigerian historian, professor and former public administrator noted for his work on the history of the Edo people of the precolonial Kingdom of Benin. Igbafe belongs to the Ibadan History School and his major works examine the motives for colonialism and highlights the political, social and economic consequences of British rule for the African kingdom.

Herrmann Rudolf Jungraithmayr is an Austrian Africanist and retired university professor. Until 1996, he was the chair of African linguistics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The Shammo (Shammɔ) or Jere languages are spoken in north-central Nigeria. They form a subgroup within the East Kainji languages.

Godwin Osakpemwoya Samuel EkhaguereNNOM is a Nigerian professor of Mathematics at the University of Ibadan and the founder and president of the International Centre for Mathematical & Computer Sciences (ICMCS). He is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, a former sub Dean of Faculty of Science University of Ibadan and a member of African Academy of Sciences. He is also a recipient of Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) awarded by President Muhammadu Buhari.

References

  1. 1 2 "Laurels in the Humanities (III)". Daily Trust. 15 September 2012. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Celebrating Egbokhare at 50". Tribune. 24 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "About NAL". Nigerian Academy of Letters. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  4. ↑ "Nigerian Academy Of Letters Inducts 13 New Members". Independent Newspaper Nigeria. 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  5. ↑ "With our abysmally low salaries, we can't attract lecturers globally– Prof Egbokhare, Ex-president, Academy of letters". Punch Newspapers. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  6. ↑ Obafemi, Olu (September 15, 2012). "Laurels in the Humanities (III)". Daily Trust.
  7. ↑ Latestnigeriannews. "Celebrating Egbokhare at 50!". Latest Nigerian News. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  8. ↑ "INTERVIEW WITH PROF. EGBOKHARE". DAYO ADESINA PETERS' BLOG. 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  9. ↑ "Six Shortlisted For UI VC Job". PM NEWS Nigeria. 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  10. ↑ Gloria, Adedoja; Omobola, Adelore; Francis, Egbokhare; Ayodeji, Oluleye (2013-01-01). "Learners' Acceptance of the Use of Mobile Phones to Deliver Tutorials in a Distance Learning Context: A Case Study at the University of Ibadan". The African Journal of Information Systems. 5 (3). ISSN   1936-0282.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.