P.A Ogundipe

Ajibola Ogundipe,  prominent educationist, author and co-author of many English language textbooks, is dead. She was 92

Ogundipe who was born on 16 May 1927, died on 27 March, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States, where she was buried on the same day.

According to a family source, “We are sad to announce that on March 27, 2020 we had to say goodbye to Phebean Ajibola Ogundipe (Charlotte, North Carolina). Family and friends can light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Phebean Ajibola Ogundipe to show support.” Eyewitness media reported.

“A burial was held on Friday, March 27th 2020 at 11:00 AM.” 

Her body of work includes: ”Nothing So Sweet” which won the first prize in a British Council short story competition; ”Folktales and Fables,” published by Penguin Books; ”Up-Country Girl,” her autobiography, published by Longman; ”New Practical English”; Brighter Grammar”; and many short stories  published in different anthologies.

Mrs Ogundipe (nee Itayemi) was born in Esa Oke, Osun State and got married to Mr Adebayo Ogundipe in 1954. She was educated at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the Institute of Education, University of London.

Ogundipe was said to have returned to Nigeria after her study in the United Kingdom, and became Senior Education Officer and later Inspector of Education in the defunct Western State of Nigeria. She later became the Principal of the Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo State.

In 1979, the Federal Government awarded her the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).