Prof. Osoba Dies At 83

The first professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Ibadan, Abimbola Osoba, is dead.
He died on March 2, 2018 at the age of 83, according to a statement on Thursday.
Described as brilliant, intelligent, humble, gentle, kind, generous and hard-working, Osoba was survived by his wife, Prof. Nike Osoba nee Ashiru, children and extended family members.
“He will be sorely missed,” the statement said, adding that burial arrangements would be announced later.
The late Osoba, according to the statement, “attended the CMS Grammar School and proceeded to the United Kingdom in 1952 for higher studies.”
“He obtained his B.A. (1958) and M.A. in Microbiology from the Trinity College, Dublin and then proceeded to the Queen’s University, Belfast, to read medicine and graduated in 1964.
“He returned to Nigeria in 1965 and took up appointment as a Senior Registrar in the Department of Medical Microbiology, UCH Ibadan.
“He later returned to the UK in 1975 for his MD with honours at the Queens University, Belfast.
“In 1978, he was appointed Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Ibadan (first to be so appointed) and Consultant Microbiologist to UCH. He also became the first Director of the Special Treatment Clinic and Venereal Diseases and Treponematoses Research and Teaching Laboratories of the University College Hospital, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
“He wrote almost 300 scientific papers on infectious diseases and clinical microbiology topics published locally and internationally. He was at various times a visiting professor at the John Hopkins, USA.
“In 1987, he went abroad to take up various medical appointments at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, Birmingham General Hospital in the UK.
“He was later appointed consultant and head of the division of microbiology at the Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh (1987-1995); and in 1995, he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Microbiology and Deputy Director of Pathology at the King Khalid National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia…..(1996-2006).”