Adebayo Adedeji was only 36 years old when he became a full-fledged Professor. He was Nigeria's Federal Commissioner for Economic Development & Reconstruction from 1971 to 1975 and was responsible for the economic development and reconstruction of post-civil war Nigeria. Adedeji was one of the earliest economists Nigeria produced. He was a product of the Ijebu Ode Grammar School before he proceeded to the University College, Ibadan, for his Bachelor’s degree in Economics. The University College was then an affiliate of the University of London. In between, he also earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Leicester and his PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Adedeji was subsequently engaged by the regional government of Western Nigeria as an Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning between 1958 and 1963. He then shifted from the civil service to the academic world. In 1963, he became the Deputy Director of the Institute of Administration of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, a substantive director in 1967, and in 1968, while on a leave of absence with the National Manpower Board, he was appointed a professor. Adebayo Adedeji, thus, became Nigeria’s first professor of public administration at the "tender" age of 36. In a professional career characterised by thoughtful policy-making and innovative institutional building, Adedeji led the process that established the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS). He also inspired the formation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1973 and became the pioneer Chairman. In June 1975, Adedeji was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and remained in this position until July 1991. Adedeji wrote the Lagos Plan of Action of 1980 which was adopted by the UN and OAU. In 1991, Adebayo Adedeji founded the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (ACDESS), a non-governmental independent continental non-profit, think-tank dedicated to multi-disciplinary and strategic studies on and for Africa. A recipient of the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), Adedeji retired from public life in December 2010, after turning 80, and spent the last years of his life quietly in his home town of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria. Adedeji was also a frontline member of his Ijebu-Ode community and a close associate of Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale (monarch) of Ijebu land. He was the Asiwaju (leader) of Ijebuland and Bobajiro (chief adviser) of the Awujale as well. After a protracted illness, Professor Adebayo Adedeji died in Lagos on April 25, 2018. He was 87. #historyville