Biodun Jeyifo, emeritus professor of African literature, dies at 80

Jeyifo

Biodun Jeyifo, an emeritus professor and one of the country’s foremost scholars of literature and culture, is dead.

Jeyifo died on Wednesday at the age of 80.

In a statement announcing Jeyifo’s passing, Andrew Haruna, president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), described his death as a profound loss to Nigeria and the global intellectual community.

Born on 5 January 1946 in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, Jeyifo, fondly known as “BJ”, built a distinguished academic career that spanned decades and continents.

He earned a first-class degree in English from the University of Ibadan, obtained his master’s degree from the same institution, and later completed a doctorate programme at New York University.

Jeyifo taught at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), before taking up appointments abroad.

The late scholar held senior academic positions at Cornell University and later at Harvard University, where he served as professor emeritus of African and African American Studies and Comparative Literature.

Jeyifo was widely regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of the works of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.

Beyond his academic work, he was active in university governance and once served as national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), playing a role in the struggle for academic freedom and improved conditions in Nigerian universities.