Felicia Adetowun Omolara Ogunsheye, born on December 5, 1926, in Benin City, Nigeria, is a Nigerian librarian, academic, author, and gender trailblazer who made history as the first woman to become a professor in Nigeria.
She is 99 years old, still intellectually vibrant, and stands as one of the most remarkable living testaments to what Nigerian women could achieve when they refused to accept the boundaries society drew around them. She was born into a household that defied convention, raised by parents who believed their daughter deserved the same educational opportunities as any son.
Adetowun Ogunsheye Profile
| Name | Adetowun Ogunsheye |
| Real Name | Felicia Adetowun Omolara Ogunsheye |
| Date of Birth | December 5, 1926 |
| State of Origin | Edo state |
| Tribe | Benin |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Occupation | A Nigerian librarian, academic, author, and gender trailblazer |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Net Worth | N/A |
| Copied from | Content101.com |
Educational Background
Adetowun Ogunsheye attended the Cameroons British Tutorial School during her early years, as her father served as chief clerk in British Cameroon. She returned to Nigeria and sat for the entrance examination to Queen’s College Lagos in 1939, completing her secondary education in 1945. In 1946, she gained admission to Yaba Higher College, becoming one of the first women admitted to what had been an all-male institution.
She then enrolled at Newnham College, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where she was the only Nigerian woman at the college, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography in 1952. She later obtained a Master’s degree in Library Science, cementing a career that moved from geography into the world of books, knowledge management, and library development.
Career
After obtaining her Cambridge degree, Adetowun Ogunsheye returned to Nigeria and took up a teaching position as the founding principal of Anglican Girls’ Secondary School, now St. Margaret’s School, in Ilesha in the Western Region. She later transferred to St. Anne’s School in Ibadan before leaving teaching in 1958 to pursue librarianship, the field that would define her lasting legacy. She joined the University of Ibadan’s library system and rose to become a Professor of Library Science, becoming the first woman to hold a professorship in Nigeria’s academic history.
Her scholarship was widely sought internationally. She was a consultant to UNESCO and other international organisations on library development in Africa, published extensively on library education, bibliographic services, and the role of libraries in national development, and became one of the most respected voices on African library science on the global stage. She was honoured with a Doctor of Letters by the University of Maiduguri in 1990, inducted into the International Education Hall of Fame Nigeria in 2000, and had a postgraduate hall at the University of Ibadan named after her. She retired from the University of Ibadan in 1987 after a distinguished career.
At 99, she remains the president of the Ogunsheye Foundation, a research library she established for students, and continues to write for children and youth, making her Africa’s oldest publishing author. In 2025, the Daystar Leadership Academy and several civic organisations called for her to be awarded a national honour, a recognition many Nigerians feel is long overdue for a woman who opened a door that had never been opened before.
Controversies
Adetowun Ogunsheye’s life is almost entirely without personal controversy. Her most significant public challenge was institutional rather than personal: the sustained resistance she faced from a society that did not believe women belonged in higher education, in senior academic roles, or in international professional spaces.
She met that resistance not with confrontation but with an academic record so outstanding that it left no room for legitimate objection. The only public commentary that could be described as controversial surrounds the long-standing question of why Nigeria has not yet awarded her its highest national honour, a gap that civic advocates have described as a national embarrassment given the magnitude of her pioneering contribution.
Adetowun Ogunsheye Social Media Handle
Adetowun Ogunsheye does not have any official or publicly known social media handles.
Personal Life
Felicia Adetowun Omolara Ogunsheye was born on December 5, 1926, in Benin City, Nigeria, making her 99 years old. She is an elder sister to Ademola Banjo and the late Colonel Victor Adebukunola Banjo, who was executed for allegedly plotting a coup against Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Nigerian Civil War.
She was married to the late Professor Ayo Ogunsheye and is blessed with a son and grandchildren. Her son Tunji Awoliyi dedicated his novel Return to Life to her. She also owned a 27-acre poultry and orange farm at the height of her career, reflecting a practical, entrepreneurial spirit that ran alongside her academic achievements.
Adetowun Ogunsheye Net Worth
Adetowun Ogunsheye’s net worth is not available to the public.