OLADAPO Olawole Ifedayo

SCHOOL NUMBER: 

542

CLASS SET: 

HOUSE: 

DISTINCTIONS: 

  • HEAD OF SCHOOL
  • MERIT AWARD WINNER

DISTINCTION YEAR: 

1952

STATUS: 

SCHOOL MERIT AWARD YEAR: 

CITATION OF PROFESSOR IFEDAYO OLAWOLE OLADAPO FOR THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL MERIT AWARD, 1991

Professor Ifedayo Olawole Oladapo was born in Ondo town on 24th November, 1932.

After his early education in Ondo, he was admitted to the Government College, Ibadan in 1948 where he passed out with the Cambridge School Certificate in 1952 in Grade one. He gained admission to the University College, Ibadan in 1954 for the preliminary Programme in Engineering, from where he proceeded to the University of St. Andrews, Scotland to complete the B.Sc degree in Civil Engineering. Professor Oladapo not only graduated in 1959 with a First Class Honours degree but also won the Gold Medal Prize in Civil Engineering for that year. He went to the University of Cambridge to do Ph.d degree in Structural Engineering which he secured with distinction in May, 1962.

After obtaining some practical experience as a Design Engineer in Europe, Professor Oladapo returned to Nigeria in 1963 to start an academic career. He lectured at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and at the University of Lagos. He became a professor of Civil Engineering in 1970 and was elected Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of lagos in 1971. He served as the Deputy Vice- Chancellor of the University
between 1977 and 1979. Prof. Oladapo was invited to be the foundation Vice-Chancellor of Ondo State University in 1982 and successfully served in the post for eight years. During this period his natural disposition for selfless service with his knowledge as an engineer to design the first set of 32 buildings which were constructed on the University campus at minimum cost during a period
of austerity and world wide economic recession.

But the grounds for presenting Professor Oladapo for this highest national honour for academic and intellectual attainment rest on his significant contributions to knowledge in his area of specialization, namely structural concrete.

His early research work in this field dealt with the properties of prestressed concrete at different rates of loading. The research work matured and made possible the determination of the properties of concrete, the movement–curvature relationships and the ultimate loads of concrete structures. All of this led him to the formulation of the plastic design theory for reinforced concrete structures which eventually resulted in the
“limits state design method for structural concrete”. These academic achievements resulted in being invited to participate actively in the design and construction of some major concretes structures in the country. Among these are the Eko Bridge, Third Mainland Bridge, and the bridge over the Benue River at Makurdi. He was also associated with the engineers of the federal ministry of works in the person of a 120-footspan prestrssed concrete girder for the Eko Bridge.

Professor Oladapo also made significant contribution to different aspects of the building code which was launched in Nigeria in 1970. The result of his studies had shown conclusively that the relevant British code way of practice was not directly applicable to Nigerian Conditions. His proposal for modification were accepted by the standards organization of Nigeria and formed the basis of the first “Nigeria Code of practice for structural concrete in Nigeria”. Which was published in 1973. The adoption of these proposals resulted in substantial savings in construction costs all over Nigeria.

At the international level, Professor Oladapo was a visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana, U.S.A, in 1967 and a common wealth visiting Professor to the University of Leeds, England in 1980/81. He was in 1988 inducted into the hall of fame for Engineering Science and Technology in New York, U.S.A. for outstanding Contribution in the field of Engineering. He has served in the executive council of the
international association for Bridge and Structural Engineering based in Zurich. He is a fellow of the institution of Civil Engineers of London and has acted as a consultant to UNESCO on Engineering Education.

It is on the basis of these impressive achievements, that the board of Trustees of the Nigerian National Merit Award Endowment Fund is pleased to present to Mr. President, Professor Ifedayo Olawole Oladapo, a great scientist and engineer of international repute, a teacher of high caliber, a professional of the utmost integrity and a seasoned University Administrator as eminently deserving of this highest national honor for academic and intellectual attainment in technology.

He passed on in the year 2010.

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