The Nigerian Society of Criminology (NSC) has joined other Nigerians to mourn the death of Prof. Femi Odekunle, first Nigerian Professor of Criminology and Member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC). The society described his death as a major loss to the academic community. He died of Covid-19.

Many Nigerians have taken to social media to mourn the death of a man “integrity and unblemished devotion to service.”

The Secretary, Board of Trustees of NSC, Prof. Hauwau Yusuf, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday.

Yusuf described the foremost criminologist as a fearless, upright and exemplary scholar whose influence in the field traversed various continents of the world.

“The Nigerian academic and intellectual community has once again lost one of its own, Prof. Femi Odekunle.

“The first Professor of Criminology in Nigeria. The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Nigerian Society of Criminology and a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has passed to the great beyond.

“May his gentle soul rests in perfect peace and may God forgive his sins and give the family and the nation the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

“Until his death, Prof. Odekunle was the Chairman Board of Trustees of Nigerian Society for Criminology.

“With a heavy heart but with total submission to God Almighty, I announce the passing of Prof. Femi Odekunle (first Professor of Criminology in Nigeria and the Chairman, BOT of NSC) which sad event occurred on Tuesday evening.

“Our sincere condolences to us all,” Yusuf said.

Reacting to his death a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof Adeyinka Aderinto, described Odekunle’s death as a very sad development for Nigeria, the criminology family and the global intellectual community.

“Very sad. Thorough academic, frank and kind. He was my PhD external examiner in 1996 and we remained close till his glorious transition.

“I pray that the Almighty God accepts his return and grant his soul eternal rest. May He comfort friends and family he left behind and grant them the fortitude to bear this great loss,” he said.

Another foremost Criminologist, Prof. Omololu Soyombo, described Prof. Odekunle’s death as a colossal loss.

“What a loss! Very unexpected.

“We should take solace in the fact that he was a distinguished criminologist and a great scholar who made immense contributions to the development of criminology.

“Until his death, he continued to do what he knew how to do through research, advocacy and policy advice.

“He left an indelible mark. May God grant him eternal rest and comfort his biological family as well as his academic family,” Soyombo said.

Prof. Femi Odekunle graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1968. He bagged his PhD in Sociology and Social Psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in the U.S. in 1974.