Prominent Nigerian academic Prof. Samuel Olusegun Osoba has died at 92. He passed away on Wednesday at his residence in Ijebu Ode.
The Yusufu Bala Usman Institute, where he served as Chairman, announced his death in a statement by Director Norma Perchonock. The Institute said it received the news “with heavy hearts but with gratitude for a life lived in the service of scholarship and humanity.”
Osoba was a distinguished scholar of economic history and political economy. His research focused on the structures of capitalism and neo-colonialism in Nigeria, and on pathways for national development and emancipation. He authored numerous books, academic papers, and newspaper articles that reached audiences beyond academia.
He is also remembered for collaborating with the late Yusufu Bala Usman on The Minority Report and Draft Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1976), a document the Institute described as influential in Nigeria’s constitutional and governance debates.
The Institute called his contributions to economic history “groundbreaking,” particularly his analysis of how economic systems affect national development. “Segun is gone but he has left an enduring legacy and a shining example for patriotic Nigerians to emulate,” the statement said.
Funeral arrangements will be announced by the family.
