03/03/2026
Mr. Oluwumi Longe in Australia, 1962
Mr. Oluwumi Longe of Nigeria is pictured in Sydney, Australia, where he was undertaking a postgraduate course in electronic computing at the University of Sydney under a Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Award. He arrived in Australia in February 1962 accompanied by his wife and their 20-month-old daughter, Olukemi Titilola Arinola.
Circa: February 1962.
Image Credit: National Archives of Australia, 2024
Text: ASIRI Magazine, 2024
Professor Oluwumi Enoch Longe (1932–2020)
Professor Oluwumi Enoch Longe was a pioneering Nigerian computer scientist and the founding Head of the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan. He passed away on Monday, 14 December 2020, at the age of 88.
He was born on Sunday, 20 March 1932, in Ìkéré-Èkìtì, present-day Ekiti State, Nigeria, to the family of Late Pa Samuel Longe Odina and Mama Dorcas Owotomo. His early academic promise later found expression in his groundbreaking contributions to computing education in Africa.
The Department of Computer Science at the University of Ibadan was established in 1974, with Professor Longe as its founding Head. In 1978, he was appointed a full Professor of Computer Science, becoming the first Professor of Computer Science in Africa—a landmark achievement in the history of higher education on the continent. He formally retired from the University of Ibadan in 1988, but continued to serve the institution on contract between 1991 and 1998.
Beyond Nigeria, Professor Longe also contributed to the global academic community, serving as a Professor of Computer Science at King Saud University in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His legacy endures in the generations of scholars he trained and in the foundations he laid for computer science education in Africa.