In appreciating someone that is very special in one way or the other, at times, one falls short of words. To meet this challenge, I have litigated the length of lexis and strata of structure of English Language lexicon. I grimaced through the dogma of grammar. I dug the depth of diction. I paddled in the puddle of composition. I bathed in the drizzle of breviloquence to appropriate the mechanics of summary.
Yet, the synchronization of syntax to ensure its symmetric sorting became stretching. Pegging square adjectives appropriately in the deserving square holes became arduous. Ensuring the mechanical accuracy of the narration became onerous. In fact, and indeed, applying the elements of grammar became vulnerable to the vagaries of anthropoidal pleasure.
It becomes even more complicated when the object of discourse is family. It is more demanding. The need to be more meticulous becomes more exigent. The need to be more accurate becomes more stringent. One doesn't want the message to be opaque. The message could not afford to be missed amid the mist of sentiment. One's efforts should not be intemperately perfervid. One must be wary of the genre of intellectual blindness that could be occasioned by bias. It must be a celebration, which in all ramifications, is an attestation to balance, substance, and prudence. It must be maximally optimal.
When the news broke, that an Ìjèsà son, Professor Oyewusi Gúreje, has had the honour of being identified as the Number One scientist in Nigeria, (at the time, 2017, he had only 338 publications), the Ìjèsà milieu bubbled. It was agog. At home and in the diaspora, everyone was celebrative. Congratulatory messages cascaded from all over. There was a surge of pride among Ìjèsà all over the world as well as friends, acquaintances, classmates, school mates et cetera.
For those who have known Prof. Oye Gúreje, since the Otapete Days, those days in Otapete Methodist Primary School in Ilesa, this is not surprising. Or those who had the good fortune to have witnessed him unraveled, first at Aquina College, Akure where he was the guitarist of the School band, the Aquinas Negroes, and later at Ife-Oluwa High School, Oshogbo, where Root Oladosu Gidigbi was his classmate. He left Ife-Oluwa High School, a year earlier after passing his WAEC in Form IV. It was a confirmation of the ingenuity that was unkinked at Federal School of Science where he did his “A Level” between 1972 and 1974.
It was a brilliance that refused to be cremated at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) where he was “railroaded” to studying Geology 1974/75. He had to abandon that to apply to the University of Benin where he was admitted to study Medicine that he had always wanted. He came back to the OAUTH to do his housemanship, before proceeding to Manchester University to specialize in Psychiatry.
Sirred to Pa Michael and Madam Alice Oyinade Gúreje Asogbe, Oyewusi has since then become a rhotacist as a scholar in the field of psychiatry. A juggernaut. A stubborn mound in the center of the flatland of psychiatry. He has since published more than 550 peer-reviewed scientific papers, monographs, book chapters, and other reports. On the pedestal of prolificity, in psychiatry, he is the premier danseur. A prolificity that has implanted in its pith, unalloyed paramountcy.
As at the time of writing this piece, he is the most published scholar in any field in Nigeria’s academic history with his more than 550 publications. It does not matter which field of academic study. Yes, he is transcendent. A pure prepotent. An academic elite on the planet. An academic aristocrat on the African continent. A Numero uno in the academic haut monde in Nigeria. Primal. Predominant. Preeminent. Peerless. Superior. Supreme.
Oyewusi Gureje is the first scholar in the field of psychiatry, on African Continent, to obtain D.Sc. by examination. As at the time of putting this piece together, there were only two others. But Oye Gureje blazed the trail. He is another “First in Africa” like the Western Nigeria Television Service, Ibadan. He has been listed, since 2004, in the "top 1% cited researchers in the area of psychiatry and psychology" and, according to Clarivate Analytics, he is one of the "most influential scientific minds."
From 2004 when he has been listed in the “top 1% cited reseachers in the area of psychiatry and psychology” to 2024 is two decades. Like the constant Northern star, Oye Gureje has remained in our consciousness as a leading academician with global reputation. Thus in 2024, Oye Gureje yet again has been identified and adjudged as Numero Uno scientist in Nigeria. The Nigeria Scientist Rankings by AD Scientific Index had put this together. Prof. Oyewusi Gureje is the truth as an academician; the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For the truth is always constant.
He towers above all. He is an intellectual colossus. He is an intellectual behemoth. He is an intellectual cyclops. An academic leviathan. He is more than an academic titan. Obviously, a workaholic. His laser-guided brilliance is intimidating. In fact, and indeed, with his subtle, unobtrusive, self-effacing, and calm mien, his brilliance is frightening, terrifying and bullish.
He is the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neurosciences, Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the institution. He is also a Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is best known for his work on epidemiology, nosology, and global mental health and as one of the leading voices on mental health service and policy development in Africa.
He is one of the three most quoted authorities/scholars in the field of psychiatry all over the world. That should tell you something. When he finished at the University of Manchester, he was offered job in 24 Countries spanning five of the six existing continents, excepting Antarctica. The simultaneity of these offers would have confused a less than a genius mind. Professor Oyewusi Gureje knew what he wanted. He was clear about where he wanted to go. He chose to come to Nigeria. To Ibadan, n’ile Oluyole, at Nigeria’s premier University.
Gureje is a recipient of grants and endowments from several global bodies such as the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (UK), Grand Challenges Canada, CBM Australia, European Union, International Development Research Center, the US National Institute of Mental Health, the Global Forum for Health Research and the World Health Organization. He is an Honorary Member of the World Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, a recipient of the Osun State award and of Nigeria's highest award for academic achievement, the Nigeria National Order of Merit.
Gureje has been teaching at the University of Ibadan as well as being a consultant psychiatrist at the University College Hospital since 1989. He was the Head of the Department of Psychiatry in both institutions in 1999 – 2003 and 2007 -2011. In 2010, he established the Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Programme (mhLAP) in the institution. The pioneering programme has trained mental health specialists, service users and carers, leaders of civil society organizations as well policy makers from across 10 sub-Saharan Africa countries in mental health leadership and advocacy skills and helped to form advocacy groups for mental health service development in the five West African anglophone countries.
Gureje was President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (2005 – 2009) and of the African Association of Psychiatrists and Allied Professions (2009 – 2014). He was the Zonal Representative for West and Central Africa of the World Psychiatric Association (2005 – 2008) and has been Chair of its Task Force on Brain Drain (2007 – 2008), a member of several committees. He is Senior Associate Editor of Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Epidemiology and of the International Review of Psychiatry.
Prof. Idowu Olayinka, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, gave Prof. Oye Gureje the cognomen of “King of Psychiatry” while celebrating the latter’s 70th birthday. He had told the story of how other eminent professors felt humbled “marking” or assessing Oye Gureje’s work. It reminded me of the reported repartee of Prof. Wole Soyinka when someone had advised him to work towards obtaining a Ph.D. and he reportedly retorted, “If I write it, who is going to mark it?” Our own WS, also known as Kongi, became the first African Laureate in Literature after that. Another “First in Africa.”
When Prof. Gureje “tried” to retire from the services of Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan, the authorities would not let him. Not at that point. Prof. Oye Gureje was considered too valuable to be lost to retirement at that point. It was evidentially concluded that his retirement would deprive the highly esteemed institution of global ratings, international research grants and many other sundry advantages that Prof. Gureje’s global reputation could and would avail.
My Dad, Oye Asabi (as he was popularly known), an Osomaalo, considered him a “mystery”. A conundrum. A puzzle. He wondered why he would choose that kind of profession. A profession in which he would have to take care and research mentally ill people. He strongly felt that “Aunti Oyinade” as he called Prof. Gureje’s mother, should have been able to convince him against such a profession. But neither Oye Asabi nor “Aunti Oyinade” would have had adequate comprehension of the path chosen by Prof. Gureje beyond the fact that he is in a field where mental infirmities are remedied.
A punctilious family man. A conscientious husband to Bola, (nee Odeleye Fadahunsi), his better half for the past 39 years. A doting father to his children. A compassionate sibling to his sisters and brothers. He accommodates all, as long as one can subscribe to his standard of discipline and expectations. He harbours no guile towards no one. Firm but kind. Formal but friendly. Stringent but generous.
Prof. Oyewusi Gureje has come, he has seen, and he has distinguished. He is a pride to global citizenship. He is a great son of Africa. A remarkable son of Nigeria. An outstanding and proud son of Yoruba land. He is a highly esteemed and exceptional son of Ijesa Land. A magnificent and marvelous member of the great Roots Club of Ijesa land. A glorious member of my family. He is a source of pride to us all. He is a source of inspiration to legions around the planet. He is a pleasure on the pedestal of pretty.
A shining star. May his star never dim. Ase.
By Remi Oyeyemi