Nigeria and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has lost one of their most distinguished Chief Economists, Prof. Owodunni Teriba; he passed on in Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America.
The 82-year old was a distinguished Professor of Economics and an accomplished scholar who worked at the ECA in various capacities for 18 years until his retirement in February 1998, including serving as Chief Economist of the Commission and Director of the then Socio-Economic Research and Policy Division (SERPD) under the late Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State.
He led the development and implementation of several initiatives in support of accelerating Africa’s development, including the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for socio-economic recovery and transformation (AAF-SAP).
Teriba first came to the ECA in 1980/81 while he was on sabbatical from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and later in 1985 as the Senior Regional Adviser to Member States of the Commission on economic surveys, research and planning. He rose to become the ECA’s Chief Economist under Adedeji.
He contributed immensely to the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) and the Final Act of Lagos (FAL) that were adopted by the African Heads of State and Governments in 1980; Africa’s Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (APPER) that formed the basis of the UN Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UN-PAAERD) that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986; the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa, 1991 (UN-NADAF), and the AAF-SAP that was adopted at various levels in 1989 beginning with the ECA’s Conference of African Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning, the African Heads of State and Government and the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Colleagues at the ECA hailed him as a humble person with an in-depth and exceptional knowledge of development economics who made outstanding contributions both at national, regional and international levels to economic policy.
Teriba had a PhD and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Manchester in England. His first degree was a B.Sc. (Hons) Economics from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
Buried today in Chicago, Illinois, he is survived by his wife Yetunde, a former Head of Gender Coordination and Outreach Division in the Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the African Union Commission, five children and seven grandchildren.
Persecondnews recalls that one of his texts on Economics was read widely across Nigeria in its secondary schools as early as the 1970s.
Meanwhile, the ECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe, in his condolences, said: “I wish to pass my condolences to the Teriba family following the death of Mr. Teriba. The work he did for the continent of Africa during his time at the ECA will never be forgotten. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace.
Leave a comment