Nigeria’s foremost educationist and entrepreneur, Iyalode of Egbaland and Yorubaland, Chief Alaba Oluwaseun Lawson, is dead.
Lawson, who is also the first female President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMMA), died in the early hours of Saturday, October 28, 2023, aged 72.
According to a statement by her media Aide, Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, the family will later announce burial arrangements, while a condolence register has been opened at the deceased home in Abeokuta, South West Nigeria.
The deceased was born on January 18, 1951, to Papa and Mrs. Emmanuel Abiona Jiboku in Abeokuta.
Alaba had her primary education at St. James’s African Primary School, Idi-Ape, Abeokuta, between 1957 and 1962. From there, she proceeded to Abeokuta Girls’ Grammar School, also known as Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, where she obtained the West African School Certificate 1963–1967.
She started her teaching career in 1969 and later left for St. Nicholas Montessori Teachers’ Training College at Prince’s Gate, England, in 1973 for further studies, where she obtained a 1st Class Diploma in Education with distinction, the first African student to be so rated at the institution.
Lawson was the past chairman of the Board of Governing Council at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. Past President, Abeokuta Chamber of Commerce, Past President: Ogun Council of Chambers of Commerce; Past President: Odu’a Chambers of Commerce
The late Iyalode was Global Convener of NACCIMA Business Women Group (NAWORG), Fellow and Council Member of the Institute of Directors, Member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Council Member – Nigerian and British Chambers of Commerce, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Quality Infrastructure Forum.
The deceased was the 1st Iyalode of Yorubaland conferred on her by the late Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Alaafin of Oyo Kingdom and was the matron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council, and the matron of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Ogun State Council
She was also the matron of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), South-West Nigeria, the Nigeria Football Supporters Club and the Amazon of Yorubaland, an award bestowed on her by Ooni of Ife, HRM Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi
