The Deputy Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Olumuyiwa Jimoh, on Wednesday described the late Prof. Eskor Toyo as a foremost nationalist.
Toyo, a renowned academic, essayist and human rights activist, died on Monday at the age of 86.
Jimoh (APC-Apapa II) told newsmen that the late Emeritus professor of Economics died unsung, urging Nigerians to celebrate their heroes while alive.
He said that Toyo should be remembered as a foremost nationalist.
“Eskor Toyo was a Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Calabar, he was the first Nigerian that got first class, not the late Baba Omojola.
“It is unfortunate that we don’t celebrate our heroes while they are alive. He was one of the people that fought for the independence of Nigeria, but went back to academics after independence and nobody remembered them.
“He was one of our great intellectuals like Prof. Claude Ake. He was one of the first generation of fighters of independence.
“He had been sick for over three years, unfortunately he died recently,” he said
The deputy majority leader said that the nation’s education curriculum should make teaching and learning of history, geography and civics compulsory in basic schools.
Born in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, in 1929, the octogenarian was a national trustee of the Academic Staff Union of University for two decades. Toyo published over 200 books.
According to a bio-data provided by Wole Soyinka Lectures, Professor Toyo’s educational career was marked with distinction. He was the first to earn a First Class in Postgraduate Diploma in National Economic Planning. He obtained his M.Sc. degree with distinction and his Ph.D. Cum Laude (with praise).
His doctoral thesis entitled “Macroeconomic Analysis in Marx and Keynes” was published in 1977 by the Polish Scientific publishers on the recommendations of the Universities in Poland. It was republished in Russian.
He wrote copiously on economics and society in learned journals, books and other periodicals. He presented papers in large number of conferences in many countries and has delivered many distinguished lectures. He was Vice President of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES), consultant on economic issues to the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Government of Ghana.