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Olawale Ajimotokan reports on the maiden ‘Who’s Who in Nigeria’, the first online biographical encyclopedia on great Nigerians, spanning over a century of the country’s existence from 1861, when Lagos was ceded to the British as a colony
Nigeria has finally produced a digitalised version of the biographical publication on the country’s super achievers in all walks of life. The initiative, tagged Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation’s (BLERF) Who’s Who in Nigeria, is a historical compilation of over one million distinguished Nigerians, spanning over a century of the country’s existence from 1861 when Lagos was ceded to the British as a colony.
The online biographical version is the creation of Nyaknno Osso, acknowledged as one of Nigeria’s brightest record and institutional memory custodians. Osso served as a former Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Library and Documentation from 1999 to 2007. He was also the Consultant Librarian at Newswatch led by the Late Dele Giwa, where he was credited with the compilation of the first and most authoritative Newswatch Who’s Who in Nigeria in 1990.
Comprehensive Collation
BLERF’s creation is touted as the most comprehensive and up-to-date collation of Nigerians that excelled, home and in Diaspora, in commerce, politics, military, academia, civil service, literature and sports and other human endeavours.
Osso told THISDAY that the online publication is the maiden African biographical information database. He said the individual bio-data were listed without bias for ethnic and religious affiliation.
The biography is organised and stored in the website in such a way that it is easy to follow, preserve and retrieve after the entries are verified through background checks.
Benchmark
Osso’s hard copy version of Newswatch Who’s Who in Nigeria, produced 28 years ago, comprised 2,700 entries. It was adjudged a very useful publication and a basic reference source on prominent...