Renowned Economist, Bola Onitiri, Presents Autobiography At 85

Notable professor of economics and policy adviser to presidents as well as various levels of the United Nations System, Bola Onitiri, will tomorrow present to the public his autobiography entitled Its Fun To Remember. The event billed for the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Victoria Island, Lagos, is organised by the Herbert Maurice Adebola Onitiri Research Foundation.

A statement signed by Professor Akinola Owosekun of Bowen University on behalf of the Board of Trustees said the book describes obsession with growth as an occupational disease of economists and provides insights into the operation and evolution of a number of institutional frameworks for the development process.

Corroborating Owosekun, Chief Emeka Anyaoku recalls in his foreword to the book, Onitiris distinguished service to his country, the Commonwealth and the United Nations. Anyaoku specifically notes that Professor Bola Onitiri contributed to research and idea papers on the formation and operation of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) and to the African continent as an adviser to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in its transformation into the African Union (AU).

He contributed significantly to global discourse on strategies for equitable trade and economic relations between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South as adviser to United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations and the Commonwealth, the former Commonwealth secretary-general recalls.

Onitiri is renowned for preparing the economic blueprint for the transition of Zimbabwe from an Apartheid regime to an independent black nation and for being the first resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) of independent Zimbabwe. He was also the first executive director of Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan.