Babatunde Sobawale was born in 1928 in Ogere, Ogun State, Nigeria. He travelled to the UK in the late 1950s and studied architecture at the Northern Polytechnic (now the University of North London), graduating with a Dip. Arch. He returned to Nigeria in May 1960, travelling by boat from Liverpool to Lagos, accompanied by his wife and two-month old daughter. He gained employment at the Ministry of Works, at Ibadan but by late November 1960 he was travelling again, visiting London, New York, Rio De Janeiro and Mexico. In 1962 he was dispatched from the Ministry of Works to study at the Architectural Association (AA), London, on the postgraduate course run by the Department of Tropical Architecture. One of his student projects, for a school in Lagos (jointly designed with his classmates), was published in the AA Journal of April 1963. Following completion of the course, Sobowale returned to Nigeria and by 1969 was working for the Ministry of Works in Benin City, before transferring to Ibadan, within the Architects’ Department of the Ministry of Works and Transport. He was rapidly promoted and by 1972 had been appointed Chief Architect for the Western State – a role he was to hold until at least 1977. Alongside his role within the Ministry, Babatunde also served as President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects from 1973-75.
Sources
- Architectural Association Council Minutes, 13th February, 1963. AA Archives
- The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Number: 2848504; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A3998; NARA Roll Number: 430
- The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Number: 2848504; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A3998; NARA Roll Number: 432
- The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Number: 2848504; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A3998; NARA Roll Number: 429
- Architectural Association Journal, April 1963, pp.302-309, 312-313
- West Africa, 1963, West Africa Publishing Co. Ltd, 1963, p.394
- Architectural Association Membership List, Architectural Association, 1969, 1979.
- Federal Republic of Nigeria: Official Gazette, Lagos, Vol. 57, No. 40 (9th July, 1970)
- Report. By Western State (Nigeria). Commission of Inquiry into the Building Disaster at Oremeji, Ibadan, on Wednesday, 6th October, 1971. Government Printer, 1972
- Orimoloye, S.A. Biographia Nigeriana: A Biographic Dictionary of Eminent Nigerians, G.K. Hall, 1977.
