By Nneka Nwogwugwu
One of Nigeria’s foremost architect, Fola Alade, has died at the age of 87.
Alade died on Saturday, family sources in Aramoko-Ekiti said.
Architectural masterpieces bearing his insignia are the 1,004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos, defunct Federal Secretariat building, Ikoyi, Lagos and the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Others are the Remembrance Arcade, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, Satellite Town, Lagos, Nigerian Air Force Base, Ikeja and the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies building, Kuru, near Jos.
The National Judicial Institute, Abuja and Nigerian Embassy buildings in 11 countries were also part of his insignia.
Fola Alade graduated from the Nigerian College of Arts & Sciences and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University) in 1961 as one of the first four Architecture graduates.
He completed his post graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Tropical Studies, London in 1965, on a Commonwealth Scholarship.
He was the first Architect to become a Federal Permanent Secretary in 1976, a post he held until his retirement in 1979 after which he established his private practice Fola Alade Associates in 1979.
After his post-professional training, he became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Architects’ Registration Council of the United Kingdom in 1963.
He joined the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as a Resident Architect in the old Western Region and later Lagos City Council.
In 1969, he became the first Registrar of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria. He served as the General Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Architects.
Before his death, he was appointed as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council of the Federal University of Port Harcourt in 1990.
