By Abubakar Imam

The Director, Centre for Ilorin Studies (CILS), University of Ilorin, Prof. Issa Olarongbe Sanusi, has again, appealed to indigenes and friends of the Ilorin Emirate to donate relevant materials to the Centre as a way of immortalising themselves and authors of such works.

Prof. Sanusi made this call last Thursday (July 10, 2025) in his office while reviewing the contents of the materials published in The Herald newspaper several years ago by a renowned authority on the history of Ilorin, Alhaji Safi Ajibola Jimba, which was donated to the Centre by a retired Permanent Secretary in the Kwara State Civil Service, Alhaji Toyin Ahmed Lawal.

The Director said that the donated newspaper cuttings containing articles authored by Alhaji Jimba, who was the Samaki of Ilorin, are mines of archival materials, which, he said, would be useful to researchers who are interested in the history of Ilorin and its neighbours.

Prof. Sanusi, who teaches at the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, said that he had perused the cuttings and found them to be useful, saying that that was the reason why the CILS reproduced and got the articles bound for preservation at the Centre for consultation by interested individuals and groups.

He explained that the contents of the publications are quite revealing and educative as he said that he remained grateful to the donor of the newspaper cuttings for his patriotism and generosity.

Prof. Sanusi, therefore, appealed to others who might be in possession of other documents to make them available to the Centre, assuring that anyone who does that is indirectly immortalising himself.