“Nigeria, indeed the world has lost an expert in public health,” President Muhammadu Buhari said on receiving the news of the passing of Professor Adetokunbo Oluwole Lucas, OFR, at the age of 89.
The President commiserated with the family, friends, medical community and academia over the passage of the global health leader for Africa and award winner for his outstanding support for research on tropical diseases especially malaria, bilharzia and leprosy.
President Buhari noted that as Professor and Head of Department of Preventive and Social Medicine in the University College of London in Ibadan, (later University of Ibadan); pioneer Chairman, Nigerian Medical Research Council; and Chair of the Committee on National Health Policy, among other national positions, Prof Lucas without doubt left indelible national imprints.
According to the President, “Prof Lucas made his name even beyond the shores of Nigeria,” while referring to his decade at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva as Director, Special Programmes for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases as well as his times as Professor of International Health at Harvard University, Boston, and adjunct professor.
President Buhari urged the numerous former students and admirers of the eminent scholar and researcher to build on the solid foundations laid by Prof Lucas for national growth.
He prayed God Almighty to console all those who mourn the well-respected “teacher of teachers” and grant the soul of Prof Lucas peaceful rest.