SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — The Late Pius Adebola Adesanmi
March 19, 2019
Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to the late Dr. Pius Adesanmi. I will be reading a statement written by his colleague and friend, Dr. Nduka Otinio, from the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.
On Sunday, March 10, 2019, Dr. Pius Adebola Adesanmi, a Nigerian-Canadian writer, scholar, educator and public intellectual was killed along with 156 others from 35 countries in the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed. His tragic demise at the age of 47 has left many in the global communities that he navigated reeling with pain.
He is survived by his wife, his children, his septuagenarian mother, his sisters and brothers.
Born in Nigeria in 1972, he obtained a first-class undergraduate degree in French. After gaining his master’s degree in Nigeria, he moved to Canada in 1998 to complete doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia. Upon graduation, he was hired by Penn State University in the United States but returned to Canada in 2006, when Carleton University appointed him to the Department of English.
In 2010, his work garnered international recognition when he won the inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing for his book You’re Not a Country Africa: A Personal History of the African Present. This followed his earlier Association of Nigerian Authors’ Poetry Prize. In 2015, he was appointed the Director of Carleton’s Institute of African Studies, a position he held until his tragic death.
The many people he served are clearly devastated by the sudden death of an intellectual and social activist celebrated for his eloquence and courage in speaking truth to power.
Professor Adesanmi travelled the world with an exceptional dedication to his vocation. The many tributes to him since his passing describe him as the “epitome of hope and hard work,” “a world-class mentor and a pacesetter” and an “invaluable gift from Nigeria to the . . . world.”
He impacted his students at Carleton with his brilliance and infectious personality, inspired his colleagues and staff with his commitment to service and touched the lives of many across the world with his incisive wit and positive vision. He will be sorely missed.
