Prince Deji Oyenuga belongs to a generation of Nigerian professionals whose careers developed during one of the most significant periods in the country’s architectural history. Born in colonial Nigeria, trained in Britain and professionally active during the decades after independence, Oyenuga witnessed the transition from an architectural profession strongly influenced by foreign firms to one in which Nigerian architects increasingly established and led their own practices.
His career cannot be reduced to a list of buildings. It also tells a broader story about education, overseas professional training, the growth of Nigerian architectural firms and the changing physical landscape of post-independence Nigeria.
Prince Deji Oyenuga: From Jos to Lagos
Adedeji Olaoye Oyenuga was born in Jos in 1935. He celebrated his 90th birthday on 29 June 2025.
His father was a police officer who later became the Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife, while his mother was a trader. Oyenuga spent part of his early childhood in Jos before his parents decided to send him south for his education.
He attended Emmanuel School, Isonyin, in present-day Ogun State, where he studied up to Standard Five. His father was subsequently transferred to Lagos, and during a holiday Oyenuga joined him there.
He completed his primary education at St Jude’s School, Lagos, before gaining admission to Eko Boys High School for his secondary education.
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These movements between Jos, Ijebu country and Lagos exposed him to very different parts of colonial Nigeria before his eventual departure for Britain.
Architecture, however, was not his first professional direction.
Agriculture, Banking and a Change of Direction
After leaving Eko Boys High School, Oyenuga obtained employment at the School of Agriculture in Ibadan. He later recalled that agricultural work did not appeal to him as a long-term career.
He subsequently joined the Cooperative Bank of Western Nigeria.
The turning point came through the influence of his uncle, Professor Victor Adenuga Oyenuga, who recognised his artistic ability.
Professor V. A. Oyenuga was one of Nigeria’s distinguished agricultural scientists. He became associated with animal science and agricultural scholarship and was elected a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science.
Although his own career was in agricultural science, Professor Oyenuga recognised his nephew’s talent for fine art and encouraged him to pursue architecture, a profession that could combine technical training with artistic ability.
That encouragement changed the younger Oyenuga’s professional course.
Architectural Training in Britain
In 1960, Oyenuga travelled to Britain by ship to study architecture.
He enrolled at the Hammersmith College of Art and Building, School of Architecture. Oyenuga later recalled that his architectural education and professional preparation lasted seven years, including one year of internship, and that he completed his training with distinction.
The Hammersmith institution in which he studied had a long history of technical, artistic and vocational education in west London.
Hammersmith College of Art and Building later became part of Hammersmith and West London College in 1975. Its art department separately joined Chelsea College of Art and Design during the same period.
Oyenuga’s years in Britain also exposed him directly to the professional environment in which many twentieth-century Nigerian architects received their training.
After completing his studies, he secured employment with James Cubitt & Partners, an architectural practice with operations in Britain and Nigeria.
Return to Nigeria in 1970
Oyenuga returned to Nigeria in 1970 to work with the Nigerian branch of James Cubitt & Partners.
His return came during a period of rapid political, economic and architectural change. Nigeria had gained independence only a decade earlier, survived the civil war between 1967 and 1970, and was entering a period in which expanding oil revenues would finance major public and private construction projects.
Universities, government offices, banks, corporate headquarters and commercial developments became increasingly visible parts of the country’s urban landscape.
Oyenuga rose within the Nigerian operations of the firm and became a partner in James Cubitt Follo Atkinson and Partners.
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The Gerrard Road Commission
Around 29 March 1972, International Computers Nigeria Limited instructed James Cubitt Follo Atkinson and Partners to prepare architectural designs connected with the redevelopment of 12 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The initial work included designs needed to obtain planning approval from the Lagos Executive Development Board.
The partnership was subsequently dissolved, and the architectural work continued under Deji Oyenuga and Partners. The client was informed of the change.
Oyenuga prepared working drawings for the project and later became involved in a dispute concerning payment of his professional fees.
The disagreement eventually travelled through the Nigerian court system to the Supreme Court.
The dispute centred on the remuneration due for architectural services already performed. The Supreme Court ultimately entered judgment in Oyenuga’s favour for ₦45,000, representing three per cent of the relevant estimated development cost.
The case became an important episode in his professional career and in the history of architectural practice in Nigeria.
The Rise of Deji Oyenuga and Partners
Deji Oyenuga and Partners emerged during the mid-1970s, at a time when several Nigerian-owned architectural practices were becoming increasingly prominent.
The growth of such firms formed part of a wider transformation in Nigerian professional life.
During the colonial period and the first years after independence, major projects had frequently been associated with foreign-controlled practices or government departments. By the 1970s, however, a growing number of Nigerian architects were operating independent practices and competing for substantial commissions.
Government policies encouraging greater Nigerian participation in business also formed part of the economic background of the period. The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of 1972 became one element of the wider drive towards increased indigenous participation in the economy.
At the same time, the oil boom created enormous demand for new buildings. Federal and state governments expanded their administrative infrastructure. Universities grew. Banks and major companies commissioned new headquarters. Nigerian cities, particularly Lagos, experienced intense construction.
It was within this environment that practices such as Deji Oyenuga and Partners developed.
Prince Deji Oyenuga and Modern Nigerian Architecture
One of the firm’s major institutional associations was with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Deji Oyenuga and Partners became associated with the development of modern institutional architecture during a period when Nigerian architects were increasingly contributing to universities, commercial buildings and public projects.
The architecture of the period was shaped strongly by modernist ideas: functional planning, simple forms, controlled ornament and attention to the relationship between buildings and climate.
Nigerian architects trained in Britain and elsewhere adapted these ideas to local institutional needs and environmental conditions.
The result was not a single Nigerian modernist style. Instead, architects working during the period experimented with different ways of reconciling international professional training with the realities of building in Nigeria.
Deji Oyenuga and Partners formed part of that history.
Recognition by the Nigerian Institute of Architects
Oyenuga’s standing within the profession was publicly recognised by the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Architects.
On 25 October 1989, Arc. Deji Oyenuga, FNIA, was featured in the chapter’s Architect in Focus programme.
The initiative had been created to honour senior architects whose careers could provide inspiration for younger professionals. The selected architect’s work was exhibited, and the honouree addressed members of the profession and the public about his life and career.
Oyenuga followed Arc. M. K. Alusi, who had been the first architect featured in the series earlier in 1989. Later honourees included Professor John Godwin and Arc. Layi Balogun.
His inclusion placed him among senior architects whose careers were considered significant within the institutional history of Nigerian architecture.
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Beyond Architecture
Oyenuga’s contribution extended beyond professional practice.
After returning from Britain, he became involved in efforts to establish a secondary school connected with Ijebu Ife, the community with which his family was closely associated.
He later recalled working with others to mobilise support and resources for what became Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School.
The project reflected a broader concern with community development that Oyenuga continued to emphasise in later life.
By his 90th birthday in 2025, he was looking back not merely at buildings or professional achievements but at the value of participating in projects that benefited other people.
That philosophy provides an important perspective on his career.
Conclusion
Prince Deji Oyenuga’s life intersects with several important strands of twentieth-century Nigerian history.
Born in Jos in 1935, educated in Isonyin and Lagos, he passed through agriculture and banking before architecture became his chosen profession. His journey to Britain in 1960 provided the professional training that later brought him into James Cubitt & Partners.
Returning to Nigeria in 1970, he entered practice at a moment when the country was rebuilding after civil war and moving towards an era of major construction and economic expansion.
His partnership within James Cubitt Follo Atkinson and Partners, the subsequent emergence of Deji Oyenuga and Partners, his involvement in institutional architecture and his recognition by the Nigerian Institute of Architects place him within the generation that helped expand Nigerian participation in professional architectural practice.
His story is therefore larger than the career of one architect. It forms part of the history of Nigerians who studied abroad, returned home and helped reshape the country’s professional institutions and physical environment during the decades after independence.
Author’s Note
The life of Prince Deji Oyenuga illustrates how the history of modern Nigeria was built not only through politics and government but also through the work of professionals who returned from overseas training and applied their knowledge at home. His movement from Jos and Lagos to Britain, and later into Nigerian architectural practice, reflects the opportunities, challenges and ambitions of a generation that participated directly in creating the institutions and physical spaces of post-independence Nigeria.
References
Church Times Nigeria. “Life has taught me not to be self-centred says Arch Deji Oyenuga @ 90.” 27 July 2025.
Supreme Court of Nigeria. Deji Oyenuga v. International Computers (Nigeria) Limited, SC.138/1987, 1991.
Nigerian Academy of Science. List of Fellows, entry for Professor Victor Adenuga Oyenuga, Animal Science.
West London College. Institutional history of Hammersmith College of Art and Building and Hammersmith and West London College.
Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter. Chapter history and records of the Architect in Focus programme.
Ogunsote, Bogda Prucnal. “The International Style in Nigeria: Technological and Cultural Bridge or Disaster?” Journal of Environmental Technology, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002.
Ogunsote, Bogda Prucnal. “Classification of Nigerian Architecture.” AARCHES Journal, Journal of the Association of Architectural Educators in Nigeria, Vol. 1, No. 6, 2012.
