It was an outpour of commendations and encomiums in honour of Deputy University Librarian and Head, Readers’ Services Department, University of Lagos Library, Dr. Halima Sadia Egberongbe as she took a bow out of active government service, having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
Family members, friends, associates, colleagues, admirers and well-wishers of Dr. Egberongbe converged on the UNILAG Campus for a special Send-off Ceremony to celebrate her virtues and accomplishments all through her decades of service to the university.
Host of the ceremony, the University Librarian, Professor Yetunde Zaid was moved to tears while reeling out her tributes to the celebrant, Dr. Egberongbe.
Giving her impression of Dr. Egberongbe which spanned close to 2 decades, Prof. Zaid appreciated Dr Egberongbe for being an inspiration, a mentor and an epitome of sacrifice, humility, unconditional love, resilience, doggedness, hard work and generosity.
Other speakers at the colorful event which was held at the Gallery of the Natural History Museum included Dr Taofeek Salisu who was the Chairman of the occasion, representatives from her family, the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), UNILAG Muslim Community, friends, colleagues and well-wishers.
The speakers took turns to congratulate Dr. Halima Egberongbe on her retirement as well as attest to her astuteness, diligence, strength of character, dedication, passion, hard work and commitment to work.
According to them, Dr Egberongbe’s over 4 decades of service to the University of Lagos connotes endless hours of cataloguing, countless books shelved, lots of readers’ inquiries answered, numerous hours of research, mentorship and many readers’ lives positively influenced.
Prayers were said with a view to committing the celebrant into God’s hands as she bows out of active government service.
Born in 1953 in Kumasi, Ghana; Dr. Egberongbe had her elementary to tertiary education in Ghana before returning to Nigeria for her one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme during which she worked in the Library, Research and Documentation Department of the Federal Housing Authority, Festac Town, Lagos State between 1981 and 1982.
Her career in the University of Lagos began in 1982 after she was employed as a Librarian II in the University Library. She started work as Accessions Librarian in the Acquisitions Section of the Technical Services Department and in 1984, she was transferred to the Cataloguing Section and later to the Acquisitions Section as Orders Librarian from 1989 to 1991.
Dr. Egberongbe rose through the ranks to become a Principal Librarian and Head of the Cataloguing Section in 1991, a position she held till 2004 when she became the Head, Readers’ Services Department (RSD). She was confirmed a Certified Librarian of Nigeria (CLN) by the Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria in 2009, bagged a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy in the year 2000 from the University of Lagos, obtained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Library and Information Studies from the University of Ghana in 2009 and a Ph.D. in Library and Information Studies from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom in 2016.
Upon her return to the University of Lagos in 2016, she became a Deputy University Librarian and Head, Technical Services Department. In 2019, she was transferred to be head of the Readers’ Services Department, a position she held until her retirement.
