Daniel Omoigui, Nigeria’s first Surveyor-General of the Federation passed away, two weeks after his 91st birthday, according to a statement by the family, which confirmed his death.
“The family of Surveyor Daniel Aiyanyo Omoigui of the Egite family, Isi, in Uhunmwode LGA, Edo State and the entire Egite family of the Edo Kingdom and Mrs Grace Onaiwu Omoigui nee Asemota (late) and the entire Asemota family of Ogbe Quarters, Oredo LGA, Edo State, is heartbroken yet thankful for a life of legacy well spent as we announce the passing of our dearly beloved father and grandfather – Surveyor Daniel Omoigui – who was called to rest in the Lord on November 24, 2022,” the statement signed by his eldest son, Sota Omoigui, on Friday, read.
Born on November 10, 1931, at Iguagban Village, Benin, Edo State, Omoigui was a chartered and registered surveyor famed for resolving critical boundary disputes among several federating units within the country.
He was instrumental to the establishment of the National Boundary Commission. Omoigui was part of the negotiation team between Nigeria and Cameroon on the Bakassi Peninsula, a disputed territory that was eventually ceded to Cameroon after international interventions.
Last year in April, the remains of one of his sons, Nowamagbe Omoigui, a renowned cardiologist cum military historian, was interred at the Greenlawn Memorial Park, Columbia, USA.
In 1950, Omoigui took up a teaching job at Niger College, Benin. While he enrolled for studies at the Rapid Result College, which is now known as Distance Learning.
In 1953, he sat for the entrance exam into the University College, Ibadan, passed the exams and gained admission for further studies by October of that same year. In June, he wrote the Intermediate B.Sc. examination at the University of London and the result came in early December. He passed but could not attend.
He joined student unions while studying Mathematics and graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1957.