He focused on internal African factors, especially defensive measures undertaken by the delta societies against imperialist penetration.
[3] Other leading scholars of the Ibadan School include Saburi Biobaku, Jacob Ade Ajayi, J.
A number of foreign scholars, many of whom came to teach in Nigeria, are also often associated with the school, including Eveline C. Martin, Michael Crowder, Abdullahi Smith, A.F.C.
The school was quite traditional in its subject matter, being largely confined to the political history that colleagues in Europe and North America were then rejecting.
Much use was made of oral history and throughout the school took a strongly interdisciplinary approach to gathering information.
Conversely, the African scholars of the Ibadan School saw the American and British universities as bastions of imperialism.
The economic collapse of the 1980s also greatly hurt the scholarly community, especially the sharp devaluation of the Nigerian currency.
This made inviting foreign scholars, subscribing to journals, and attending overseas conferences vastly more expensive.