The Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Nigeria, came into existence in 1974 after the Senate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, gave approval for its establishment. Before then, it was a unit in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Anyaegbunam administered the unit in the hospital  from 1955 – 1974 as the pioneer Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeon. Prof. Benson C. Okafor, who would later become the doyen of Otorhinolaryngology in Nigeria, joined the Department as a Senior Training Fellow (Senior Registrar) on the 3^rd of July 1973. He was appointed a Consultant ENT Surgeon in 1974, and by 1^st October 1983 became a Professor of Otorhinolaryngology – the first indigenous Professor of Otorhinolaryngology in Nigeria.