Cliff Ogiugo was born in Benin City, Edo State in 1941. He graduated from Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria, in 1962, and his cartoon career in 1964. He drew cartoons for the Sunday Morning Post and joined the staff of the Daily Times in 1973. Between 1973 and 1977, he was Art Editor for the Nigerian Television Authority and Creative Director for various advertisement agencies.
Cliff Ogiugo’s cartoon series ‘little joe’ was published in the Sunday Times in the early 1970s (Olaniyan 93). Ogiugo’s ‘little joe’ cartoon is notable for its reoccurring use of the little joe character (Olaniyan 95), the multi-panel structure to tell a story (Olaniyan 103), and the emphasis of words over images to convey a message (Olaniyan 98). Ogiugo was an early pioneer for the multi-panel, word-driven cartoon, the influence of which can be seen in the cartoons largely featured in The Guardian (Olaniyan 98).
Information compiled from: The Struggle for Nationhood (Exhibition Pamphlet of the Cartoonists’ Association of Nigeria, 2005), and Tejumola Olaniyan’s “The Traditions of Cartooning in Nigeria,” Glendora Review: African Quarterly on the Arts Vol. 2, No. 2 (1997):92-104.