[eluser]skalrynd[/eluser]
I know I'm only like 6+ months late on this topic but I found it while doing a forum search.
Wanted to add one other way of approaching this is by taking advantage of the $this->load->config().
I run into the issue with quite a number of variables within my header (meta data, title, etc). And I hate redundancy in my methods like $this->load->view('header'). Like the original poster, I'd rather leave that in the view.
Using config to tackle this problem has several payoffs. In many instances header data may remain consistent across each page but in some cases may need to alter one or two (like title). $this->config->item() can be called in any depth of views and is a perfect way of setting some default values to a config file and manipulate those values as you go. Secondly, a single line in your controller does the trick:
$this->load->config('fileName');
my late 2 cents XD