By Prof. Hassan A. Saliu
It gives me great pleasure to announce the retirement of Prof. S. A. Ibrahim, a scholar of International Relations, from the services of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, after attaining the mandatory 70 years of age.
I first met Professor Ibrahim in 2003 at a conference I hosted as the Head of Political Science Department at the University of Ilorin. He attended the conference as a paper presenter and exchanged his contacts with me. We lost contact afterwards until 2015 when we again met, this time, on the platform of our dear Association, the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), at the Keffi conference. Two dramatic events played out at the Keffi conference.
An ancient NPSA footprint
The first case was the contest for the presidency of our Association that featured Professors Ibrahim, Pam Sha and my humble self. On the strength of Keffi being the host institution and in line with the tradition of our Association in allowing the hosting institutions to host the secretariat of NPSA, something which has been followed a couple of times, Keffi was favoured. The then unresolved UNILORIN crisis was another hurdle for me to cross. The elders therefore ruled in favour of Professor Ibrahim to be the next president. I was persuaded to be his vice. No doubt, the arrangement looked odd to me but I had no choice, especially given the entreaties made to me by both Professors Egwu and Ibrahim, who elected to persuade me to accept the offer of being Vice-President to the latter. I must say that it was not only me who was unhappy with the dashed hope given our level of preparations for the position but also my supporters who, at a point, pleaded with me to go against the decision of the elders. I refused to take the advice for the simple reason that I did not want to go down as the person who caused a major division in NPSA, even when our careful analysis had shown that I was a candidate to beat in the election. I later realised that it was better I accepted the arrangement as Prof. Ibrahim was a good colleague who valued my advice most times and allowed me to play a pivotal role in his administration based on mutual trust and our shared value. Indeed, he refers to me as a good mind-reader.
The second issue was on the manner of our Association’s interventions in the political process in our country. We cannot therefore appreciate the rebranding that has taken place in NPSA in recent times without giving the glory to some of our past Presidents, especially Professor Ibrahim whom I fondly call an aspiring INSPECTOR and the Director of Research, Professor A. M. Okolie, who later succeeded him and raised the bar as our President.
The late Prof Billy Dudley
Professor Ibrahim is a certified unionist of sorts, who obtained one of his certificates from Washington DC in Industrial/Labour Relations. With his background, he was better equipped to go into unionism with a requisite qualification . He has therefore had the privilege of serving as an executive member of both the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees and the Nigerian Labour Congress before he mounted the presidency of NPSA in 2015. In particular, he was the Secretary-General of the union of bankers during the heydays of the military when the struggle for the enthronement of democracy in our country peaked. He has also served as the Chairman of Kogi State Local Government Service Commission. This latest engagement, no doubt, afforded him the opportunity of being a witness to practical aspects of politics and adminstration in Nigeria, in addition to his previous contact with unionism. Only a few of our members have had the rare privilege of seeing politics beyond the four walls of the classroom.
He is a mentor to some younger colleagues and an easy going personality, who is always at peace with everyone. He has served as HOD, Chairman of ASUU, Dean of Faculty, Chairman, Committee of Deans and Directors and a member of the Governing Council of his University. I bear witness to the level of impact he has made at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi derived from my last visit to the University in August, 2023.
With specific reference to his services to the NPSA, he contributed to the revival of our Association as all the flagship programmes of the Association came back on stream during his time. For instance, our journals that had been in limbo for some years until 2015 and the memorial lecture in honour of our first President, Professor Billy Dudley, that was not held four years before his tenure came back to life with regularity. Within a spate of three years that he was in the saddle, two conferences were held in Port Harcourt and Abakaliki and their proceedings produced in good time. He sustained the relationship existing between NPSA and INEC by securing additional funding through the Electoral Institute that enabled the Association to have our Billy Dudley Memorial Lecture and and a Roundtable programme on political parties in 2016 at the Electoral Institute in Abuja. Also during his time as the president, we embarked on some book projects that included a book on political parties published in 2018. Two years earlier, we commissioned some of our members to write chapters in a book on Research Methodology that was edited by Professors Oga Ajene and A.M. Okolie in 2006. It is also to his credit that in the immediacy, the journey to increased visibility for our Association started under his stewardship. His exco was hosted by the former IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase in his office in Abuja. Another attempt at developing a functioning website for the Association was made under him.
On behalf of the current EXCO of our Association, I want to thank Professor Ibrahim for the quality services he has rendered and continue to render to NPSA and wish him a happy retirement life.
The author is incumbent President of the NPSA
