By Prof Hassan A. Saliu
There was a time in Nigeria when there were only a few universities. Competition for admissions was therefore stiff among prospective admission-seekers. Consequently, the race for the establishment of State-owned universities started under the Second Republic when most state governments under the control of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) made the establishment of State universities a major policy of their party. Within a space of four years that the Second Republic was tolerated by the military, Ado-Ekiti, Ago-Iwoye, Ekpoma and Ojo, all became university towns. The revolution did not end under the Republic. The tradition has indeed been inherited by subsequent Republican and non-Republican dispensations, leading to the exponential increase in the number of Universities in Nigeria to the point of generating some uneasiness in some quarters.
The Benue State University, BENSU, Makurdi was established by the Governor Reverend Moses Adasu administration in 1992 during the controversial Third Republic when elected Governors served under unelected President Ibrahim Babangida. The motivation for its establishment was to increase access to University education for indigenes of the state who were facing hard times in gaining admissions into Federal Universities. While some lecturers, especially in the department of Political Science migrated from other Universities to the new University, some others literally started-off their career from the University. Professors Oga Ajene, Akase Soaka, Tony Edoh and others moved to the University from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria after its establishment in 1992. Professor Okpaga Adagba is, however, one of the few lecturers who began his career in the University at its inception and made it to the pinnacle of his career.
Prof. Adagba attended the University of Ibadan for both his B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Political Science and obtained them in 1977 and 1980 respectively. He obtained another M.Sc in Political Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1989. His doctoral degree in Political Science was obtained from the University of Maiduguri in 2005. He is in the process of acquiring his second doctoral degree in History.
After acquiring some teaching experience at the lower levels of education, he crossed over to the Benue State University, Makurdi in 1992 and he was started on the rank of Lecturer Grade 11 in the department of Political Science. He rose to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2002 and became a Professor in 2008. Prof. Adagba retired from service in March, 2024 after spending sixteen years on the rank of Professor. He was a Fulbright scholar between 1994 and 1995 at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. He has served as the editor of publications to the Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria. He later emerged as the president of the Alumni Association in 2014 and served in that capacity for four years. Prof. Adagba has held numerous administrative positions at the State University in Makurdi. He is in the sub-set of Comparative Politics in the field of Political Science. His major publications are from that branch of Political Science. He can be considered as a comrade because he has headed some staff unions and served ASUU in various capacities while still in service. His services have been required by the Benue State Government on a number of times, including serving in the State Committee on Millennium.
In terms of academic awards, he won the Federal Government scholarship twice for his undergraduate studies and M.Sc programme at the University of Ibadan. He equally won the Benue State scholarship on three occasions for his studies. Outside Nigeria, he won a fellowship from the United States of America, which he utilized at the State University of New York at Buffalo and University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, from 1994-1995.
With respect to his publications, he has over 150 publications broken down into journal articles, sole-authored books and chapters in books. He has presented over 145 papers at conferences and seminars. He has supervised over 75 theses at all levels and has served in NUC’s accreditation teams to some universities. As a committed member of the NPSA, he is a regular attendee at our Association’s conferences. For instance, he was at the NPSA Zonal conference of the North Central Zone, which held at the Federal University, Lokoja in 2023. I have seen his name on the list of paper presenters at our forthcoming national conference holding in Lokoja later this month.
Prof. Adagba is a cultural person who is deeply rooted in his community of Benue State. He has helped to put his community on the world map by writing extensively on its origins, history and people. In appreciation, he was given a merit award by his Igede community in 2013. He has equally been awarded a chieftaincy title of Otebeche 1 by the Yala Traditional Council in Cross River State.
He is an unassuming personality who keeps his lane and personifies contentment. Prof. Adagba is an entrepreneur though of a special type. He is the proprietor of the Fulbright College, Ameka-Owo, his village, in recognition of the need to give back to his community. His valuable and varied contributions to the growth and development of the discipline of Political Science are worthy of note. Little surprise, his mentees and colleagues are in the process of putting together a book to mark his retirement from service.
On behalf of the exco of NPSA, I congratulate him on his birthday and wish him well in his post-service life. Congratulations to you, Prof. Adagba!
The author is the President, NPSA.
