By Hassan A. Saliu
Professor Paul Izah was born on the 4th of August 1950. He had his early education in Nigeria and proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, where he obtained his first and second degrees. He was among the first batch of Graduate Assistants recruited into his Department in Zaria in 1975, a year after his graduation.
He later earned his PhD from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, where he was placed on the President’s Honour List of graduating students. His outstanding performance qualified him for appointment as an Assistant Professor after his graduation with a PhD in 1983. He taught in the USA for four years before returning to Nigeria to resume his appointment at ABU.
For many years, he taught Political Science and International Relations at ABU, Zaria. At a critical point in the history of the University of Jos, he was appointed Special Head of Department.
Professor Izah is an expert in International Relations and, by special interest, in Research Methodology, the two areas for which he is most noted. During his years of service, he was regarded as the leading authority on Research Methodology in his department. His pronouncements on methodology were treated as definitive. Indeed, no candidate could graduate from the department without his certification.
I witnessed this firsthand when I went to examine some Master’s and doctoral theses at ABU. A mentee of mine in Ilorin also shared how he had to spend an extra year on his programme because he was unable to meet Professor Izah’s standard in methodology.
His reputation as a leading methodology expert was not confined to ABU. It extended to the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, Kaduna, where he also supervised postgraduate students. I recall that he supervised the first doctoral thesis in Political Science and Defence Studies at the Academy. I was invited to serve as an external examiner for that thesis because he had convinced the department that if the department was to have a thorough examiner for its first doctoral defence, Professor Hassan Saliu should be the natural choice. I went, conducted the examination, and the female candidate passed the viva, subject to some corrections pointed out to her during the engagement.
This tribute would be incomplete without recounting the experience we both shared on the NPSA platform. We were both elected into the 1998-2003 Executive Committee of the Nigerian Political Science Association, NPSA, at the Ibadan Conference. He was elected President and I, Assistant Secretary. He desired that I should succeed him as President, but certain developments in Zaria did not permit that until eighteen years later, in 2021.
Our Executive was made up of Dr. Paul Izah; the late Dr. Nuhu Yaqub; the late Dr. Andrew Ohwona; the late Dr. Kunle Amuwo; Dr. Kayode Omojuwa; Dr. Hassan A. Saliu; and others. We served for a period of five years. I once volunteered to host a meeting of the Exco in 1999 in Ilorin. The Exco faced peculiar challenges that made it inactive and overstayed in office, notably fundraising and a complicated relationship with the Association of African Political Science, AAPS, bordering on a donation/contribution of 10,000 US dollars made to the NPSA, which could not be traced in the Association’s account. It is a long story that I do not want to go into on this occasion. While it lasted, it paralysed the activities of the Exco and generated concerns among members that led Prof. Godwin Onu to write a letter on the revival of the NPSA to all Heads of Department of Political Science in Nigeria in 2003.
Eventually, we hosted a conference in Zaria in 2003, and the baton of leadership was passed to the next Executive of the Association.
Before his retirement in 2020 after 45 years of service to ABU, he held three important positions: Head of Department; Director of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB), 1989-1993; and Director of the Institute for Development Research (IDR), Zaria, 2010-2015.
Since his retirement, he has been associated with Kaduna State University, Kaduna, where he has served as Head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations.
Prof. Izah has mentored a generation of younger colleagues across Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai; Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; University of Jos; Federal Universities Gusau and Dutsin-Ma; University of Abuja; and, of course, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He has also served as a Visiting Professor to the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; as Summer Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow, 2013-2023; and other universities.
He distinguishes himself as one whose schoolmates and colleagues have gone on to occupy strategic positions in the United States of America.
Congratulations to you, Sir, on this auspicious occasion of your milestone of turning 76 years of age today. On behalf of the Interim Executive Committee of the Nigerian Society of International Affairs (NSIA), I wish you many happy returns. May your light continue to guide scholarship, mentorship, and nation-building.
Prof Hassan Saliu, the author, is the Interim President, Nigerian Society of International Affairs, (NSIA)
