PROFESSOR NUHU

OMEIZA YAQUB
The Marxist Scholar and Mentor at 73
Professor Nuhu Yaqub, 73, OFR, even the inadequate resources that are
Fellow of Academy of International being made available to public
Affairs, AIA, and double Vice- universities by governments are not
Chancellor, is a Marxist scholar who is most times channelled to core academic
always proud to be associated with the matters. How much is the budget of an
ideological school. He is, however, a academic department in the system in
Marxist with a difference because like a real terms, not on paper, vis-à-vis other
few others, he pursues Marxism as a tool budget heads? One would like to ask.
of analysis with a strong religious belief. A s a Vi c e - C h a n c e l l o r i n t w o
Universities and their issues dominate universities, Prof. Yaqub naturally came
his adult life, rising to become Head of under attack from the entrenched groups
Department, Dean, and Deputy Vice- and students in these schools. The latter
Chancellor at the Usmanu Danfodiyo being instruments in the hands of
University, Sokoto, before he became a entrenched groups who felt that he was
substantive Vice-Chancellor in 2004. an outsider VC who showed no
He has served as a Vice-Chancellor in tendency for primitive accumulation.
two public universities in Nigeria. His problem was compounded at the
From the discussions I have had with University of Abuja by his strong belief
him, our universities are truly in his religious teachings more
undergoing stress and trouble. These are discernible than from those who have
evident from the kinds of stories that used the instrumentality of religion to
come out of the system in the recent time fool Nigerians about their virtue, which
to the extent that decent persons are now one suspects to be at a zero level.
avoiding leadership positions in We do have cabals in our universities
Nigeria's universities for their corrosive who always work to determine the
influence. course of things. They often raise
Cockroaches, termites, and others have money to corrupt the selection process
invaded the system, turning everything and flaunt their connections to
upside down. While commending intimidate the system, all in an attempt
ASUU for its relentless struggles over to attain their political goals.
the years for improvements in the This twist of events, no doubt, calls for a
system, it is my candid opinion that reexamination of the concept of
equal amount of effort and energy needs autonomy for universities in all its
to be channelled towards resolving the dimensions. It is just not working
internal contradictions in the system according to what the books say in terms
essentially bordering on governance of the selection process as there is too
issues and erosion of traditions and much corruption in the process.
standards. Prof. Yaqub detests notorious
It seems to me that our union labours for politicians who parade themselves as
some other persons to feed fat on the scholars. They work to turn things
system. It is difficult to understand that upside down in the system and lower
standards for personal gain. Ironically, was not concluded before the expiration
some of them regularly appear on the of his tenure to deny him having any
scene as saviours of the university influence on his immediate successor.
system. Students unrest and demonstrations
As VC of the University of Abuja from were noticed, but not as many as some
2004-2009, his tenure was marked by other VCs have witnessed during their
significant developments. Four of these times but on a few occasions
were: inconvenient for all, especially Prof.
1. The relocation of the university to its Yaqub. He was somehow lucky to have
permanent site, a development that concluded his term as the VC of the
many had considered impossible. University of Abuja.
2. The rapid development of new An independent investigation revealed
programmes that have made the that it was providence that got him
university a choice institution, in appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the
addition to its strategic location. University of Abuja. A series of events
3. He entrenched a regime of prudent led to his appointment over two other
management of resources while he was candidates who had been rated above
the VC. him. Consequently, the internal
4. He was a fund-raiser for the dynamics of the university were not
university development when he was in favourable to him as he was considered
the saddle. an outsider who came to snatch what
The situation of him being a rational should ordinarily belong to an internal
leader was disliked by some elements member of staff, some have argued.
who had been drenched in the old Before Abuja, he would have been the
system, where the university enjoyed VC at the Unilorin in 2002 but the
tremendous patronage but had little on texture of the politics which showed a
ground to justify the huge inflow of preference for an internal candidate who
resources to it. His attempt to develop an was a highly favoured in Abuja made
academic culture for the university was nonsense of his first position after the
partially successful. The tradition of no interview.
academic culture had been sustained for He was subsequently passed for the
too long for it to be erased completely second candidate, Professor
within a tenure of five years. Shamshudeen Amali, who was
Universities are thus like resource eventually appointed as the Vice-
control for the academic politicians on Chancellor of the university. This came
the various campuses. This background about after the reawakening of the
set Prof. Yaqub on a collision course. He sensitivity of the Chairman of the
had a raw deal with some interests, Governing Council, Lt. General Salihu
including the Governing Council that Ibrahim, the author of Anything Goes in
made sure that the process of selecting a the Nigerian Army (1993) to the grand
new Vice-Chancellor for the university conspiracy to sacrifice some candidates
in order to pave way for a particular derived from his longevity of service
candidate. and the opportunity of heading two
After realizing the game being played, universities in the country. A number of
General Ibrahim stopped their antics by his publications are devoted to the
halting the elimination game but not travails of the system.
until two of the candidates had been After his service as VC, he was engaged
sacrificed. His intervention made it as the Dean of the Postgraduate School
possible for Professor Amali not to be at Nile University, Abuja (2017-2019).
also sacrificed on flimsy grounds. Their Prof. Yaqub has served as a resource
grouse against both Professors Yaqub person to numerous bodies, including
and Abass from UNILAG was that they the National Institute for Policy and
had no form of relationship with the Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru-Jos,
university prior to that time. Council Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna,
members who were against fair play and National Defence College, Abuja,
who were on a mission had asked 'how African Centre for Democratic Studies,
such persons could become the VC of Abuja, and others.
the university? He has equally served as an external
Prof. Yaqub was later appointed as the examiner to several academic
VC of Sokoto State University, Sokoto departments, including University of
after his service at UNIABUJA. There Ilorin, Nnamdi Azikwe University,
too, some ugly occurrences took place Awka, University of Maiduguri, Bayero
but this time, the angle of the state University, Kano (his alma mater),
dynamics epitomized by unfriendly Police Academy, Wudil, University of
state government was more of the issue. Jos, the International Islamic
At the Sokoto State University, he University, Malaysia, and others. Prof.
continued with his reform stream. He Yaqub has been a Professorial assessor
made notable efforts to start the for many universities.
university on a sound footing, but the He has served in some administrative
change of the political baton in the state positions that include: ASUU's
truncated his reforms. He was committees (1982-1983); Chairman,
nevertheless the magnet that attracted ASUU, Usmanu Danfodiyo University,
both students and staff to the university. Sokoto (1983-1984); Secretary,
He equally attracted resources to the National Caretaker Committee of the
young university from 2012-2017 when Social Democratic Party, SDP, (1992-
he was the VC. 1993); Member of several editorial
I fondly refer to him as a career VC, as I boards; Executive Director, CRD, Kano
always call Prof. Eghosa Osagie too (2003-2004); Member, International
who spent more than a decade as the VC Observer Team to the Parliamentary
of Igbinedon University, Okada. Prof. Elections in Bangladesh (2008);
Ya q u b h a s m a d e s i g n i f i c a n t Pioneer Chairman, Society for
contributions to the university system International Relations Awareness
(2010-2020); and Chairman, Academic different languages, obtained his
Board of the National Institute for certificates from three continents:
Legislative and Democratic Studies, Africa, Europe and North America. He
NILDS, Abuja (2019 to date). graduated from the Bayero University,
He is a scholar who has supervised a Kano with a degree in Political Science
considerable number of students at both in the first-class division in 1980,
undergraduate and postgraduate levels. obtained his MSc from the University of
What I am unable to vouch for on this Toronto, Canada, in 1983, and his PhD
occasion is if all his students have taken from the University of Sussex in the
after him in preaching the gospel of United Kingdom in 1990.
Marxism in their own academic worlds. He became a full Professor in 1998 at
Prof. Yaqub, in addition to being a the Usmanu Danfodiyo University,
Marxist scholar, specializes in Sokoto, and retired from the service of
comparative politics and is a theorist. the university in 2021 upon attaining the
He is a leading scholar in all his mandatory retirement age of seventy
academic research areas in Nigeria. He years for Professors in Nigeria.
has presented about forty seminar and The subject of this tribute, Prof. Yaqub,
conference papers, and public lectures. belongs to many professional
His published works number about associations, such as the Social Science
ninety. Two of these were: Academy of Nigeria, SSAN, Society for
1. ''Marxism and the End of History and International Relations Awareness
the Last Man Ideology'' published in (SIRA), Nigerian Society for
2010. International Affairs (NSIA), and the
2. “Neo-colonialism, Leadership and Nigerian Political Science Association
African Development'' published in (NPSA).
2012. Two of these associations are significant
From his record, he is a rounded scholar for this tribute, given our paths that have
who is content being an academic. He crossed on the platforms. He was the
was a Federal Government scholar Chairman of the Society for
between 1984 and 1989. From 1988 to International Relations Awareness,
1989, he enjoyed the Dudley Seers SIRA, for ten years. During this time,
Memorial Scholarship awarded to him the structure of the Society was
by the Institute of Development Studies, established, and more members were
University of Sussex, United Kingdom. attracted to the Society, including the
Six years before then, he had enjoyed author of this tribute.
the Kwara State scholarship from 1978 For more than four years, he had
to 1980. He had also won the Fulbright indicated interest in stepping down from
fellowship between 2010 and 2011, the position, but because of one reason
tenured at Wake Forest University, or another, he was prevailed upon to stay
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. on until 2020. As the politics of
Professor Yaqub, who speaks four succession was going on in the Society,
my name was mentioned as a possible admission placements to two of my
successor to him. He supported the idea children when he was the VC at the
but somewhere along the line, he was University of Abuja. He has remained a
persuaded to change his mind because source of inspiration and guidance to
of the prospect of my leading the NPSA me.
later. Indeed, it was from him that I first As Prof. Yaqub turns 73, I, on behalf of
learned that I would not be because of the National Executive Committee of
the NPSA's position. As the Chairman, the NPSA, congratulate him and wish
he did his best for the Society. him well as he spends more years in
Another association that he has been retirement.
closely associated with is the NPSA Happy birthday to you, Sir.
which he joined in 1980 and once served
as its Vice-President under Dr. Paul
Izah, now Professor Paul Izah, from
1998 to 2003. Earlier, he was at the Prof. Hassan A. Saliu
Badagry conference of the NPSA in President, NPSA.
1992 and made a paper presentation.
In 2022, he featured in our flagship
programme tagged NPSA Platform to
discuss Nigeria's democracy. His article
on an assessment of the Presidential
System in Nigeria was published in the
resuscitated NPSA Monograph Number
2, 2023. He was at our Lokoja
conference in 2024 and is expected to
give a talk at the NPSA's Methodology
Workshop for our female members in
Anyigba, Kogi State, in early
December, 2024.
He is a senior member of the NPSA who
has been decorated by governments and
sundry bodies for his meritorious
services to humanity. For instance, he is
an Officer of the Order of the Federal
Republic (2008); Fellow, Nigerian
Institute of International Affairs, NIIA,
( 2 0 1 2 ) ; F e l l o w, A c a d e m y o f
International Affairs, AIA, (2024), and
among others.
At a more personal level, he helped me
out on two occasions by offering