Our Board

Yakubu Aboki Ochefu is an academic, University administrator and entrepreneur. He was born in Kaduna on the 24th of October 1960. He had his primary school education at Army Children School, Dan-Tunku Road, Kaduna and secondary education at St. Gregory’s College, Obalende Lagos. He holds a B.A. Hons. degree in History and Ph.D. Economic History from the University of Calabar and M.A Economic History and Political Economy from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

His teaching career spans the University of Calabar, Benue State University and Nasarawa State where he lectured from 1985 to 2012. He is a pioneer staff of Benue State University where he helped establish the History epartment in 1993. He held various positions in the University such as Head, History Department, Dean Students Affairs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Director of Consultancy Services and Professor of Economic History and Development Studies. He is currently the Vice-Chancellor of Kwararafa University, a privately promoted community owned University, the only one of its kind in Nigeria.

Professor Yakubu Ochefu has over 70 publications to his credit including a 700-page book on the History of Central Nigeria that he co-edited. He is a founder of pioneer editor of four journals and currently seats on the editorial board of several others. He is a Fellow and former National President of the Historical Society of Nigeria. He is also a World Innovation Summit in Education (WISE) Leadership Fellow and recipient of the 2016 World Education Congress Award for Academic Leadership in Challenging Environments. The African Students Union Parliament under the Pan African Distinguished Leadership programme has also honoured him with an award of “Icon of Nation Building” in 2017.

In addition to his academic career, Ochefu who sees himself as an “Active Historian” has at various times, consulted for the World Bank, UNDP, DFID and IRI on Social, economic and political issues. He was a member of Governance Reform Team of the Benue State Government from 2000 to 2005 and a co-author of the “Benue Advance Plan” that was the development agenda for the George Akume Government (1999-2007).