I woke up yesterday (7. 05.2020) to the sad news of the passing of Professor John Garah Nengel. So many deserving tributes have poured in celebrating his life. Baba Nengel, as we fondly called him was a good man, a Christian who lived the word. I received calls and messages from current and former students (undergraduate and post graduate), from HODs across the various institutions Prof. Nengel had served as assessor and external examiner – I was continuously reminded of Baba Nengel’s generousity, humility, total commitment and dedication to duty.
My intervention here is an intellectual tribute, a snapshot for those who perhaps did not have Baba Nengel’s intellectual biography. On a personal note I first encountered Baba Nengel, when I took his 200-level elective on pre-colonial warfare in Africa. Prof. Nengel was an excellent teacher, a soft-spoken fountain of knowledge. Prof was the departmental resident expert on Central Nigeria, his flagship 400level course on Plateau and the Adjoining lowlands made the UniJos BA History particularly unique. This was by enabling students to have an in-depth understanding of the history of central Nigerian polities.
Prof. Nengel supervised my UniJos MA dissertation, strict but compassionate, thorough and detailed with his feedback. Whether it was feedback on a draft paper, writing reference letters, reviewing lecture material with junior colleagues, he was always generous with his time and intellect. After his retirement, Baba Nengel continued to support the editorial process of our departmental journal – Mandyeng: The Journal of Central Nigerian History.
Regards scholarship Prof. Nengel’s contribution not only provided insights on the history of central Nigeria, his contribution was also methodological. His scholarship focused on two key themes, drawn from his postgraduate studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS, London for his MA 1980; and his PhD which he successfully defended at the University of Jos, in 1989. From his SOAS MA Prof. Nengel kicked of an interest in the problems and issues around the history of the Sokoto Jihad in Central Nigeria. His inquiry and output explored the spread, engagement, structures and resistance to the jihad from a uniquely central Nigerian perspective. His PhD, which as is the case with most academics became his seminal work, his magnus opus!! A Central Nigerian pioneering application of the methods of studying ethnic polities through the lens of intergroup relations. Since 1989, so many have followed in his footsteps – to the extent that within the historical community of academics in Nigeria, we could refer to a UniJos school of inter group relations. A collective of scholars who have studied the inter and intra dynamics of inter group relations amongst the polities of Central Nigeria, Prof. Nengel was the pioneer.
One of my last calls to him before the restrictions that accompanied the COVID19 pandemic was to present him with a copy of a most deserving Festschrift his former students led by Prof. Okpeh Ochayi Okpeh, the current President of the Historical Society of Nigeria had published in his honour and were planning a public presentation, alas – it shall be a post houmous outing!!! We have lost a Teacher, Mentor, and an excellent scholar. RIP BABA NENGEL.