Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah: An Outstanding Academician

Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah – a poet, scholar and critical thinker was born on December 21, 1962. He hails from Ile-Golu, Ita Ogunbo, Ilorin, Kwara State. He had his post-primary education at the Government Teachers’ College, Birnin-Yauri, where he obtained his Teachers’ Grade II Certificate in 1981. He then proceeded to the University of Ilorin for a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Education and came out with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in 1988. He bagged a Master’s Degree in Literature-in-English from the same Institution in 1992.


Professor Na’Allah proceeded to Edmonton, Canada, where he capped it with a doctoral degree in Comparative Literature in 1999. His PhD dissertation was on “Yoruba Folktales: Cultural Plurality and Oral Narratives.” Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah can therefore be aptly described as a Professor of English, Comparative Poetics and Performance. Professor Na’Allah went a step further to undergo series of courses at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, i.e., Management Development Programme in June 2009, Institute for Educational Management, July 2013, and Advancement Leadership for (University) Presidents, April 2015. Other professional training he received are at World Bank Institute, Washington, DC, on Transforming Tertiary Education for Innovation and Competitiveness Course, 2010 and at CASE, Abuja, on The Role of Vice-Chancellors in Advancement, 2010.

Prior to his appointment as the pioneer Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Kwara State University, Malete, Professor Na’Allah was Department Chair, Department of African-American Studies, Western Illinois University and Director, Indigenous Africa Discourse Project. He was for many years the Chair of the Minority Internship Program at Western Illinois University. His areas of specialisation and research interests include, among others, African Performance Studies, African Total Theatre, African Oral Traditions and Folklore, African Globalisation, Cultural Theory and Thought, Yoruba and Hausa Traditions, Languages and Cultures.

Also, Professor Na’Allah has been nominated for and received numerous awards and honours, including Exemplary Leadership in Higher Education in Africa Award by the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi-Africa), 2018; Hero and Icon of Good Leadership Award, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Joint Campus Committee, Kwara State, 2017; African Patriot Award, Commonwealth Youth Council, 2016; Induction into the Member, WASU Hall of Fame, as Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award, West African Students Union, WASU, 2015; the University of Ilorin Alumni Association, Abuja Branch, Recognition Award 2013; Cathy O’neil Couga Award for Outstanding Leadership in National Diversity 2009; the Gold Key Recognition Award 1998; University of Alberta Student Union, 1998; the Graduate Student Service Award, GSA, University of Alberta; The Alberta Heritage Charles S Noble Award for Student Leadership, 1998; Grant for Martin Luther King Jr. Poetry Anthology 2008-2009; Western Illinois University’s Administrative Achievement Award 2008 – 2009 for achievements as Department Chair, and a host of others.

In recognition of his remarkable achievements, Professor Na’Allah was turbaned on May 28, 2016, as Talba of Ilesha-Baruba, by His Royal Highness, Professor Halidu Abubakar. His Professional Affiliations include among others, African Literature Association; African Studies Association; International Comparative Literature Association; Canadian Comparative Literature Association; Modern Languages Association; Performance Studies International and Association of Nigerian Authors.

Professor Na’Allah never stops scholarly productivity even as Vice Chancellor. He authored three different books launched in December, 2018, ILORIN Ó - Poetry of Praise (Malthouse 2018); Globalization, Oral Performance, and African Traditional Poetry (Palgrave 2018); and OBAMA-MENTUM: An Anthology of Transformational Poetry (Bookcraft 2016). Since then newer books are out, Yoruba Oral Tradition in Islamic Nigeria: A History of Dadakuada, published by Routledge in London and New York, 2019; Seriya, a Play, by Malthouse, 2019.

Prior to that, Professor Na’Allah had authored numerous other books, including Cultural Globalisation and Plurality: Africa and the New World (Africa World Press, 2011); African Discourse in Islam, Oral Traditions, and Performance (Routledge, 2010) and Africanity, Islamicity, and Performativity: Identity in the House of Ilorin (Bayreuth University African Studies Series, 2009).

Besides, Professor Na’Allah also authored Introduction to African Oral Literature (1994); Ahmadu Fulani: African Poetry (AWP, 2004); Ilorin: Praise Poetry (Bookcraft, 2011), and Almajiri: A New African Poetry (AWP, 2001). He co-authored among other books, Introduction to African Oral Literature and Performance(2005); Functional Literacy Primer in Hausa (1993); Teachers Guide to Functional Literacy Primer in Hausa (1993), and Introduction to African Oral Literature Vol. 1 (Oral Prose); Vol. 2 (Oral Poetry) –1991, among others. As a scholar of international repute, Professor Na’Allah has also published widely in reputable peer-reviewed journals and contributed to book chapters in different areas of his specialisation.

His selected Invited Lectures include the Nigerian Academy of Letters’ Annual Lecture, 2017 (February); the Nigerian Higher Education Summit, 2016 (November); and so many others too numerous to mention. Professor Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah’s outstanding achievements cannot be separated from his feats as the pioneer Chief Executive of the Kwara State University.

With a well-built vision and an unwavering commitment to creating a world-class University, Professor Na’Allah’s selfless leadership style and quest for change through innovation has put KWASU – The University for Community Development – on the world map. Professor Na’Allah was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja at the nation’s federal capital in July 2019, for tenure of five years. Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah is married and blessed with children.