Naturally, the distressing reality is gradually sinking deep that the quintessential and erudite Professor David Iyornongu Ker, OON has transited from this earthly dwelling.
This piece is not a tribute of some sort, but a mere personal reflection.
I must acknowledge that working as an Administrative Secretary under Rev Fr Professor Pius Terwase Ajiki as then Chaplain at the Good Shepherd Catholic Chaplaincy, Benue State University, Makurdi, provided a veritable platform for me to undertake multiple tasks, some of which to this day have proven useful to me.
One of these tasks I undertook quite frequently was my involvement in planning series of events in the Chaplaincy. In December 2016, the CMO Fathers’ Day/Awards Ceremony was to be held in the Chaplaincy, and it was my usual role to work on the brochure for the event, especially compiling the profiles of the awardees as well as goodwill messages.
Since Professor David Ker was one of the awardees, I had to comb everywhere, including surfing the internet and contacting the University’s Information Unit for his profile, unfortunately however, I could not get anything substantial. It was strange to me I must say!
It was after my rigorous but fruitless search for Professor Ker’s profile that someone advised me to contact Mr Naths Tyoaan a Deputy Registrar at the University whom I was told was very close to Ker and could possibly help me out.
I quickly contacted Mr Tyoaan and the then CMO Secretary, Dr Thomas Kajo (of blessed memories) drove me in his jeep in the night around 8pm to Welfare Quarters and Mr Tyoaan who was away from Makurdi but because we had spoken on the phone, directed someone from his house who met us by the roadside and handed to me his (Tyoaan’s) flash-drive from which I copied Professor Ker’s curriculum vitae into my computer.
I subsequently used the CV and developed a brief profile on Ker as an award recipient at the stated event. The subsequent paragraphs in quotes, was what I hastily compiled to beat deadline for the production of the brochure which was already in press. I reproduce the brief profile which I did thus:
“David Iyornongu Ker is a Professor of English. He was the 2nd Vice-Chancellor of the Benue State University, Makurdi from 2000-2005. He was also the second Vice Chancellor of the Veritas University, Abuja from 2010-2012.
“Professor David Ker was born on June 6, 1951. He hails from Gwer Local Government Area of Benue State. He attended Mount Saint Michael Secondary School, Aliade from 1964-1968 where he obtained his West African Senior School Certificate (WASC Division One) and thereafter proceeded to Saint Louis College, Jos, Plateau State from 1969-1970 for his Higher School Certificate (HSC).
“Professor Ker enrolled into the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1971-1974 and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts (B.A) Second Class Upper Honours Degree in English. He attended the University of Sussex, United Kingdom from 1977-1978 and graduated with a Masters of Arts (M.A) Degree in African Studies. He also studied at the University of Stirling, United Kingdom from 1982-1984 where obtained a Doctorate Degree (PhD) in English Literature. He earned a D. Litt Grand View College, Des Moines, Iowa,U.S.A in 1991.
“Professor Ker began his academic career at the premier University of Ibadan as an Assistant Lecturer in 1975. He later moved to his alma mater, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria as Lecturer I, where he rose to the rank of Reader/Associate Professor in 1989. He joined the services of the Benue State University, Makurdi and got promoted to the rank of full Professor of English on November 1, 1992.
“As an erudite scholar of international reckoning, Professor Ker has had the following scholarships, fellowships and academic laurels to his credit: Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholar 1977-1978, Ahmadu Bello University Staff Fellowship 1982-1984, 2nd National Prize Winner, Ghandi Memorial Essay Competition 1969, Zonal Level Prize Winner, John F. Kennedy Memorial Essay Competition 1970, American Studies Fellow at Summer Institute University of Minnesota 1987, Fulbright Senior African Scholar University of Minnesota, USA, 1990-1991, Rockefeller Foundation Scholar-in-Residence Bellagio, Italy 1992.
“In recognition of Professor Kers’s meritorious and selfless service to his fatherland, in 2005 the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria conferred on him a National Honour as an Officer of the Order of Niger (OON). As an excellent University administrator, during his reign as the Vice Chancellor of the Benue State University, he was awarded the Best Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria State Universities in 2003 by the National Universities Commission (NUC) among several other leadership excellence awards and honours bestowed on him by the community and corporate organizations.
“Professor Ker had meritoriously served his State and the Country in various capacities at various times both in the academia and the government, some of which include: Honourable Commissioner for Education, Benue State from 1994 -1997, Chairman, Board of Governors, Benue Printing and Publishing Corporation 1987-1988, Chairman, Federal Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Investigation of Mobilization of Fake Graduates in the NYSC, 2007, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Benue State University, 1993 – 1994, Dean Postgraduate School, Benue State University, 1997-2000, Visiting Professor, National Universities Commission Abuja 2005-2009 just to mention a few.
“Professor David Ker is the author of many books including his celebrated oeuvre “The African Novel and the Modernist Tradition”. He is an Editor to several academic journals. He has innumerable scholarly researched articles published in reputable academic journals and has attended national and international conferences. He is happily married to Professor Beatrice Onyi Ker and the marriage is blessed with 4 children.”
On Sunday, June 27, 2021, I had the privilege of anchoring the 70th Birthday celebration of Professor Ker, which was marked in grand style with a public presentation of a book in his honour.
And just barely 8 weeks away, this scholarly colossus passed on few days ago leaving us with reminiscences!
As I reflect on his accomplished life of service and remarkable impact on humanity, I feel deeply moved to propose that he should be properly immortalized. And by this I do not mean the regular “political” pronouncements on immortalizing someone.
A scholar of Professor Ker’s standing should be carefully documented in a complete functional and dedicated Website so as to make online search about him easily accessible and available to the global community.
Commendable enough that several festschrifts had been written in his honour including a learned academic journal, “The Ker Review” christened in his name as championed by Professor Terhemba Wuam and other seasoned academics. However, I really feel Internet based platforms would document this icon better for posterity, especially given that some of these books may soon run out of print.
Professor Ker himself was quite active and available to informed public intellectual engagements on societal issues on the social media, especially Facebook. I feel it would not be out of place, if the several mentees and younger colleagues he groomed into Professors and even Vice Chancellors, could institute a “David Ker Colloquium” to further propagate the noble academic ideals he stood for, as well as the sterling administrative acumen he so cleverly brought to bear on university administration in Nigeria and beyond.
The Benue State University as well as the Veritas University communities should also consider endowing a “David Ker Research Think Tank” in loving memory of this intellectual giant who gave so much to the formative growth and development of these educational institutions that are today a force to reckon with in our intellectual firmament.
Above all, lovers of knowledge with the economic strength could do well to establish schools and name them in Professor Ker’s honour. Doing so will be an honour well deserved for a man who saw the academic world in totality occupying every single available position in the academe.
Oh how wonderful it would be have been if Professor David Ker himself had gifted the world a magna opus of penetrating account of his life in form of an autobiography, before taking a bow from the stage of life! Too difficult a void to fill…
Compiled By Nathaniel Nongu
