The President of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, Professor Benjamin Ogele Okaba, has added yet another feather to his long list of honours as the distinguished professor on Monday, November 6, 2023, was bestowed with a Fellowship Award by the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Practitioner's Association (NASA).

The INC President received the award at the 28th Annual Conference of the NASA which held at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. This year's annual conference has as its theme, 'Socio-Cultural Practices, Religious and Identity Manipulation: Challenges to Sustainable Development in Nigeria'.

The association is led by Hauwa’u Yusuf, a professor at Kaduna State University, as President of the association. She succeeds Nkemdili Nnonyelu, a professor who works at Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

The association has six vice presidents, one from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. Aniefiok Ukommi from the University of Uyo is Vice President, South-south; Agnes Njoku, a professor from Imo State University is Vice President, South-east; and Sakiru Raji, Lagos State University is Vice President, South-west; Jurji Gomos from Plateau State University is Vice President, North-central; Aminu Dukku, a professor from Bayero University, Kano, is Vice President, Northwest; and Epron Silas of the College of Health Science and Technology, Gombe, is Vice President, North-east.

Suleiman Barnabas and Chris Onyemenam of Baze University, Abuja, are General-Secretary and legal adviser, respectively; while Emmanuel Nwakanma from the University of Port Harcourt is Assistant Secretary and Eze Nwokocha, a professor at the University of Ibadan, is Editor-in-Chief.

The opening ceremony of the conference witnessed the induction of 17 individuals as its fellows, including the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 14, Ahmed Abdulrahman; the current Vice-Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, Suleiman Mohammed, a professor; and Benjamin Okaba, a professor of Sociology and the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

NASA is the body established for the regulation of teaching and practice of Sociology in Nigeria. Registered as a non-governmental organisation, NASA as a professional body was inaugurated on 20 March 1971 in University of Ibadan, following a pre-inauguration meeting held on 15 January 1971 and chaired by Essien Udom, a professor.

The objective of the association is to organise and enlighten sociologists, anthropologists and interested persons in related disciplines to abide by appropriate ethical conduct in the teaching, research and practice of sociology and anthropology and to stimulate them to contribute sociological insights towards scholarship and national development.

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