Former Minister of Mines and Steel Development in the Second Republic, Dr. Paul Unongo, died on November 29 at the age of 87. Until his death, he was the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, (NERDC). His demise brought to an end an era generally marked by politics of ideas and patriotic intellectual engagements.
The former minister was born on September 26, 1935. He belonged to the Kwaghngise-Anure-Abera ancestry in Turan, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State. He attended the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University), Zaria in October 1959 for a two-year pre-degree programme, which he completed successfully in 1960. He later got admission to Canada to study Experimental Psychology at the University of Calgary in Canada. After two years in Calgary, he transferred to the University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada, where he completed both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Experimental Psychology, specialising in Human Experimental Psychopathology. He was subsequently offered a six-year scholarship by the former Northern Regional Government to study at the University of London, for a Ph.D programme in Psychology.
Unongo was a lecturer at the University of Lagos, from 1968 to 1970, where he was instrumental to establishing and consolidating the Department of Psychology of the institution and her degree awarding programme.During the Gen. Murtala Muhammed’s transition to civil rule programme in 1975, he was among the 50 distinguished Nigerians (50 Wise Men) selected to draft a befitting Constitution for modern Nigeria. His sterling performance in the committee, earned him the national honour of The Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), by the succeeding Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo’s military administration.
At the dawn of the Second Republic, Unongo teamed up with the Dr. Tunji Otegbeyi, Solomon Lar, Chief Femi Okunnu, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and others to form the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) where he became the pioneer Secretary General. He was among the ideologues of the party who helped in articulating and espousing its welfarist policies. His ability to work out a coalition government between his NPP and the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN), earned him appointment as Minister of Mines and Steel Development from which he resigned on principle, seven months later.
He contested for governorship post of Benue State in 1983 on the platform of the NPP but lost to the late Aper Aku of the NPN. He was later to play a prominent role in the 1994 Constitutional Conference where he served as the Chairman of the States Creation Committee. His attempt to be elected Benue State governor on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP) in 2003 did not succeed as his party lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He tried to get justice at the election tribunal in Makurdi, but lost at both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal. Subsequently, he worked for the development of the nation and championing the cause of the people of his North Central geo-political zone and for the progress of his Tiv people.
As a respected intellectual, Unongo was among the few Nigerians of his era, whose views on national issues, were taken seriously. By his traditional title of Wantaregh, he prided himself as the spiritual head of his Tiv people. In demonstration of his humanist approach to politics, Unongo established private schools and hospitals in rural areas as well as homes for the physically challenged, the aged, and the destitute. In 2017, he succeeded Maitama Sule as the Chairman of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF).
For his contribution to national development, President Muhammadu Buhari has described his death as a huge loss to the country. “In all the positions he held as a politician and public officer, he displayed a high level of decorum. He was a colossus in public life, very articulate and witty. He served his community and the nation extremely well,” the President stated. To his Tiv people, Unongo contributed so much to the development of the nation’s democracy.
Unongo was a leader and democrat who dreamt of a strong and united Nigeria where everyone will be treated fairly. While we urge the government to immortalise him, we also commiserate with his family, the political class and the government and people of Benue State on the great loss. May his soul rest in peace.