ADA AGADA... TO BE UNDER-RATED WHEN IT IS OBVIOUS YOU ARE TOP CLASS IS A VERY UNENVIABLE PREDICAMENT. Femi Ojo

Ada Agada with his groundbreaking internationally acclaimed book

Ada Agada is a Benue-born Nigerian young philosopher, novelist, poet and political commentator. He was born in the Idoma-speaking area of Central Nigeria and was educated at Benue State University, Markurdi, and presently a doctoral student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The young scholar in his 30’s is the author of the groundbreaking award-winning work in African philosophy/thought, “EXISTENCE AND CONSOLATION: REINVENTING ONTOLOGY, GNOSIS AND VALUES IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY. As a novelist, Ada Agada has written about ten great novels and has over one thousand poems to his credit. He’s often under-rated by his teachers and many others but with his recent international groundbreaking work in faraway America has made those who under-rated him know he is a scholar too difficult to be ignored. I interviewed him recently on his new international award winning book, politics and many more, please enjoy the interview below.

This is a book to read

Can you tell me about you please?

I am Ada Agada, an independent scholar and author. I come from the North-Central zone of Nigeria that part often referred to as the Middle Belt.

You are an author, a philosopher, poet and a political commentator. How are you able to combine all these personalities in one person?

Oh, this has posed very little problem for me. I guess we all recognize those activities we seem able to engage in effortlessly and proceed to maximize our skills. We may call this multi-tasking if this term does not connote being a Jack of all trades and master of none. I see my works as a philosopher, poet, novelist, and political commentator as branches of a gigantic and ever growing tree reaching towards the skies for what philosophers call truth. Poets call it beauty and I believe the political commentator will regard it as development or progress. Truth, beauty, and progres are one and the same thing considered from different perspectives. Human life is simply the search for meaning. As a seeker after meaning, it is easy for me to see the philosopher’s quest in the poet’s longing and in the political commentator’s angst over the seeming incorrigibility of wayward politicians.

Ada Agada looking at the great future ahead

 Your book, Existence and Consolation, recently received an international award in the USA, how do you feel about this achievement?

I was no doubt elated to receive news from my American publishers to the effect that Choice Magazine, a division of the Association of College and Research Libraries of America (ACRL) has announced my book a winner of the much sought after Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2015. This award is arguably the most prestigious post-publication general book recognition a scholar can get for a book published in a particular year in America. I feel validated by this award, coming from a reputable international organization and directed at a young unaffiliated Nigerian academic completing his doctoral programme in a Nigerian university. As you know, the award is given yearly to only the very best academic works published in the US and elsewhere. Having been largely under-rated in Nigeria by my teachers and other parties, it is a tremendous confidence-booster to join that rarefied group of distinguished international scholars who have been recognized by the ACRL, the largest division of the American Library Association.

You mentioned you were being under-rated by your teachers. Why do you think those who should celebrate you are the ones that under-rated you?

Many factors are involved in the under-rating of excellent minds everywhere. There is the issue of ignorance that is, not being aware of what a particular person can do or is already doing. We can also talk about indifference – an unfortunate disposition indeed, sheer envy, tribal sentiments, the reluctance to mentor upcoming academics, etc. I have watched with considerable pain as I was under-rated by persons who ought to have taken an active interest in my work, both at Benue State University and the University of Nigeria where I am rounding off my PhD programme.

I have read some of your poems. Some of these poems are deep in thought. Can you tell me what inspires you to write such?

Ada Agada no more being under-rated

Interesting question. What inspires me to write the kind of poetry you mentioned is exactly what inspires me to produce philosophy! The only difference is that my philosophical engagement is much more intellectually demanding. My life is a search for the meaning of human existence and, if this is not presumptuous, the reason for the existence of the universe itself. So, such grandiose quests find an outlet in poetry, and philosophy too.

Back to your internationally acclaimed book Existence and Consolation; what is the thesis of this international groundbreaking work and why did you write the book?

This is simple. What this highly original work seeks to investigate and unravel can be summarized and put in the form of two questions. 1. Is human life futile? 2. Is the universe pointless? Existence and Consolation, therefore, seeks to understand the relationship between reason and feeling and how a comprehensive vision of the universe can be constructed on the basis of this understanding. The project is an ambitious one. It is no accident that the book won an important international award. The doctrine of existence presented in the book is arguably the most challenging ontology in African philosophy. I wrote this book over a period of about fifteen years. The conception began in my late teens, when it struck me that our life has no meaning beyond the constant actualization of joy and sadness. I said to myself, ‘Ada, if emotion is so dominant in practical life, what exactly is reason?’ I was initially studying Biochemistry at the University of Jos for my first degree. But when the philosophical question became insistent I left Jos to study Philosophy in my state university in 2002.

Now to politics. As a political commentator on National and International issues, what can you say about the new government in Nigeria and what political ideology will you like the government to embrace?

Like most Nigerians, I welcome the anti-corruption campaign of the Buhari government but hope it can be made total to encompass every nook and cranny of the country, every political party and every social segment. This way no one will be tempted to call the campaign selective. On the right political ideology for Nigeria, I think we must go welfarist while practicing capitalism in a liberal democracy built on the rule of law. Oh yes, welfarism and capitalism can go together.

What are the dangers of being under-rated as a scholar and how do you think an under-rated scholar can prove himself or herself as a good international scholar like yourself?

To be under-rated when it is obvious you are top class is a very unenviable predicament. If your self-confidence is not high you will be tempted to give up the struggle. This is more so when those not as good as you appear to be forging ahead as a result of negative factors like tribalism, envy, not having the right political connections, etc. A scholar is indeed an intellectual, but he or she is human. Being under-rated causes emotional and intellectual instability. The under-rated scholar must never succumb to self-pity. He or she must keep pushing ahead, must sustain his or her hard work. If the under-rated scholar is worth their salt recognition will eventually come. My patience is beginning to pay. I see this award as only the first step in my worldwide validation. I have been ignored at home, but I was able to secure an award abroad which many professors here can only dream of. This is comforting.

What advice do you have for the intellectual industry in Nigeria?

It is doubtful if we really have a thriving intellectual industry or culture in Nigeria. I am ashamed to confess that politics seems to be the only thing thriving in our country right now. This is an anomaly. As I often tell friends, only intelligence and generosity can advance a nation. We have to put our faith in reason, in the intellect. It is not perfect, but it will do. Without intelligence we humans cannot even have a developed conception of God. Our religiosity is compatible with the celebration of knowledge. It is the only way forward. We have produced great politicians, businessmen, sportsmen, etc. Now let us produce the great thinkers in the sciences, humanities, and other fields of knowledge. It is the only way forward.

 And your final words to your fans across the world?

I am just starting out. My fans out there should watch with excitement. A great African thinker has arrived on the world stage who will be eloquent as the intellectual spokesman for Africa in the 21st century.

Who will you dedicate your international groundbreaking award to?

This is dedicated to my parents Mr. and Mrs Aba Agada.