By Charles Polok
Rising above one’s circumstances by turning adversity into opportunities has been identified as one of the surest ways to succeed in life.
This was the position of Professor Dakas C.J. Dakas, Dean Faculty of Law, University of Jos while delivering the 65th inaugural lecture of the institution.
Entitled “For the Sake of the Present and Future Generations: Reflections on my Academic Odyssey and Legal Scholarship”, Prof Dakas said the lecture was borne out of the need to inspire and challenge others towards working hard for success.
“I am propelled by the imperative need to inspire and challenge others to dare to dream, rise above their circumstances and make an expeditious transition from- to use the Biblical analogy-the Book of Lamentations to the Songs of Solomon”, he stated.
While chronicling his academic sojourn, Prof Dakas recalls his experience as a village boy born to subsistence farmers who could not complete their primary school but made efforts to enroll him into a local primary school where he, despite the challenges of that period, graduated a year ahead of schedule on top of his class, and went further to achieve the same feat in the famous Boys Secondary School (BSS) Gindiri, Plateau State.
He also recounted how while on the farm, he received his letter of admission to study Law at the University of Jos and had to trek from a distance of between 30 minutes and one hour daily to school.
This, however, did not affect his excellent performance in school such that he attracted the attention of one Prof Ebere O. O. Osieke, a distinguished law professor and former dean of the faculty, who mentored him during his undergraduate years.
Prof Dakas acknowledged mentoring as key to his success saying, Prof Osieke did not care about his ethnic, religious or parental background, “all he saw was a promising student and, to his credit, mentored me by availing me his giant shoulders to stand on and aim for the top” adding, “you can imagine his joy when I graduated with a First Class Honor Law Degree.”
He described himself as “a product of the grace of God, hard work and mentoring”, cautioning against misunderstanding his story as an exercise in self aggrandisement, but as providing the context for understanding his story with the hope that it will “inspire others to aspire for excellence”.
He said because of his sustained outstanding performance, he was offered a lecturing appointment as a Lecturer II with the University of Jos towards the end of his one year compulsory service year in 1992 without applying for it.
He has risen to the peak of his career as the youngest Nigerian professor to be conferred with the prestigious and highly coveted rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) till date.
Dakas disclosed that he has instituted four distinguished awards as part of his efforts to encourage students who are outstanding in their academic performances and to honour his wife, parents and mentor.
The awards include: Prof Dakas Award for Best graduating Law Student, The Award for the Best Graduating Female Law student (in honour of his wife), the award for the overall Best Graduating student in the University of Jos (in honour of his parents), and the Professor Ebere O. O. Osieke International Award for the Best Law student.
The awards are to take effect from the next convocation ceremony of the University of Jos.
Prof Dakas was between 2012 and May 2014 the Ben Nwabueze Distinguished Professor of law and Director of Research at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Abuja.
He is a prolific author with over seventy publications to his credit. He was former Attorney-General of Plateau state and a recipient of many awards.
