On November 20, 1936, Professor Ochapa Chico Onazi was born in Igumale, which is now part of the Ado Local Government Area. He commenced his extensive education in 1943 at Methodist Central Primary School, Igumale, and eventually left in 1949. In 1950, he moved on to the esteemed Boys’ Secondary School, Gindiri.
With a Cambridge School Certificate in hand, Onazi left Gindiri in 1955 and was accepted into the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology, Zaria, in 1956. He passed the Higher School Certificate Examination in 1958, which at the time was a requirement for attending college.
Onazi entered University College London in 1960 and earned a BSC in Zoology there in 1964. He returned to Nigeria in the same year and was hired by the Northern Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture in Samaru-Zaria as an Agricultural Officer for Entomology.
In 1966, Onazi returned to London to pursue a postgraduate degree in Applied Entomology at Imperial College. He completed his studies there in 1967, earning both a Diploma of the Imperial College (DIC) and an MSC from the University of London. This made him the first Idoma graduate of the esteemed Imperial College (since the college was a part of the University in the 1960s, Imperial awarded its postgraduate students both a Diploma of the College and a University of London degree).
Onazi received a promotion to Senior Agricultural Officer at Imperial following his study leave, and he began working as an Extension Specialist at the Institute of Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, in 1969.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Onazi completed his PhD in Agricultural Education from Kansas State University in 1973 with support from Ahmadu Bello University and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). His doctoral dissertation was entitled “Comparative Analysis of the Training Needs of Potential Agricultural Extension Workers and Principal Problems of Extension in Northern States of Nigeria” .
Following his doctorate, Dr. Onazi was elevated to the position of Senior Extension Specialist and Senior Lecturer, where he trained undergraduate students in Agricultural Extension, increasing Nigeria’s capability in this area. He joined Ahmadu Bello University in 1975 as Deputy Director of the Division of Agricultural Colleges, rising to the rank of Professor of Agricultural Extension and Education in 1981.
In 1984, he left the institution to take up a position as Provost and Head of the University of Jos Makurdi Campus.
Upon his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jos in 1985, Professor Onazi became the first individual from Idoma Land to hold such a position in Nigeria until the end of his term in 1989.
President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded Professor Onazi a national honor, the Officer of the Order of Niger (OON), in 2003 for his services to education. In December 2013, the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) recognized Professor Onazi as one of seventeen (17) professors who had made significant contributions to the field of biological sciences with the Nigerian Universities Distinguished Professor Awards.
Professor Onazi is a Fellow of the internationally recognized Royal Entomological Society. He has also served as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Councils of Benue State University, Makurdi; Bayero University, Kano; and Plateau State University, Bokkos. In addition, he serves as chairman of the Central Implementation and Planning Committee of the proposed Karl Kumm University and is a member of numerous national and international organizations.
Professor Onazi and his spouse, Mikiya Ruth, reside in 9 Jos and together they have five children.