HISTORY OF NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS
The Nigerian Institute of Physics (NIP) was established in 1973 after a sojourn as a unit of the Science Association of Nigeria (SAN), Physics Section. The realization came from deliberations by some eminent physicists at the University of Ibadan among who were Prof. A.I.I. Ette, Prof. O. Awe, Prof. A. Maduemezia, Prof. P. Ogbuehi and Mr. B.E. Bassey.
The Secretariat of NIP remained at Ibadan for many years, from 1973 to 1978. In fact, the first conference on record was in 1977, held at the then University of Ife. The second was at the University of Benin in 1978. The President then was Prof A.I.I. Ette who took office in 1973. The next two conferences were in 1979 at ABU, Zaria and in 1980 at the University of Maiduguri respectively. Up to and including 1981, no Abstracts were submitted and consequently no Book of Abstract was ever produced. In 1982 when the conference was held at the University of Calabar, the first Book of Abstract was produced and the memorable ceremony was performed by the Deputy Governor of the then Cross River State, Dr M. Offoboche.
Other conferences followed thus: 1983 Unilag, 1984 University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1985 UST Port Harcourt, 1986 Unilorin, 1987 University of Ibadan, 1988 ABU Zaria, 1989 Uniben, 1990 OAU Ile Ife, 1991 Bayero University Kano, 1992 Unijos, 1993 Unical, Calabar, 1994 Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, 1995 Uniabuja, 1996 Uniport, 1997 FUT, Minna, 1998 OSU Ago Iwoye, 1999 FUT Akure and 2000 ABU Zaria, 2001 LAUTECH Ogbomoso, 2002 SHETSCO Abuja, 2003 UDU Sokoto, 2004 KADPOLY, 2005 OAU Ile Ife,
2006 UNN Nsukka, 2007 LASU Lagos, 2008 FUT Owerri. The 2009 conference was held early in 2010 at UNIMAID due to prolonged ASUU strike of 2009. In 2010 it was held again at UI Ibadan, 2011 at CERD Ile Ife, in 2012 there was no conference due to prolonged ASUU strike, 2013 (March) Uniabuja, 2013
(October) Uniuyo, 2014 Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Ile Ife, 2015 OOU Ago Iwoye, 2016 Crawford University Igbesa, 2017 FUT Minna. The hosting right of the 2018 conference was won by the Federal University, Lafia after defeating Kaduna State University in a keenly contested voting process. The 2019 conference holds at FUT, Owerri.
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) at every conference comprises the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. Subcommittees such as Technical, Accommodation, Exhibition, Facilities, Fundraising, Protocol, Welfare, Spouses Programme, Transport and Quiz are put in place to facilitate the activities of the conference.
During these periods of establishment of NIP, the Presidency changed from one Institution and location to another. The Presidents of the Institute so far have been:
| S/N | Names | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professor A.I.I. Ette of UNIBADAN | 1973 – 1978 |
| 2 | Professor P.I. Ogbuehi of UNIBEN | 1978 – 1982 |
| 3 | Mr. B.E. Bassey of UNICAL (late) | 1982 – 1986 |
| 4 | Professor O. Olatunji of UNILAG | 1986 – 1988 |
| 5 | Professor D.K. Bamgboye of UNILORIN (late) | 1988 – 1992 |
| 6 | Professor C.O. Ofoegbu of UST Port Harcourt | 1992 – 1996 |
| 7 | Professor A.I. Menkiti of UNICAL | 1996 – 2000 |
| 8 | Professor I.B. Osazuwa of ABU Zaria | 2000 – 2004 |
| 9 | Professor S.F.A. Akande of UNIJOS (late) | 2004 – 2008 |
| 10 | Professor E.E. Okwueze of UNICAL | 2008 – 2012 |
| 11 | Professor D.I. Malgwi of UNIMAID | 2013 – 2017 |
| 12 | Professor H.O. Aboh of KASU | 2017 – Till Date |
In the 1980s, the Institute embarked on series of workshops in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education. These workshops were held at Nsukka, Benin and Zaria. Later the Institute reverted to what it coined “Operation Teach Physics” (OTP) – on its own, when the partnership sponsorship was no more forthcoming from the Ministry. Students were taught by experienced physics lecturers. These lasted until late 1980s.
The membership designation MNIP was mooted in 1985 but took off actually in 1988. In 1993 the first Fellowships of the Institute were awarded and in 1994 the certificate of Excellence came into being.
The Nigerian Institute of Physics’ Journal was originally known as the Bulletin of the NIP. It was first published in 1979. It was to appear three times a year. In 1983, the name of the Journal changed to the Nigerian Journal of Physics (NJP). The Journal was regular and published once a year but the publication was increased to 2 times in a year from 2000 till recently. At the NIP’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of 2018, two Journal titles were approved and added to the stable. These are Nigerian Journal of Applied Physics (NJAP) and Nigerian Journal of Theoretical and Environmental Physics (NJTEP), to take care of the members’ various our sections/areas of research interest with better focus.
In the year 2005 a website was created – www.nipng.org. This website which was “unsecured” and generally did not meet the expectation of members, as it did not have the latest platforms and hence there was a strong need to create a new website for the Institute. Consequently, in 2018, a new website was developed in order to meet international standard. Then new website address is www.nipngn.org and has various features include online membership registration, online payments for Annual dues, Conference Fees as well as direct access to the Nigerian Institute of Physics’ Journal titles and publishing.
The Nigerian Institute of Physics has recently made some modest achievements including acquiring a two acre of land in the University of Abuja for the construction of the National Physics Centre (NPC). This was achieved on the 9th October, 2014. It is hoped that soon construction works will begin on the land. The major constraint in realizing several of NIP’s lofty programmes remains lack of funds. The Institute is not yet being funded by government nor does it receive regular grants from any donor organization.
It was discovered in 2005 that the registration of NIP with the Federal Government of Nigeria via the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which was started in the late seventy’s, was indeed not completed. NIP was eventually registered with the CAC on the 13th day of March, 2019 and has RC 1567870 as its number. Similarly, in compliance with government’s policy, the NIP is now fully updated with the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) with Tax Identification Number (TIN) 21309227. The TIN is a mandatory requirement for organizations, without which they cannot receive payments or donations from the government. Thus, the year 2019 heralds a year of major breakthrough and achievement for NIP.
