Professor Ado A. Yusuf

Professor Ado A. Yusuf

ABRIDGED CURRICULUM VITAE OF PROFESSOR ADO ADAMU YUSUF, FSSN

Professor Ado Adamu Yusuf is an indigene of Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa State, Nigeria. He obtained a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture with First Class Honours at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1998. He also obtained a Master of Science Degree from the famous Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 2001 and joined the Department of Soil Science, ABU Zaria as Lecturer II in the same year. Shortly after his appointment, he won the Sweden-based competitive International Foundation for Science (IFS) Research Grant to conduct his PhD research in Soil Fertility and Microbiology in 2003 and completed the study in 2007. His quest for specialization in Soil Microbiology was further enhanced by participating in postdoctoral trainings at the Tshwane University of Technology TUT, Pretoria, South Africa and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan between 2008 and 2010.

Prof. Ado Adamu Yusuf rose steadily from the rank of Lecturer II in 2001 to Professor of Soil Science in 2013. Notably among his research outputs are the delineation of cereal-legume rotation benefits into improvement in soil microbial biomass and chemical properties, nutrient use efficiency and quantitative separation of biologically fixed nitrogen benefits from other rotation effects which have been cited about 316 times in Google Scholar while his total citation to date is 822. He led the IAR team to develop new fertilizer products for increased and sustained yields in the maize belt of Nigeria under the auspices of the OCP-IITA Project. He is a fine mentor, excellent team builder and highly resourceful. He has attracted funds from public and private sectors for consultancies and development projects in the Department of Soil Science, IAR/ABU Zaria. Notably among these are equipment and staff development in Soil Microbiology Unit and multi-million Naira project for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Department. In 2018, he led a team of IAR/ABU experts to win a contract to conduct semi-detailed soil survey of 125,000 ha for Dangote Sugar Refinery in Nasarawa State, Nigeria and also won similar contract for 90,000 ha in Ghana aside from winning the TETFUND 2019 National Research Fund Grant. About 20 undergraduate students have completed their projects under his supervision and has over 30 MSc and PhD students who have completed or studying under him. He has been a Major and Co-supervisor to many postgraduate students outside ABU Zaria. He has supervised students at Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), Murdoch University Australia and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana. Prof. Ado A. Yusuf has published over 85 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, seminar papers and technical reports. His co-authors span from Africa to the USA.  He is a reviewer to some national and international scientific Journals and the current Editor-in-Chief of the Nigeria Journal of Soil and Environmental Research. Other community services include being an external assessor to University of Maiduguri and Bayero University Kano, external examiner to Federal University of Technology, Minna and TUT Pretoria, South Africa. He has also been a key speaker at national and international seminars, symposia and conferences in countries like Benin Republic, Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Korea, Spain and the Netherlands. He features regularly at the Annual Conferences of Soil Science Society of Nigeria.

Aside his academic and research activities, Prof. Yusuf has great flair in administration. He was the Officer-in-Charge of the Agricultural Research Station Kano, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Samaru between May, 2011 and August, 2015. He has also served in several committees and panels in ABU notably among them are the Academic Planning Committee, Publication Verification Committee, Committee to Develop Strategies for Increased Internally Generated Revenue and Commercialization of Research Products, Strategic Planning Committee and ABU Research and Teaching Equipment Committee. He was appointed Acting Head of Soil Science Department in January, 2014 and appointed substantive Head in August 2015. The position he held until July, 2019 before his current appointment as the Deputy Director, Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He is a recipient of the Arthur Andersen Honours List Award, African Credibility Gold Award, Diamond Award of Excellence, Dutse Emirate Council, Jigawa State, Department of Soil Science Award for the Most Valuable Scientist in 2013; 2019 and 2020 ABU Postgraduate Students Award of Excellence. He was recently conferred with the Fellowship Award of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria. He is happily married and blessed with children.