Jonathan Ndagi

Jonathan Osman Ndagi was born on 12 November 1929 in the area now known as Katcha, in what is today Niger State, Nigeria. He attended Christ Church School in Gusau from 1940 to 1944 and later studied at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria.

From 1959 to 1963 he studied at University College Ibadan, now the University of Ibadan. He then went to the University of Wisconsin in the United States, where he earned a master's degree in educational administration in 1969 and a doctorate in 1975. His doctoral dissertation examined the application of mathematical models to educational planning in north-western Nigeria.

Ndagi began as a teacher at the Teachers College in Minna and at Niger Middle School in Bida, and in 1969 he joined Government College Bida.

When the Federal University of Technology, Minna, was established in 1983, he was appointed its first vice-chancellor. He led the young institution for seven years until 1990, building its early structures and academic programmes. In March 1989 the university hosted the twelfth annual seminar of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, and he was one of the editors of the published proceedings.

He wrote widely on education. His books included The Essentials of Research Methodology for Nigerian Educators, published by University Press in 1984 as part of a Foundations of Education series, and Church and Civil Society: Anglican Church and Education in Nigeria (2002). He was made an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) and an Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), and he held the Nupe chieftaincy title Wazirin Makaranta Nupe.

Ndagi was an elder of the Nupe community of Niger State. In his later years he remained a respected figure at the university he had helped to found: in November 2024 the Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, paid him a courtesy visit to honour his contribution. He was survived by his children and wider family.

Ndagi died aged 96. His death was announced on Saturday 31 October 2026 by Dr Mohammed K. Santuraki, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, who said he had received the news from the family early that morning. The exact date and place of death and the cause were not made public.

In his tribute, Santuraki called Ndagi a distinguished scholar, visionary administrator and pioneer whose contributions helped lay the foundation of the university, and extended condolences to his children, family, former colleagues and the whole university community.

Ndagi is remembered as the founding vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, one of a generation of Nigerian academics who built the country's universities in the decades after independence. His writing on research methodology and educational planning was aimed at Nigerian teachers and educators. Santuraki said his legacy lived on not only in the university but in the countless lives he touched and influenced.