A. A. Yusuf

A resourceful, self-motivated, results-driven soil scientist with outstanding expertise gained through formal education in soil science as well as my experience in the field for 20 years. Possess good leadership skills working professionally to ensure all statutory and routine obligations are met within stipulated periods. Articulate and proactive, combines a professional and confident approach with excellent interpersonal and communication skills to develop relationships with key stakeholders. My tenacious and proactive approach resulted in numerous important contract wins for my organization from both public and private sectors. 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 220 times on Google Scholar. 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. In 2019, 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 semi-detailed soil survey of and recently 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 25 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 75 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 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 from his academic and research activities, Prof. Ado A. 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 ABU 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, Department of Soil Science Award for the Most Valuable Scientist in 2013 and 2019 and 2020 ABU Postgraduate Students Award of Excellence.