Valedictory Speech by the Outgoing President of the Nigerian Psychological Association

VALEDICTORY SPEECH BY THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION—PROFESSOR OLUKAYODE AFOLABI DURING THE PAN AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY UNION CONFERENCE AT THE NAF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE, ABUJA ON 8^TH NOVEMBER, 2025

Preamble

On 26^th August 2021, the distinguished members of this Association overwhelmingly and unanimously preferred me as their President-Elect during her Congress and Annual General Meeting in Enugu. About two months after, I was sworn in as the 11^th President of the Nigerian Psychological Association and the baton of leadership was passed unto me at a Special mini-conference in Abuja on 9^th November, 2021. I want to say here that I have enjoyed the cooperation of all members and the Executive. It has been a great experience serving my professional body at the top hierarchy. From here, I have gained lots of experience that will help me whenever I have the opportunity to take up any higher responsibilities in the future.

Key Achievements

We run an efficient secretariat that coordinates most of the activities of the Association. Recall that immediately we came on Board the first assignment was to overhaul the membership list. With the assistance of our very dear General Secretary, this was achieved within the first 4 months of our administration.
Under this leadership, we have successfully hosted 4 Congresses and Annual General Meetings alongside Continuous Education Training (CET) for the first time. Papers from these conferences were also published in our Journal to encourage our dear members, especially the young academics. On this, I wish to thank the LOC members of the hosting states/institutions including Prof Adewuyi (LASU), Dr Ucho (BENSU) and Dr Tafida (NSU). You have all done well.
Based on the trust Nigerian Psychologists have in the administration, they willingly and voluntarily applied to be members of the Association thus, the membership increased from about 379 in 2021 to 709 members as at today (08/11/2025). Also, the number of Graduate Members as at today has increased from 327 to 478.
This was also made easily possible as a result of the creation of an interactive website (www.npass.org.ng) immediately this Exco came on Board. On the web, intending members request for information regularly about membership and general information about the Association. These are promptly attended to by the President himself. I wish to also inform you that the lists of members (full members, chartered members and Fellows) of the NPA are currently online. This makes it possible for the status of each member to be confirmed from anywhere in the world. Organisations do not need to write or call the Association for confirmation.
Last year, the former President of the NPA, Prof. Andrew Zamani became the President of the Pan African Psychology Union (PAPU) during the 10^th Anniversary of the Union held in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the first Nigerian to occupy that position. At the same conference, I was also elected a member of the Board of PAPU. Thus, we have two members of NPA on the Board. This calls for celebration.
The joy of the outgoing administration is the successful review of the constitution. The constitution, after a thorough discussion and approval on 24th August 2023 at the Makurdi conference, has been printed and it is readily available to all members.
Also, the Chartered Psychologists cadre was created as enshrined in our constitution. The first set (45 in number) of the cadre were admitted and inducted during the 2025 conference at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. The second set (35 in number) has just been admitted during this PAPU conference. This makes it a total of 80 Chartered Psychologists. It will interest you to also note that 12 Fellows were also inducted during this tenure (four years).
It is worthy of note to mention here that this administration has also updated her records with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) after 27 years of being inactive. To achieve this, the dues for 27 years were paid to change the status of the Association from inactive to active. This is commendable.
In addition, the Exco rejigged the membership of the Board of Trustees. The former members have been on the Board since inception of the Association. This action also has become imperative because of contacts for Psychology Bill, as many of the former BOT members could not be contacted/located/traced. There is effective coordination since the new BOT was inaugurated.
NPA in collaboration with the Lagos State University bided for and was granted the hosting right for the 2026 International Conference of the Community Psychologists (ICCP). Seven countries including France, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Austria, Germany, Canada, Singapore and Sweden bided for the hosting right but at the end, Nigeria made it. This is a great achievement for NPA and Nigeria as over 500 delegates from over 90 countries will be coming to Nigeria.
The Nigerian Psychological Association, in collaboration with PAPU sponsored three members (upcoming psychologists) of NPA to the Frontiers of Psychology Workshop held in China, from August 4-17, 2024. This prestigious programme provided a unique platform to engage with the latest developments in psychology, particularly in cognitive, applied and engineering psychology. This is the first of its kind.
I am sincerely happy to inform you that some states requested for chapters to be created for them during the period. After rigorous assessment of the states, two of them were approved, created and inaugurated. These are Lagos and Edo State chapters. The two state chapters did not betray the trust. They have been representing us well.
The successful re-introduction of Psychology Bill to the National Assembly. This has reached an advanced state of its final passage. Currently, the NASS or the people involved have introduced “pre-assent” advice with the Ministry of Justice. This implies that the Bill will be sent to the Ministry of Justice to effect corrections on the Bill before it will be transmitted to the Presidency. This process has just been completed. Hopefully, everything will be perfected shortly for the final assent by the President. NPA has made lots of commitment to this exercise, and as it were now, it is for concurrence in Senate. It is after then the bill will be transmitted to the Presidency. This, I will continue to monitor until everything about the bill is concluded in the next few weeks.

Conclusion

To the newly elected executive, while congratulating you, I wish to tell you that there are lots of work to be done in NPA. Elections have come and gone. Let’s now hit the ground running. Let me remind you that NPA is neither a sectional nor an ethnic group. It is a national Association and it should be so maintained. On this note, the following are the key challenges to be looked into by the new Exco.

Prolonged delay in passing the Psychology Bill by the National Assembly
Non-payment of annual dues by a large number of members
Only few numbers of State Chapters are active
The issue of Office Secretariat/accommodation which is still lingering

Recommendations

There is need to scale up advocacy and membership drive
The constitution of the Association should be referred to at every point in decision-making
We also need to pay our dues to the CAC annually to avoid that embarrassing inactive status for the purpose of our reputation as an Association
Ensure the Secretariat is functional at all time
Strengthen partnership with the Divisions and State Chapters
Improve the quality of our conferences (using Makurdi and Keffi conferences as relevant examples). The LOC’s for our conferences should henceforth be well-monitored by the Executive. I advise that the President should be the Chief signatory to conference accounts henceforth.
I wish to advise that while maintaining the last week of August for our annual conferences, the year in which new Exco members are to be sworn-in, such conference should be held in November. This will allow the new exco to be sworn in during the annual conference. By this, a lot of money and stress would be saved/reduced from organizing another programme just to swear in new Exco members.

Apology

I am a progressive individual who believe in getting things done properly. If I believe in anything that is progressive and achievable, the only thing that can change my stand is a superior argument. Possibly, some persons must have been offended that they tried to change or influence my decision at any point in time but “the man is stubborn”. While apologizing, I wish to say that my stubbornness has paid off by our numerous achievements listed above. Thus, to those I have possibly offended, I ask for forgiveness. Please forgive me. It is not intentional. At the same time, I have forgiven those who tried to create confusion so as to set us back.

Appreciation

I wish to thank all members, elders, Fellows, and distinguished Professors of the Nigerian Psychological Association for the cooperation I enjoyed in this last four years. Your private calls, your sincere counsels and payment of annual dues have assisted us to go this far. I wish to specially thank all members of my Executive for the cordial relationship and team work which has made it possible for us to move NPA higher than we met it. Every one of us has worked tirelessly with dedication. Specially, I want to thank the outgoing General Secretary for the wonderful job he has done in the last four years. This digital General Secretary has transformed the Secretariat and has made the job of the in-coming Executive easier. Dr Yemi Atibioke, I thank you.

To all the Divisional heads and State chapters who have cooperated with the National body, I thank you too. In addition, I am using Professors H.O. Osinowo and Grace Adejuwon as points of contact to other Professors for their support and counsel at all time.

This appreciation will not be complete if I fail to specially acknowledge the support I received from the last two Presidents of NPA, Profs Andrew Zamani and Michael Ezenwa. They have shown the importance of having your predecessors with you. Their words of advice has helped my decisions. I thank you sirs. Long live NPA.

On this note, I Thank you ALL for your support and attention.