Dr. (Barr.) Stephen Adi Odey is a seasoned and erudite scholar, an astute administrator, politician, legal luminary, community leader, philanthropist, teacher, and academician. He served with the Cross River State Ministry of Education as a teacher between 1989 and 1998. He rose to the position of acting principal in 1999. Dr. Steve resigned from the Cross River State Ministry of Education and joined the defunct Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council in 2001 as Senior Dock Labour Officer. In 2009, he joined the services of the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria as Lecturer II in the Department of Sociology, and was promoted to Lecturer I in 2015, and in 2019, he was also promoted to Senior Lecturer. Outside the University of Calabar, Calabar, where he has focused his time and attention till today, he has also served as an Adjunct Lecturer with the National Open University of Nigeria between 2005 and 2009. He holds a Teachers TM Grade II Certificate that he obtained from St. Thomas's College, Ogoja, Nigeria in 1988 and a National Certificate in Education that he obtained from the National Teachers' Institute, Kaduna. Dr. Barr. Steve Odey was awarded a B.Ed. degree in Elementary Education in 1998 from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. The University of Calabar also awarded him MSc. and PhD degrees in Industrial Sociology in 2004 and 2010, respectively. Finally, he ventured into the legal profession and was awarded LL.B and B.L degrees by the University of Calabar and the Nigerian Law School, Bwarri-Abuja, Nigeria in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Dr. Odey was appointed Personal Assistant (2011-2014) and later Special Assistant (2014-2015) to Senator (Prof.) Benedict Ayade, Senator Representing Cross River State's Northern Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In 2015, Dr. Steve Odey was appointed Executive Chairman of the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board, and later in 2017, he was appointed to double as the Acting Managing Director of Cross River State Water Board Limited. In all these offices, Dr. Barr. Steve Odey has brought his wealth of experience in academic, legal, and administration to bear. Dr. Steve Odey served as a dedicated teacher and mentor while in the university system, and he made a significant contribution to the graduation of university students. His main area of specialization is industrial sociology. Even while in politics, he was a regular participant in many local and foreign academic conferences, symposia, workshops, and seminars, where he presented papers. Dr. Odey has published over thirty scholarly papers, contributed to book chapters, and written many technical reports. He is a beneficiary of the University of Calabar-based 2015 TET Fund Intervention grant and the National Intervention Grant. He has collaborators within and outside the University of Calabar environment. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management and Administration, an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Mediators and Conciliators, and a Fellow of the Centre for African American Research Studies. He currently serves as an editor for the International Journal of Industrial Relations and the African Journal of Arbitration and Conflict Resolution, both of which are published annually by the Centre for African American Research Studies (CAARS). He is married with children.
