Moses Terhemba Tsenôngu (written in the past as Tsenongo) was born on
30th January in Tsambe district, Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Nyishor, his mother had been very sick even before she took in with him. When the sickness persisted, Tako, her father, according to Tiv cutlure, took her from her husband to go and treat her before returning her to her matrimonial home.
Nyishor carried her pregnancy to her father's village at MbaKough, a sub-clan of Tsambe. This was where she delivered. The baby boy was named Terhemba (literally Godwin) because the mother's sickness had all along been so severe that everybody concluded that the birth would not have been possible if not for God's intervention.
Nyishor died five years after the birth. Terhemba spent the first years of his life with his maternal father at MbaKough - completing his primary education while there.
The Primary Schools he then attended were the Local School Board (LSB) Kparev and the then Local Government Education Development (LGED) Primary School Adeiyongo (1977-1983). Between 1983 and 1988, he had his Secondary Education at
Tsambe Community Secondary School, Adeiyongo. Then he was admitted in School of Basic Studies, Makurdi (1989 - 1990) where he proceeded to University of Jos, Jos, (1990 - 1994) and graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) English. After the compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps programme (Akwa-Ibom State), he was employed to lecture in the Department of English, Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State where he worked from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, he joined the Department of English, Benue State University Makurdi, where he is now a Senior Lecturer. He also got his M.A. Literature degree in the same University in 2002.
Tsenongu obtained his Ph.D. on African Oral Literature in 2011 from University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria.
30th January in Tsambe district, Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Nyishor, his mother had been very sick even before she took in with him. When the sickness persisted, Tako, her father, according to Tiv cutlure, took her from her husband to go and treat her before returning her to her matrimonial home.
Nyishor carried her pregnancy to her father's village at MbaKough, a sub-clan of Tsambe. This was where she delivered. The baby boy was named Terhemba (literally Godwin) because the mother's sickness had all along been so severe that everybody concluded that the birth would not have been possible if not for God's intervention.
Nyishor died five years after the birth. Terhemba spent the first years of his life with his maternal father at MbaKough - completing his primary education while there.
The Primary Schools he then attended were the Local School Board (LSB) Kparev and the then Local Government Education Development (LGED) Primary School Adeiyongo (1977-1983). Between 1983 and 1988, he had his Secondary Education at
Tsambe Community Secondary School, Adeiyongo. Then he was admitted in School of Basic Studies, Makurdi (1989 - 1990) where he proceeded to University of Jos, Jos, (1990 - 1994) and graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) English. After the compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps programme (Akwa-Ibom State), he was employed to lecture in the Department of English, Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State where he worked from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, he joined the Department of English, Benue State University Makurdi, where he is now a Senior Lecturer. He also got his M.A. Literature degree in the same University in 2002.
Tsenongu obtained his Ph.D. on African Oral Literature in 2011 from University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria.