Oleka Kelechi Udeala is a Nigerian professor of pharmacy and university administrator. He was the ninth Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the first head of the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Port Harcourt.
Udeala was the youngest of five children and grew up in a large extended family. His education was paid for by his elder brother because he failed to win the lottery for a community scholarship. He completed his secondary education with a Cambridge Higher School Certificate in 1960 and started work as a science teacher at his school, then attended the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy at Long Island University in New York on an African Scholarship Programme by American Universities scholarship, returning to Nigeria after graduation in 1966. [1]
Udeala served as Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1992 to 1995, [2] the first alumnus of the university to serve in the position. [3] Known as the "unwilling Vice Chancellor", [1] he was removed under the military junta headed by Sani Abacha, when Umaru Gomwalk was appointed chief administrator of the university. [4] He had been appointed until 1999; in 2001 he requested compensation and a declaration that he had been de jure Vice Chancellor for the remainder of his term. [5]
In 2004 he founded the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Port Harcourt, where he worked until retiring in 2016. [2]
Among Udeala's honours was the National Science and Technology Prize in 1990. [2]
The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has three campuses in Enugu State– Nsukka, Enugu, and Ituku-Ozalla – and the Aba campus in Abia State.
Eni Njoku was a Nigerian botanist and educator. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos (1962–1965) and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1966–1970). He served in the Nigerian House of Representatives as federal minister of Mines and Power, and was chairman of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria. He was an emissary at OAU-sponsored peace talks.
Kaduna State University is located in Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was established in 2004. It has seven faculties with over 39 departments and a library that contains over 17,000 volumes of books. It has two campuses: Kafanchan and Kaduna.
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Cyril Agodi Onwumechili is a Nigerian Professor of Physics and staff of the University of Ibadan. He was the first Nigerian Geophysicist and the second President the Nigerian Academy of Science. He was elected as President of the Academy in 1979 to succeeded Professor Victor Adenuga Oyenuga, first Emeritus Professor of the University of Ibadan and the first African Professor of Agricultural science.
Isa Marte Hussaini is a Nigerian professor of pharmacology and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, inducted into the academy in 2013. He specialized in cancer research and is currently exploring the use of local herbs for cancer therapy. His report to the Nigerian Academy of Science on the use of local herbs for Cancer therapy suggested that herbal plants are more efficacious than the current drugs used in cancer treatments. In May 2015, he presented a paper entitled: “The mining of Nigerian medicinal plants for cancer therapy” in Abuja at the induction of Fellows of the Nigeria Academy of Science where he stated the predictions of the International Agency for Research on Cancer that annual global new cases of cancers are expected to rise from 11 million to 16 million by 2020, with 70 per cent of them coming from developing countries.
Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi is a Nigerian Professor of Health education and immediate past Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri. He assumed office as Vice Chancellor of the University on June 3, 2014 and prior to his appointment, he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the university. Prof Ibrahim Njodi was appointed Secretary to the Gombe State government by Governor Inuwa Yahya immediately after his tenure elapsed as the Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri.
Celestine Onyemobi Elihe Onwuliri was a renowned university professor of Parasitology and 5th substantive Vice Chancellor of the FUTO University. He was also the Ag. Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos and a two-time Honorable Commissioner. After his death, an educational institution of higher learning in the US, the Graduate Theological Foundation instituted a fellowship in his honour called the Celestine O. E. Onwuliri Fellowship in Scientific Research and Human Values.
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Ginigeme Francis Mbanefoh was a Nigerian academic. He served as the 11th Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was from Eziowelle, Idemili of Anambra State. He succeeded Umaru Gomwalk. He came in at a time when the university was said to have been in a deep-seated crisis. He was praised for his nearness to his people and his ability to give the institution's host community a sense of belonging, an act that earned him traditional titles from both his town and the Nsukka Zonal Council of Traditional Rulers. His PhD thesis was title Allocation of Road Funds in Nigeria: An Evaluation, issued in 1976. He died on February 8, 2017. His funeral at his country home of Eziowelle on May 5, 2017, was well attended by dignitaries from all over the federation.
Umara D. Gomwalk is a Nigerian academic. He was the first Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology Owerri and the 10th Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was also professor emeritus of Medicine of University of Nigeria Nsukka. He preceded to Ginigeme Francis Mbanefoh as the sole administrator of the institution. His administration had crises to deal with from its take over of VC role from Oleka Udeala until handing over in 1999 with Ginigeme Francis Mbanefoh. Gomwalk was at various times a teacher and Chairman, Presidential Advisory Council and the Governing Council of the Nigerian National Merit Award. He died on May 12, 2019 at the age of 83.
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