The Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, rewards winners of the Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh’s Prize, receives the Mother of Department of English Award, and donates one million naira to the Department.
It was a moment of convivial and nostalgic exchange as the delegates of the staff and students of the Department of English paid a thank-you visit to the Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, at her office on Tuesday 30th July 2024.
The visit, led by the Head of the Department, Dr. Ikechukwu Asika alongside other staff members and the executive body of the students, was pleasantly received by the Commissioner. The HOD, in his remarks, expressed that the visit is a thank-you visit to Madam Commissioner for making time from her busy schedule to attend the Opuluiche Festival of Arts on Friday 5th July 2024.
The highlights of the visit include the presentation of the Mother of the Department Award to the Commissioner, in recognition of her laudable achievements not just as the first professor in the department and a former HOD and Dean of the Faculty of Arts but as an icon and beacon of inspiration, whose prodigious achievements have continued to place the Department and University in the global map.
The HOD also seized the opportunity to present the winners of the four hundred thousand naira (#400,000) prize money instituted by the Commissioner in the second edition of the Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh Prize for Poetry.
Fumnanya Calista Okonkwo, a 400-level student of the department, who took the first position, received her cheque for two hundred thousand naira (#200,000) being the designated prize for the first position.
Jessica Chiagozielam Asomugha, a 400-level student of the Department, received her cheque for one hundred and twenty thousand naira (#120,000) while Favour Chioma, a 200-level student of the Department, received her cheque for eighty thousand naira (#80k) which are the designated prizes for their various positions.
Madam Commissioner took time to listen to the students thrill her and the audience with their award-winning entries which she charged the department to see how they can make an anthology out of the submissions.
In her remarks, while accepting the award and honor, Madam Commissioner relished her time in the department and expressed her readiness to be back as soon as she could. She lamented how much she had missed her moments as a teacher. Madam Commissioner emphasized that her umbilical cord is tied to the Department and University. She reiterated that she is a teacher and would forever remain a teacher despite her political and administration sojourn at the moment.
Madam Commissioner thanked the Head of the Department for his giant strides within the few months of assuming office and enjoined him not to relent but to even do more as his transformational and laudable initiatives are not unnoticed. Confirming her love and commitment to the growth of the Department, Madam Commissioner made a generous donation of one million naira (#1,000,000) and promised to partner in the task of steering the department to greater heights. She reaffirmed her willingness to continue to dialogue with the Ag. Vice Chancellor, Prof Kate Azuka Omenugha fnipr, for a befitting edifice for the Department of English, with a caveat that she would never teach again in the hall, which at the moment, remains the only classroom for the department.
The visit ended with light entertainment, photo sessions, and exchanges by staff and students present.
