1 week Ago By Monday Eze
The emergence of Prof. Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh, a young and courageous Professor of Geological Sciences whose reputation for accountability, transparency, and excellence is public knowledge as the helmsman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, (a.k.
a NAU or Unizik) Awka, on October 29, 2024 has been generating shockwaves through and beyond the second generation university. Critical stakeholders and students of the university, who yearned for a seismic change from chronic complacency, debilitating stagnation and out-dated systems of the school leap for joy in anticipation of the enthralling positive transformations which the young Ebonyi-born geophysicist personifies. However, like a dark spot on a white canvass, there seems to have emerged an infantile restless blackmail industry set up by fifth columnists within the academic community for the impossible task of disparaging the integrity of the Governing Council of NAU for refusing to sacrifice the future of the university on the altar of private whims.
At the commencement of the selection process for the plum job, members of this amorphous group rushed to the law court to stop the selection process and perpetuate the vacancy and its concomitant negative impacts on the institution. Of course, they failed as the NAU Council had concluded the selection process and appointed the Vice Chancellor pursuant to the earlier order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria given in the judgement in suit number NICN/AWK/50/2024, delivered on October 16, 2024, mandating the Governing Council of NAU to fill the vacuum created by the determination of the tenure of the sixth substantive Vice Chancellor of the institution. This unpatriotic group abandoned their lawsuit and resorted to self-help, procuring an extra-legal fiat in the form of a correspondence from the office of the Federal Ministry of Education this month purportedly nullifying the appointment of Prof.
Odoh as NAU Vice chancellor by the NAU Council which, by the university’s establishment law, is clothed with the authority to make such an appointment. In the warped minds of these unpatriotic elements, the procured epistle from the Federal Ministry of Education was of more legal relevance than the judgement of a court vested with competent jurisdiction! At this junction, it is pertinent to ask: Who is Prof. Bernard Odoh? Who is afraid of him and why? Prof.
Bernard Odoh was born on August 5, 1975 in Ondo State to the family of Odoh Nwewhuru of Unwuezeokohu Ezza North LGA in Ebonyi State. Young Ben started his early primary school at Ezza Road Primary School and thereafter obtained his SSCE from Special Science School, Igbeagu Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, in 1994. He proceeded to obtain a B.
Sc. in Geological Sciences (1999), MSc in Applied Geophysics, (2006), and a PhD (2008) in Applied Geophysics (Geoelectrical Geophysics) all from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Odoh joined the academia in 2002.
He lectured at Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki from March 2002 – September 2009, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka between September 2009 and August 2014, and was a researcher with the Society of Exploration Geophysics (SEG) at Oklahoma USA, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011. His research in this area provided economic decision-making tools towards reducing failures: in groundwater exploitation; solid mineral exploitation; reservoir characterisation and prospect mapping for World Bank Community Water Projects, Anambra-Imo River Basin. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysics, Oklahoma, USA, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, USA, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, London, and Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorations, Lagos.
He is also a member of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Abuja. Odoh was assessed and appointed substantive Professor of Geological Sciences at the young age of 40 by the Federal University, Gusau, in October, 2015. In August 2024, Odoh’s alma mater, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, assessed and recommended him for promotion as Professor of Geophysics.
Prof. Odoh, a supervisor of many post-graduate theses, has over 118 academic publications in monographs, conference papers and international journal contributions to his credit. Beyond academics, Prof.
Odoh enjoys his peaceful marriage with Dr. Juliana Nkechi Odoh. The union is blessed with vibrant children.
Prof. Odoh, the emeritus Secretary to the State Government, (SSG) of Ebonyi State, has awe-inspiring antecedents which give hope to people of goodwill and rattle people of unsound conscience. In the history of Ebonyi State, Prof.
Odoh remains the only SSG who resigned from his plum position on grounds of principles. When the then governor of the state, Engr. David Umahi, who was incensed by Odoh’s courage, took steps to smear Odoh’s integrity by accusing him of mismanagement of CBN Agricultural Loan funds meant for Ebonyi farmers, the young professor, in another first-of-its-kind move, wrote to the Nigerian anticorruption agency, EFCC, requesting it to take up the investigation of himself and other members of the committee in which he (Odoh) was a nominal member.
Prof. Odoh further obtained an order of mandamus to compel EFCC to commence the investigation. This aspect of Prof.
Odoh is sufficient to unsettle the beneficiaries of the old order whose entrenched interests have thrived on the out-dated system. Prof. Odoh’s development plan entitled: ‘Disruptive Model Business Plan for Nnamdi Azikiwe University (November, 2024 – November, 2029)’ further compounds the fears of this group which craves the maintenance of the status quo ante bellum to enable the continued diversion of the institution’s resources and opportunities! From all indications, the emergence of Prof.
Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh as the 7th substantive Vice Chancellor of NAU is a metaphor for enthralling positive transformation of the university on all fronts. The good thing about the Ebonyi-born ‘Awka-made’ new helmsman of UNIZIK is that having studied and taught in the same university; being an active player in national politics; and having consulted for multi-national corporations across the globe over the years, Professor Odoh is well-connected and bound to enjoy the support of all the critical stakeholders of both the university community and the education sector. In conclusion, I congratulate patriotic contestants who lost the VC job to Prof.
Odoh and are restrained by patriotism from rocking the boat of the institution. May I hereby sympathise with the few others who resent Prof. Odoh’s appointment.
In doing that, I admonish them to respect the authority of the Governing Council of NAU. They should remember that Unizik is greater than any individual or group of persons’ private interests. The new VC, Prof.
Odoh, is hereby encouraged to hit the ground running and, even step on toes, to deliver on his promises in the interest of the general public including both his supporters and opponents..
