Assessing Contenders for the Substantive Vice Chancellor Position at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (Part 2)

By Azuka Okoli

In my last piece, I took time to examine what could be regarded in all fairness as the four leading contenders for the Vice Chancellorship of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University – COOU. In that piece, Prof. Kate Omenugha, currently the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, stands shoulders and head higher in all key indices that count in consideration of Vice Chancellorship of a university.

There is a general standard practice in which certain specific demands are spelled out as primary demands for contenders to the office of the Vice Chancellor of a university. Although for some reason that is difficult to explain, there were no stopgaps or further demands for applicants to the position at COOU, aside from being a professor.

However, in academia and scholarship, Prof. Kate Azuka Omenugha stands taller than all 8 contenders to the position. But even beyond that, in contribution to the university in terms of projects influenced, none of the 8 contenders comes close. To buttress, while Professor Uchechukwu Vincent Okpala and Professor Chike Osegbue have zero presence on Scopus, a globally recognized indexing platform for scholars, Professor Omenugha has firm visibility on Scopus.

Even more, while the duo garnered a combined Google Scholar citation of 91 citations, including Professor Leonard Onuba with about 480 citations, Professor Kate Omenugha has over 750 citations. By this, Omenugha easily outpaced her competitors as a global-quality scholar. In other terms, such as value addition in the mould of project or fund attraction to the university, while they all have zero attraction, Omenugha, again, has tens of millions, both in project attraction and foreign funds to the Institution.

Let us now take the time to look at the remaining four contenders for the Vice Chancellorship of COOU.

Greg Orji Obiamalu: Professor Greg Obiamalu is in the Department of Linguistics and has been a professor for 8 years. His year of last publication was two years ago, precisely in the year 2023. According to his Google Scholar page, he has a total of 136 citations. This can be seen here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QCGSlwoAAAAJ&hl=en

Beyond Google Scholar, which is a baseline evidence of scholarly competence, Professor Obiamalu has nothing to show as proof of his scholarship in more rigorous, globally reputed platforms like Scopus. He also has been unable to attract any project or funding to the university and does not present the capability to mobilize social networks that can add significant value to the university, which is a critical demand for any serious contender for the position of Vice Chancellor of a university.

Chike Okoye: Professor Chike Okoye is a professor of English Language and has been a professor for about 6 years. His last date of publication is 2025, according to Google Scholar and Scopus. Professor Okoye has about 49 citations in Google Scholar and about 5 citations on Scopus. His Google Scholar page can be accessed here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FBf_jmQAAAAJ&hl=en. Given these records, he is a global-quality scholar. But beyond this, Professor Chike Okoye has neither attracted any project nor funding to the university.

Florence Onyebuchi Orabueze: Professor Florence Orabueze is a professor of English Language, with no less than 15 years of professorial experience. On Google Scholar, her profile indicates that she has been cited only about 194 times, and this can be seen here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rOblsXEAAAAJ&hl=en. The last time Professor Orabuze was published was in 2023. In Scopus, she has impressive visibility, with approximately 12 indexed publications and around 58 citations. Again, her scholarship is not in doubt. But she has attracted neither project nor funding to COOU.

Meshach Nnama Umenweke: Meshach Umenweke is a professor of law and has a total of 14 years of professorial experience. His last work was published in 2024, and he has a total of 67 citations on Google Scholar, which can be seen here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HA3uqUUAAAAJ&hl=en. Professor Umenweke has no presence on Scopus and has not attracted any projects or funding to the university.

By this, the eight contenders to the position of COOU Vice Chancellor have now been duly x-rayed. This was done first to ascertain their scholarly proficiency, their social capability, global recognition, and other personal qualities required to make a good Vice Chancellor of a university in this age and time.

In the end, if COOU must reflect the grand plan of the governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, and the general expectation of the people of Anambra home and away, the next Vice Chancellor must be someone who meets all demands and has what it takes to drive the university to its next spot in the global map of education.

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