Professor Emmanuel Okechukwu Ezugwu

BRIEF PROFILE OF PROF EMMA EZUGWU . . . Professor Emmanuel Okechukwu Ezugwu was born on 11 November, 1959, into the royal family of Late Chief Simon Ezugwu of Amukpa, Ogbozarra-Opi in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. His grandfather, Chief Ugwu Ezugwu Ukwuma was a colonial warrant chief that exercised influence over the entire Opi Ancient Kingdom. Prof Ezugwu was until his death a tenured Professor of Systems Engineering with over twenty years’ experience in the field; a consultant, member of the Governing Council of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, and visiting professor of the Nigerian Universities Commission. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Manufacturing Engineering (1986) from the University of Warwick, where he also rose to become a Senior Research Fellow. He eventually joined London South Bank University as full professor (1993-2009) and Director of the internationally renowned Machining Research Centre whose research activities were funded by Rolls-Royce Plc, Sandvik Group, Kennametal, as well as UK and EU governments. His patriotic zeal made him abandon these lucrative positions to come home to establish and head Nigeria’s world class centre of learning and research in aerospace technology, the Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT-Nigeria), Kaduna. As its pioneer provost (2009 - 2019), his landmark achievements included the elevation of AFIT to a degree awarding institution, a feat for which he was rewarded with the naming of the Institute’s main library after him. His many achievements included the development of self-propelled rotary cutter that earned him a Meritorious Award from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in year 2000. A member of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, Prof Ezugwu is listed as a noteworthy manufacturing Engineer by _Marquis Who’s Who._ He published well over 200 academic and research materials in internationally recognised journals. His humane and philanthropic disposition are boundless. A scholarship provider for the less privileged; a devout Christian of the Catholic faith and quiet funder of numerous church projects, from All Saints to St Charles and beyond; robust community leader, counsellor and life coach; settler of medical bills for those who would have been imprisoned perpetually in the hospital after discharge; provider and source of hope for hapless widows. The list of his good works is endless, wrapped in his cosmopolitan but unassuming personality. The academic world will miss him, but Opi community will take a long time to fill the vacuum his death has created.