Ex-Chairman, Committee of VCs, Gowon Edoumiekumor is dead

The immediate past Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNUs) and former Vice-Chancellor of Niger Delta University, Emeritus Prof. Samuel Gowon Edoumiekumor, has passed away.

He died in Lagos early on Saturday, October 7, at the age of 53.

Edoumiekumor, a professor of economics and social sciencist, passed away from complications related to lung cancer.

The General Secretary of CVCNUs, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, announced the news to the Sunday Tribune when asked about the committee’s decision on something else regarding public university education in the country.

He said, “I’m sorry, we just lost one of our members, who was the immediate past Chairman of the Committee of VCs and also the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of Niger Delta University, Prof. Samuel Gowon Edoumiekumor.

He handed over the chairmanship of the committee to the incumbent in May this year after successfully completing his tenure.

“So, I’m not in the right frame of mind to talk about what you asked me right now. “His death is shocking to us and to me in particular,” Ochefu stressed.

CVCNU’s scribe added, “Prof. Edoumiekumor was a young and respected scholar and administrator.

“He worked tirelessly, and he died just as he would have wanted to settle down to start enjoying the fruit of his hard work. “We will greatly miss him.”

However, Prof. Edoumiekumor was the fourth substantive VC of Niger Delta University, a Bayelsa state-owned university located in Wilberforce, Amassoma.

He had two doctorate degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of Port Harcourt. He rose through the ranks to attain full professorship at Niger Delta University, and he had held many portfolios in and outside the university.

He was once the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) and later the Acting VC of the university before he became the substantive Vice-Chancellor in May 2018.

Prof. Edoumiekumor was a multiple-award-winning scholar and administrator. He was a Fellow of many professional bodies, including the Historians of Education Development Society of Nigeria (HOEDSON), the Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria (FIEN), the Chartered Forensic Investigation Professionals (FCFIP), and the Nigerian Institute of Management, among others. He was also a member of the Nigerian Economic Society.