A former Chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, is dead, a source close to the family of the deceased disclosed on Saturday evening.
The General Secretary of CVCNU, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, announced the news 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 told The Punch Newspapers.
Edoumiekumo, who was the immediate past VC of the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, was said to have died on Friday night following a brief illness.
Edoumiekumo obtained his First School Leaving Certificate from Akeindenowei Primary School, Toru Angiama, in 1982 and his West Africa School Certificate from Ajeromi Ifelodun High School, Lagos State, in 1988.
The late economics professor holds a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and two Doctor of Philosophy Degrees, which he obtained from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and the University of Nsukka.
On May 17, 2017, the then governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, approved the appointment of Edoumiekumo as the acting VC, NDU, following the expiration of the tenure of the former VC, Prof. Humprey Ogoni.
On May 2, 2018, he was appointed the fourth substantive VC of the school.
Until his death, he served as the chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.