'Freedom of Speech Is Not a Licence for Recklessness' — Prof. Omenugha Cautions COOU Students on Responsible Communication

She loves her students and it is precisely because of that love that she will not let them walk carelessly into consequences they do not foresee. The Vice-Chancellor of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Prof. Kate Azuka Omenugha, used her address at the 16th Convocation Week Interdenominational Service to deliver a timely and pointed caution: freedom of speech is a right, but it is a right that comes with the weight of responsibility.

Prof. Omenugha spoke on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at the ETF Auditorium, Igbariam Campus, before a gathering of students as part of activities marking Day Two of the university's 16th Convocation Week. Her remarks on communication were measured but firm, the words of a leader who understands that in the age of social media, a carelessly typed sentence can travel further and faster than any correction ever will.

The Vice-Chancellor was unequivocal in her acknowledgment of the right itself. Freedom of speech, she affirmed, is a fundamental human right, one she has no interest in curtailing. But she drew a clear and important distinction between the right to speak and the responsibility that must accompany it. "There is freedom of speech," she stated, "but that freedom comes with a responsibility." For students of a university that carries the name and legacy of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, she implied, the standard of conduct must be higher.

She directed particular attention to the problem of false and reckless statements made about the institution, a trend she described in direct terms as cyberbullying. Those who spread misinformation about COOU, she warned, are not exercising free speech. They are undermining a community they belong to, misleading a public that deserves better, and damaging a reputation that belongs to all of them. Anyone found culpable, she made clear, would face the full weight of the law, not as a threat, but as a statement of institutional seriousness.

The caution, however, did not end on a hard note. Prof. Omenugha closed her remarks by affirming something she has said consistently since taking office, that COOU's students are the pride of the university. She urged them to carry that identity with intention: to wear their institution as a badge of honour and to project its image positively at every turn. The message was clear, speak freely, speak boldly, but speak as someone who knows the value of what they represent.

©️COOUNewS, 2026