Prof. Kate Azuka Omenugha

Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha is the Acting Vice Chancellor of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Anambra State. She is a Professor of Mass Communication at Nnamdi Aziwe University, Awka, Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations and the Southeast Regional Consultant on Human Capital Development (HCD) for the Core Working Group (CWG) in the Office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Prior to her appointment in 2023 as the Acting Vice Chancellor of COOU by the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo; Professor Omenugha served the state from 2014 to 2022 as the Honourable Commissioner for Education and later Honourable Commissioner for Basic Education putting in an unbroken and exemplary service record of eight years with enviable legacies in the education sector in Anambra State. She is still widely recognised as the Commissioner for Education that brought passion, integrity and creativity in education, getting commendations from WAEC for credible conduct of examinations in Anambra State.   outstanding public primary and secondary school students in the state.

Her success ratings in education development in Anambra State attracted diaspora endowments to the sector including the Ndi Anambra Aberdeen (Anambra State indigenes in Aberdeen, United Kingdom) Scholarship Initiative for outstanding public primary and secondary school students in the state.

Professor Omenugha is an ardent believer in education without borders. This came to test during the lockdown that followed the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic. To break barriers to education during the lockdown, she as the then Commissioner for Basic Education in Anambra State launched the famous Teaching on Air initiative and other forms of strategic communication for emergency and crises management situations. These and many more made her to be esteemed as the Best Commissioner in the state by the then Governor, Dr Willie Obiano and subsequently sent to Harvard for the Leaders in Development training.

As a passionate and consummate professional with a strong technical background in Mass Communication and Public Relations, Professor Omenugha derives joy in the training and mentoring of students and young professionals in diverse specialisations including inspirational and relationship communication, strategic planning and crises management. To her credit as a productive intellectual, she has published extensively in these areas in both national and international journals. She was the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka for six consecutive years (2006 – 2012). Within those years, she brought phenomenal changes and growth in the department, including the initial take-off of UNIZIK 94.1 FM (the campus radio station) and has been instrumental to the sustenance of the radio station since its debut; first as its Chair and later the Director. Under her watch, UNIZIK 94.1 FM was in 2013 recognised as the best campus radio station in Nigeria.

Her commitment to professional bodies and learned societies remains multiutilitarian. She is known for knowledge-sharing, talent discovery, skills propagation, team-building, synthesis and synchronisation of ideas. These rare virtues saw her work in advisory capacity for her NIPR home chapter where she synergised extensively to grow the active membership of the body by sponsoring members to NIPR conferences and attracting much-needed gadgets and communication facilities. Little wonder she was on two occasions respectively honoured by the chapter with the prestigious Professional Excellence Award and Award of Excellence.

Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha is among the most recognised, recommended, celebrated and decorated female Professors in Nigeria. Among her honours and esteems are:

  1. Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (FNIPR)
  2. Second female Professor of Mass Communication in Nigeria
  3. First Professor of Gender and Communication in Nigeria
  4. Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Club
  5. Member Anambra State Economic Think- Thank (ANETT) – 2014 to 2022
  6. Board Member, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, 2008 – 2022
  7. Board Member, National Teachers Institute, 2008 – 2022
  8. Board Member, Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS): 2019 to 2022
  9. Integrity International Magazine Global Leader of Integrity Award for Honesty, Good Governance, Transparency and Accountability in Leadership, Accra Ghana

Further to her towering professional profile, the vastly-travelled and wellreceived global public speaker is a family woman to the core. Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha is married to a Medical Doctor in rural practice and blessed with six lovely grown-up children who are equally making their marks in their various fields of endeavour. She is a philanthropist, a preach-and-practice christian, member of Knights of St. John International (KSJI). In recognition of her numerous roles in community development, she has been conferred with numerous chieftaincy titles including Ugogbe Mmuta and Adaejiejemba. Professor Omenugha is a Council member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and Alumna of the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard, Boston, USA.