Meet Nigeria’s first female Professor of Statistics Joy Chioma Nwabueze
PROFESSOR JOY CHIOMA NWABUEZE is a Professor of Statistics and a Lecturer at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
Her lecturing career took off at Department of Statistics, Federal University of Technology, Bauchi immediately after her M.Sc graduation.
This was short lived as she moved over to Abia State University, Uturu in 1988 following her marriage.
Professor Joy’s academic records point to the fact that she actually was divinely destined to be the first female Professor of Statistics in Nigeria. She studied Statistics at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) where she bagged her first and second Degrees in Statistics and has garnered many FIRSTS in the course of her studies and Teaching, Administration and National Assignments. From her primary school education through secondary to University till she became a Professor, Professor Joy set a record of FIRSTS. In her secondary school at Atta Girls Secondary School Ikeduru, Imo State, she was always taking the first position from class one to class five. In her mock examination before her West African School Certificate Examination, she took first position in all the nine subjects she offered except in Commerce where she had 82% while the best student had 83%. Hence the adage in her school was “unless there is no Joy, where there is Joy, Joy is always the best”
1. FIRST (BEST) M.Sc. Student of Statistics, Department of Statistics, UNN in 1987 for which she bagged the award of Jamie Brooks Memorial Scholarship.
2. FIRST female PhD holder of the Graduates of the Department of Statistics from either UNN or any other University in Nigeria. She obtained her PhD in Statistics from the University of Ibadan in 2000.
3. FIRST female to receive a Distinguished Honours Award by the Department of Statistics of the UNN on the 30th Anniversary of the Statistics Department as the first female PhD holder of the graduates of the Department since its establishment.
4. FIRST Associate Professor of Statistics at Abia State University Uturu (ABSU).
5. FIRST Professor of Statistics in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike
6. FIRST Acting Head of Department of Statistics at ABSU from 2000-2001.
7. FIRST Dean of College of Physical and Applied Sciences of MOUAU from 2013-2016
8. FIRST to be celebrated at the 37th Annual Statistics Conference held at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in 2013 by the Nigerian Statistics Association (NSA), as the first female Professor of Statistics in Nigeria after more than forty years of possible existence of Department of Statistics in Nigerian Universities.
9. First female Professor of Statistics in Nigeria
10. FIRST female Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. 2016- date.
