Professor Princess, Rosemary Ogochukwu Igbo, PhD: National Academy of Education Nigeria

In Africa, Africa Innovators and Influencers, Education, Gamechanger19 by Mary Kurek

“To produce a great teacher that inspires, that stands tall and above the superior and the good teacher, first we create an effective classroom manager who makes students know what they are doing, while showing them why and how.”

Professor Princess, Rosemary Ogochukwu Igbo, PhD

“As a practitioner who has committed the most to education in Africa, I want to see education achieve the best outcomes but with dearth of funds, that remains an illusion on the continent. Education for development is still difficult to conceptualize due to lack of funding. This means a lack of proper education for and limited access to knowledge by Africans. This cascades to lack of the gravitas to change the definition of schooling to match with global trends. It means the inability of Africans to first identify what works, learn from them, and scale them to meet the challenges. It means that educational planners cannot even see the need to shake up the failing financing models continent-wide. Our leaders budget more money for effects that come secondary to education, making lack of funding affect how we have introduced Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) on the continent, which has been unbalanced and unsustainable. Like I said, as a practitioner who has committed the most to education in Africa, I’m worried that, of Africa’s nearly 128 million school-aged children, 72 million children are not attending school and that another 37 million African children will learn so little while they are in school that they will not be much better off than those kids who never attend school. These children are too busy working at home and on the streets. It hurts!”

The Professor Princess, Rosemary Ogochukwu Igbo, PhD, Chairman of Council, Sub Saharan Open University is a certified and professional teacher with over 40 years of experience. Her academic professional interests are in the design and analysis of education for all categories of learners; driven by a desire to ensure that teaching is efficient and sufficiently robust to provide both brilliance in learning and worthiness of character – the traits required to directly influence astute achievements nationally and internationally. She has been recently inducted to the prestigious National Academy of Education, the highest honour in the land that recognizes her leadership and contribution to local research in Education and the global impact of her work.

Professor of Adult and Non-formal Education at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike. Ikwo (AE-FUNAI), Ebonyi State, Nigeria, Rosemary Igbo is Dean, Faculty of Education.

A citizen of Nigeria, she was born on July 15, 1961, to the Royal throne of Onicha-Ugbo, Delta State, Nigeria. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Foundations of Education and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Nigeria. She also obtained a second Master’s Degree Adult and Non-formal Education and a PhD in the same field from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. A certified teacher, Professor earned the Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) in Vocational Education (Home Economics) with a Federal Government Scholarship from Federal College of Education, Katsina, a College of Bayero University, Kano Nigeria.

Professor Rosemary Igbo has facilitated and presented her research in conferences, workshops, and forums, including the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Pan Commonwealth of Learning, University of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania USA, IJAS Harvard University USA, Afro-Euro Centre for Development Studies, Granada Spain; Ghana Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance Network, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast; African Council for Distance Education, Nairobi Kenya, International Centre for Development Affairs, Nigeria, Nigerian National Council for Adult Education, Nigerian Cooperative of Adult Education Practitioners, Forum for African Women Educationalists, African Society for Social Research, African Association of Teaching and Learning, Women Resource Education Centre, Nigerian Association for Educational Media and Technology Education, Nigerian Convention of Technology Education, National Association of Educational Administrators in Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Teachers; Association for Quality Education in Nigeria, HURIA: Open University of Tanzania, Open University of Zimbabwe, National Commission for Mass Literacy Adult and Non-formal Education, World Convention of Guidance Counselors, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, National Open University of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and Ladies of Ivory Tower Organization, etc.


Professor Princess Rosemary Ogochukwu Igbo, PhD

Professor Igbo has authorship of nine educational texts, chapters in eleven books, and fifty-two journal publications. In her three decades of University teaching and 10 years at the basic/secondary levels, she has provided quality academic and administrative leadership. She has also participated in research of high impact as Lecturer, Chief-Editor, Head of Department, Director, and Coordinator of various units, programmes and segments in her field. As Dean of the Faculty of Education and Member of the University Governing Council, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, she leads a most perceptive team of faculty and staff and serves as Chairman of the International Centre for Development Affairs (ICDA); the implementing agency for Central Bank of Nigeria Entrepreneurship Development Centre (CBN-EDC) in the South-East.

Her research focuses on development issues that include Non-formal education ventures, Gender concerns, and Literacy Education efforts. She has served in numerous university committees in Nigeria and abroad. She established Inaugural Lectures Series as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Inaugural and Public Lectures at AE-FUNAI – position she holds till date. She was the Head of Department of Continuing Education and Community Development, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) University, Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria and Head of Department of Educational Foundations, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria. External Assessor to University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, University of Port
Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, and the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria.

Professor Rosemary Ogochukwu Igbo is married to Professor Eddiefloyd Maduabuchi Igbo, a Professor of Criminology. They have four adult children namely: Floyd Jr, Thelma, Westley, and Bradley.