OWERRI, Nigeria — Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi, Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, and Dr. Mairo Mandara, a public health physician and women’s rights advocate from Borno State, have been named recipients of the inaugural 2026 Chinwe Obaji Award in Educational Leadership.
The award was named in honour of Professor Chinwe Obaji, Nigeria’s first female Minister of Education.
It recognises exceptional leadership in expanding educational opportunities through innovation, particularly for girls and women.
The award will be presented at the 2026 Commemorative Banquet marking the 1929 Women’s Revolt in Southern Nigeria.
The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 2026, at Protea Hotel, Owerri.
Professor Stella Lemchi
Professor Lemchi was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education on July 22, 2025, by the university’s pioneer Governing Council.
Before her appointment, she served as the 13th substantive and final Provost of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri.
A scholar of Home Economics, Professor Lemchi earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
She led the development of a new Home Economics curriculum for Nigeria, designed to prepare students for the 21st-century workforce.
She has published more than 76 articles and book chapters, and received the Best Conference Paper Award at the 23rd World Congress of the International Federation for Home Economics in South Korea in 2016.
In accepting the award, Professor Lemchi said she was deeply honoured.
She added that recognition of “our modest efforts in expanding educational frontiers and opportunities, particularly for girls and women, is both humbling and encouraging.”
Dr. Mairo Mandara
An obstetrician-gynaecologist and public health physician, Dr. Mandara has spent decades leading health and social transformation initiatives across Africa.
Her previous roles include Senior Reproductive Health/HIV Advisor for USAID, Health Systems Specialist for Columbia University, and Country Representative for the Packard and Gates foundations.
As a Senior Fellow with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, she led the Keeping Girls in School in Africa initiative.
Dr. Mandara is the founder and Board Chair of Girl Child Concerns, a non-governmental organisation that supports girls—including married adolescents—with education and life-saving skills, and provides income-generation support for women with low incomes.
She has also worked to help girls affected by insurgency in north-east Nigeria return to school.
She serves on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
Dr. Mandara said she was “deeply honoured to be associated with the anniversary of the Aba Women’s Revolt of 1929 (celebrated in the OFO Educational Foundation’s Owerri Declaration of 2025)—a historic event we all hold dear in the African Feminist Movement.”
She currently serves as Chief Adviser and Coordinator to the Governor of Borno State on Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support.
The founder and president of the OFO Educational Foundation, Dr. Ugorji O. Ugorji, announced the awards during the weekend.
Dr. Ugorji said both recipients exemplify leadership that opens doors for girls and women to learn, lead and thrive.
The OFO Educational Foundation is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and upholds the ideals of Organizing for Opportunities.
The organisation works to create and advocate for opportunities for Nigerians in education and workforce development.
It also advocates for entrepreneurship and civic engagement, and to end discrimination based on religion or ethnicity.
Its projects include literacy and financial literacy education, micro-financing, and youth skills development.
Others are environmental education and protection, and community centres.
