A staff of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Aike, Ebonyi State in the Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Dr. Nnaemeka Ugwuanyi, has won the 2022 Pierre Bezier prize in Paris, France.
Ugwuanyi is one of young academics that benefitted from the postgraduate scholarship partnership between the University and the French government, and the first person to bag a doctoral degree through the programme.
Presenting the award to him at the Ecole Nationale Superireur des Arts et Metiers (ENSAM), Paris, France recently, Prof. Xavier Kestelyn, noted that he was awed to know that one of the aims for the postgraduate partnership was to enable the University scholars to learn to speak French while studying in France so that when they return to Nigeria, the University will set up bilingual programmes to attract students from neighbouring francophone countries.
The professor of Electrical Engineering further stated that initially Ugwuany did not want to learn French but he forced him, adding that it was a beautiful story as he was able to meet researchers from USA and Mexico who were working on his PhD topic which was in the area of electricity.
He also said that they were not only proud that Ugwuanyi completed his PhD programme in France but that he was able to win the 2022 Pierre Bezier prize of Ecole Nationale Superireur des Arts et Metiers (ENSAM).
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Prof. Sunday O. Elom, has congratulated Ugwuanyi for making the University proud in far away France, describing him as a worthy ambassador of the institution.
The Vice-Chancellor further assured of his commitment to the sustenance of the Postgraduate Scholarship Partnership Programme with the French government to give opportunities to more willing and competent staff of the University to benefit from it.