Prof. Stella Lemchi, Dr. Mairo Mandara to receive the 2026 Chinwe Obaji Award in Educational Leadership by the OFO Educational Foundation 

Professor Stella Ngozi Lemchi, Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, and Dr. Mairo Mandara, public health physician and women’s rights advocate from Borno State, have been named as recipients of the inaugural (2026) Chinwe Obaji Award in Educational Leadership.

Named after Prof. Chinwe Obaji, Nigeria’s first female Minister of Education, the award recognises exceptional leadership in the innovative expansion of educational opportunities for all, especially for girls and women.

The honorees will be recognised at the 2026 Commemorative Banquet of the 1929 Women’s Revolt in Southern Nigeria scheduled on Saturday, November 28, 2026, at Protea Hotel, Owerri, starting at 11 am.

 Prof. Stella Lemchi

Prof. Lemchi was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education on July 22, 2025, by the University’s pioneer Governing Council. She previously served as the 13th substantive and last Provost of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri.

A Home Economics scholar with Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate 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 won the Best Conference Paper Award at the 23rd World Congress of the International Federation for Home Economics in South Korea in 2016.

Accepting the award, Prof. Lemchi said she was deeply honoured, adding 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 roles have included Senior Reproductive Health/HIV Advisor for USAID, Health Systems Specialist for Columbia University, and Country Representative of 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.

She is founder and Board Chair of Girl Child Concerns, an NGO that provides education and life-saving skills for girls, including married adolescents, and income-generation support for poor women. 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.”

Dr. Mandara currently serves as the Chief Adviser and Coordinator to the Governor of Borno State on Sustainable Development, Partnerships, and Humanitarian Support.

Announcing the awards, Dr. Ugorji O. Ugorji, Founder and President of the OFO Educational Foundation, said both honorees exemplify leadership that opens doors for girls and women to learn, lead and thrive.

The CAC-registered OFO Educational Foundation upholds the ideals of Organizing for Opportunities, which works to create and advocate for opportunities for all Nigerians in education, workforce development, entrepreneurship and civic engagement, and to end religion-based  and ethnicity-based discrimination. Its projects include literacy education, financial literacy and micro-financing, youth skills development, environmental education and protection and community centres.