Barely 48 hours after it debunked earlier reports, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has announced Professor Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, a distinguished legal scholar and former Secretary to the Enugu State Government (SSG), as the 16th Vice-Chancellor of the institution.

Ortuanya’s appointment was announced on Sunday after the University’s Governing Council ratified the recommendation of the selection committee.

He emerged out of 28 candidates through a rigorous, transparent and merit-based selection process chaired by Chairman of the Council, Engr. Kayode Ojo, according to a statement issued by the university’s Acting Public Relations Officer, Inya Agha Egwu, and made available to the media.

The statement said Professor Ortuanya brings to the role an extensive wealth of academic, administrative, and public service experience.

It said Professor Ortuanya previously served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. He is also “a Professor of Law at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT)” and “a visiting scholar at Loyola University Chicago School of Law”.

The statement further said Ortuanya’s deep understanding of university governance, education policy, and law, as well as his leadership record, would help advance the university’s mission of academic excellence and innovation over the next five years.

Ortuanya is the Founding and Principal Partner of Prof. S.U. Ortuanya & Co. (Word Chambers). He earned his LLB (Hons) from the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. He proceeded to obtain a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Lagos in 1991, and later earned a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2003.

He was a visiting scholar at Loyola University in the United States from 2003 to 2005, and has held several academic positions, including Director of Law Clinic and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law at UNN between 2007 and 2011, and Director of ESUT Legal Clinic and Head of the Department of Private Law, ESUT, from 2013 to 2016.

Before his appointment, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Law, ESUT, where he was credited with significant improvements in the academic environment and infrastructure for Law students. He also served as Commissioner for Education in Enugu State, Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Culture, and on the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association.

Reports had circulated on social media announcing Ortuanya’s appointment, but the UNN management had dismissed the reports as “misleading” and the handiwork of “mischief-makers and purveyors of falsehood”, imploring the public to disregard them.

“We wish to state categorically that no such appointment has been made. The selection process for a substantive Vice-Chancellor is still ongoing, and no candidate has been announced or confirmed,” the university said in a statement on Friday.

“The general public is advised to disregard these unfounded reports. They are the product of mischief-makers and purveyors of falsehood who seek to mislead and incite unsuspecting members of the public with baseless speculations,” it said.