The Chairman of the Nkanu West Traditional Rulers Council in Enugu State, His Royal Majesty, Eze Barr. Igwesi Obi Igwesi, has been conferred with the ‘Global Excellence in Human Development’ Award at the 3rd Linguistics International Interdisciplinary Hybrid Conference (EBSULINGS 2025).
The conference, which was organised by the Department of Language and Linguistics of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, had as its theme, “Language, Technoscience, Security, and Socio-economic Development: Towards a Holistic Digital Society”, and was chaired by Engr. Stanley Lebechi Mbam, Commissioner for Works and Transport, Ebonyi State.
Presenting the award to the monarch, the Head of the Department, Dr. Goodluck Chigbo Nwode, explained that the choice of the monarch was reached after careful consideration of his impact in human development for more than 30 years.
Dr. Nwode noted that through the monarch’s chain of schools, he had continued to ensure that young minds were shaped into academic and social giants.
“I hereby formally present this award of Global Excellence in Human Development Philanthropy to His Royal Highness, Eze Barr. Igwesi O. Igwesi. This award is in recognition of your impactful collaboration in human development between your organisation, the Human Development Centre – parent foundation of your academic institutions – for more than three decades.”
Responding, Eze Igwesi, who is also a legal practitioner, expressed his acceptance of the award, adding that it would spur him to do more.
“I am glad to receive this award. It serves as a driving force to put forth even greater efforts in doing more.”
The Eze Obuoffia Awkunanaw and Igwe Omuoha explained that he ventured into education bearing in mind that it was first a call to service, which was why he embraced philanthropy by offering scholarships to several indigent students in his schools, some up to the university level.
He added that through God’s grace and dint of hard work, what began as a commercial school in the mid-to-late 1980s had grown into a chain of institutions — Queens Comprehensive Schools, Kings Comprehensive Schools, John Igwesi Memorial Grammar School, and Pacesetter College.
Other highlights of the conference included the delivery of keynote speeches by resource persons. The conference concluded with the shared hope that the deliberations would translate into actionable policies, collaborative research, and practical interventions to ensure that language remains at the forefront of the quest for an equitable, sustainable, and connected digital society.
