Samuel Okoye

Samuel Ejikeme Okoye (26 July 1939 – 18 November 2009) was a Nigerian astrophysicist from Amawbia in Anambra State, Nigeria. Okoye was the first black African to obtain a doctorate degree in Radio Astronomy.

Early life and education
Samuel Okoye was born in Amawbia, in south eastern Nigeria, son of Simeon and Agnes Okoye. He was the fifth of nine children. Simeon died late in 1949 when Sam was ten.

Okoye obtained a Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc), with First Class Honors in Physics from the University of Ibadan, established in 1948 as a college of the University of London. He went on to obtain a doctorate degree (PhD) in Radio Astronomy from Churchill College, University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, making him the first black African to obtain a doctorate in Radio Astronomy.

Okoye was a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science as well as the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom. He was a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, the New York Academy of Sciences, International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility and the International Astronomical Union.

Career
Okoye started teaching Physics at the University of Ibadan in 1965 and later transferred to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) just before the outbreak of the Nigerian civil war, where he founded the University’s Space Research Center in 1972. There, he was elevated to a professorship in physics in 1976. Between 1978 and 1989, Professor Okoye was appointed the Director, Division of General Studies, Head Department of Physics and Astronomy; Associate Dean and later Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences. He was acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria from June to September 1978. Okoye was elected Dean School of Post Graduate Studies. University of Nigeria, Nsukka, from 1987 to 1989.

On the international stage, Okoye attended several Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs between 1979–91, serving as a member of Pugwash Council from 1988–93. He was a part-time consultant to the United Nations on the development of Space Science and Technology in developing countries (1979–1986).

Okoye was a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany between August and October 1986. From 1990 to 1993, Okoye was also appointed Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a visiting professor/senior research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, and fellow commoner at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. In December 1993, Sam was seconded from the University of Nigeria to the Federal Government as director (overseas liaison), initially at the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Lagos, and subsequently the Nigerian Ministry of Science & Technology Abuja, where he also served as the pioneer science attaché and head of the Science and Technology Unit at the Nigerian High Commission, London.

Okoye published numerous scientific papers on Ionosphere Physics, Solar Physics and the Theory of Extragalactic Radio Sources and Cosmology. He also published a monograph, Viable and Affordable Policy Objectives for a Nigerian Space Programme in the 1980s and co-edited two books: Basic Science Development in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects, and the World at the Cross-roads: Towards a Sustainable, Equitable and Liveable World.

Okoye served Nigeria in a number of capacities, including:
 * Member of the Federal Government delegation to the World Administrative Radio Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, 1979;
 * Member of the Federal Government delegation to the United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Space in Vienna, Austria, 1981;
 * Member of the Federal Government Panel charged to produce an integrated energy policy for Nigeria (1984);
 * Chairman, Court of Governors Awka Campus of the Anambra State University of Science and Technology (ASUTECH), (1988–1989);
 * Member, Governing Council Anambra State University of Science and Technology, Enugu (1988–1989);
 * Pioneer Science attaché, Nigeria High Commission London, United Kingdom (1993–2000); and
 * Director, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (1993–2000).

Science Attaché
On 18 August 1993 (with effect from 14 September 1993), Okoye was appointed Nigeria's pioneer Science Attaché to the Kingdom to cover all the countries of the European Economic Community. He was seconded (while in London) to the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) under late Professor Gordian Ezekwe, and subsequently transferred to the office of the Hon. Minister of Science and Technology with effect from 1 January 1994.

Personal life
Okoye married Chinyere Ucheime Obioha in 1969. Chinyere (1942–2007) was a native of Arondizuogu in Imo State, South East (Nigeria). They had four children. Maureen, a lawyer, Obinna, an IT consultant, Ndidi, a physician and Amaechi, a political scientist. Okoye died in London on 18 November 2009.

Recognition

 * 1952 – Won the Eastern Nigerian Outlook Newspaper competition for primary school pupils of the old Eastern Nigeria.
 * 1952 – Won full tuition and boarding entrance scholarship to the Government Secondary School, Owerri.
 * 1959 – Won full tuition and boarding College scholarship of the University College, Ibadan, for excellent performance at end of first year examinations performance. This earned him the title of “College Scholar”.
 * 1959 – Awarded the Eastern Nigerian Scholarship for B.Sc (physics) tenable at the University College, Ibadan.
 * 1962 – Won the Departmental Prize for the best graduating student in the Department of Physics of the University of Ibadan.
 * 1962 – Awarded on a worldwide competitive basis the Carnegie Foundation fellowship for doctoral studies tenable at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
 * 1982 – Inducted as a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science

Books

 * International Institute for Space Sciences and T. Odhiambo, & Electronics and the Giant Equatorial Radio Telescope, Tata Press Ltd., Bombay, India. G. Swarup,  S. E. Okoye 100 pp. (1979).
 * Viable and Affordable Policy Objectives for a Nigerian Space Programme in the 1980s and beyond, An occasional publication of the Department of Physics, University of Nigeria, 108 pp., (1981). S. E. Okoye
 * Basic Science Development in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects. Evans Brothers (Nigeria) Publishers Ltd., 325 pp. (1987). S. E. Okoye and K. M. Onuoha (eds).
 * The World at the crossroads : towards a sustainable, equitable and liveable world : a report to the Pugwash Council edited by Philip B. Smith, Samuel E. Okoye, Jaap de Wilde and Priya Deshingkar. London: Earthscan, 1994. ISBN 1-85383-201-4