- Meet Nigeria’s Ekeng-Itua, First World’s Black Woman Ph.D Holder In Cybernetics
- Ekeng Itua promotes Africa centred STEM education through AFRITECHI and Sabi Africa Network.
- She says African innovation can help solve major global development challenges
Nigerian engineering professor, Rose Margaret Ekeng Itua, has reportedly become the first Black woman to earn a doctoral degree in Cybernetics from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the milestone marks another achievement in the academic career of Ekeng Itua, who is now a professor of engineering at Ohlone College in Fremont, California, United States.
Throughout her career, she has championed science, technology, engineering and mathematics education while promoting Africa’s contributions to innovation, engineering and technological advancement.
Ekeng Itua said her passion for changing global perceptions about Africa began during her childhood when she lived in the West between the ages of five and 10.
She recalled attending schools where she was among the few pupils of African heritage and encountered widespread misconceptions about the African continent.
According to her, those experiences motivated her to share stories that reflected Africa’s rich history, culture and civilisation.
“This was a complete contradiction to the Africa I knew, so I began sharing stories with my friends about the Africa I knew, steeped in wisdom and ancestral civilization.”
At the age of nine, the conversations inspired her vision of creating a platform that would connect people from different cultures and challenge stereotypes about Africa.
That vision later became the Sabi Africa Network, an initiative named after the Nigerian Pidgin word “sabi,” meaning “to know.”
Founded in the 2000s, the organisation promotes Africa’s historical and contemporary contributions to science, engineering and technology while fostering cultural understanding.
Building on that mission, Ekeng Itua later established the African Technology and Innovation Institute, known as AFRITECHI, a knowledge transfer hub and technological research support centre dedicated to advancing Africa centred STEM education.
Through AFRITECHI, she has continued to advocate for educational curricula that recognise indigenous African knowledge systems and encourage more young Africans to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
She believes Africa’s technological innovations have the potential to contribute significantly to solving some of the world’s biggest development challenges.
“African and other indigenous technological innovations can solve most of the global issues highlighted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs),” she said.
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