Abraka (DELSU), is producing high quality staff that are becoming more globally visible and competitive, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andy Egwunyenga has declared in reaction to the emergence of one of the University’s staff, Dr. Peter Ottuh, in the top 10 among Nigerian academics in the History, Philosophy and Theology category, in the rankings just released by AD Scientific Index, 2023.

While congratulating Dr. Ottuh on his prolific publications in Scopus indexed and those indexed with Clavirate Analytics, Professor Egwunyenga praised him and other outstanding scholars in the University for their untiring efforts to put the University on the world map of academics. “It is a good thing for us that our staff are being recognized internationally”, he said. “It speaks volumes about the transformation that has taken place in the life of this administration. We are reaping the fruits of our efforts when we insisted that all our staff must register with Google Scholar with a view to enhance our research output and visibility.”

Professor Egwunyenga, who is providing an enlightened and committed leadership to the University for the past 44 months noted that the good news of enhanced research output and global visibility was not restricted to Dr. Ottuh of the Faculty of Arts. He added that others with high scholarship profiles included Prof. Maxwell Iwegbue of Chemistry Department, Prof. Hilary Owamah of Civil Engineering Department, Dr. Ben-Azu Benneth of Pharmacology and a host of other academics who are doing the right things in the academia. The Director of Academic Planning, Professor Hilary Owamah lauded Dr. Ottuh for doing “exceedingly well”. According to Professor Owamah, himself a prolific researcher, “in our monthly appraisal of staff research productivity at the Academic Planning Unit for the month of July 2023, we discovered that he was and still is number one by total number of papers in Scopus in our entire Faculty of Arts. More interesting is that he began this quality publishing adventure in 2020 and has been publishing at least three Scopus articles per year and in journals also indexed with Clarivate Analytics.”

The prolific researcher, Prof. Ottuh, an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy explained that the recognition came to him as a surprise. When asked his reaction, he exclaimed: "I feel happy. I feel good. I am encouraged". He expressed gratitude to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Egwunyenga for providing an enabling environment. Expectedly, colleagues have poured encomiums on Dr. Ottuh for his prodigious and high-quality publications. Top of the bill was the Dean of Faculty of Arts, Professor Nelson Edewor, with whom he works as Associate Dean. His words: “Congratulations to the Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts for his laudable contribution to lifting the visibility profile of the University. As a faculty, we are proud of your sterling qualities.”                                         

- Professor Ben Nwanne is Director, Ceremonials, Information and Public Relations, Delta State University, Abraka.