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Three days ago (03/09/2025), I handed over as Head of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State after an eventful tenure that spanned two years. I'm eternally grateful to God for granting me a rare opportunity to head the Department at two different times in its history, 2020 - 2021; 2023 - 2025. The epoch that just ended was as glorious as the first, but more profound because it ushered in significant milestones. The period was an intersection of great vision and great passion; the vision to make the Department the foremost Department of English and Literary Studies in Nigeria, and the corresponding passion that sustained the vision. The grace of God made it possible, and that grace is ever present. To me, leadership is beyond just a position or title; it is an opportunity to inspire others to interrogate and redefine existing realities through critical perspectives, so as to bring enduring transformations.

Among the many tangible and intangible accomplishments, five are of significant mention:

1. The Department of English and Literary Studies' Writers' Village, a vision that was brought to fruition. I envisioned Writers' Village for the Department, a world-class immersive environment that drips with inspiration, a home to writers and scholars across the world. With conviction and hope, I approached the University Management with a request for a space to realize the dream. It took close to a year to complete all administrative protocols, including mapping out the space. To the glory of God, the Vice Chancellor graciously approved a massive space measuring 31, 127. 952 Sq Mtrs for the project. My gratitude goes to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Elom, the Director of Works and the AE-FUNAI Town Planner, for aligning with my vision. The development of the place is segmented in phases. The first phase which is landscaping and tree planting had already taken place. During the 2025 World Environment Day (05/06/2025), tree planting at designated points in the Village was flagged off by the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Assoc. Prof. Arua Oko Omaka and the Director of Campus-Green Initiative, Arc. Ifeanyi Chukwu. I am happy that the person I appointed to head the Writers' Village Development Committee (Dr. Onyebuchi Nwosu) is the same person that took over from me as Head of Department.

2. I brought into the curriculum of the Department new courses that will enhance the quality of our graduates. The window given by the National Universities Commission for universities to make 30% contribution in the overall Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) offered me an opportunity to inject courses with transformational capacity. AE-FUNAI ENG 113 (Public Speaking I) and AE-FUNAI ENG 114 (Public Speaking II) are part of such courses. I considered that mastering public speaking and speech writing are skills that would reinforce the competitiveness and resourcefulness of our graduates.

3. Drawing from the foregoing, we established a partnership with Prof. Ben Voth, a Professor of Rhetoric and the Director of Debate and Speech at the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America. On this note, I'm grateful to Mr. Uche Agbo for helping us to facilitate this partnership. Prof. Ben Voth conducts virtual classes for our students on Rhetoric and Public Speaking.

4. Our postgraduate programmes received great attention. The first set of our postgraduate students graduated within the period, both MA and PhD. Incidentally, they were the same set of students I presided over their admission the first time I was Head of Department. The presence of Prof. A. N. Akwanya in the Department strengthened both our postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Prof. Akwanya is a world-class scholar, who is in the mould of great thinkers and intellectual powerhouse like Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and so on, great scholars who brought deep insights into language and literary studies. We thank the Vice Chancellor for granting the request to have him in our Department. Prof. Akwanya joined other renowned professors in the Department: (Akachi Ezeigbo, Kevin Nwogu, GMT Emezue), in mentoring a generation of exsurgent scholars.

5. We organized the first International Conference and Literary Art Festival for the Department. The conference provided a platform for national and global scholars to interact. It also afforded our students the opportunity to showcase and deepen their creative output.

I am deeply grateful to my colleagues for their support and solidarity. I thank my wife for providing the moral and spiritual backup.

Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory.

Romanus Nwoma, PhD.

(Associate Professor of African Literature)