Nelson Odume

Prof Oghenekaro Nelson Odume is passionate about sustainable management of water resources. His passion started from Childhood, as he grew to realise that water resources in his Niger Delta home of Nigeria are being polluted unabatedly by big multinational players. He is currently an Associate Professor at Rhodes University and Director of the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality (UCEWQ) within the Institute for Water Research. As the Director of UCEWQ, his main responsibilities are to provide research leadership, strategic planning and postgraduate supervision (MSc and PhD students) and teaching, whilst ensuring that research outputs are of the highest possible quality with policy and societal relevance. Nelson believes that if Africa is to manage its water resources sustainably, then it must invest in its human capital development – a task he takes very seriously at Rhodes. Nelson has successfully led several research and consultancy projects in the field of water resources, particularly in aquatic ecology, freshwater ecosystem health, water quality, pollution studies, biomonitoring, environmental water requirements, integrated water resource management and ethics, and transdisciplinary water science. Major clients include the Water Research Commission, National Research Foundation, Advance Africa Management Services, Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), and AfriAlliance. He has published extensively, presented at many local and international conferences. As an invited specialist guest speaker, Nelson has presented papers on water ethics and governance, water resources protection, water quality, hygiene promotion, practices, attitudes and barriers. He believes in the value of local and international research collaboration. He has international collaborators in Nigeria, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Morocco, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Nelson’s research has earned him outstanding local and international awards and recognitions. Notable among them are the Emerging River Professional Awards by the International River Foundation in Australia (http://riverfoundation.org.au/our-programs/emerging-river-professional-award/, https://sig.ias.edu/news/odume-wins-emerging-river-professional-award), the Bronze Medal Award by the Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientist (http://www.riv.co.za/sasaqs/Medals.html), the National Research Foundation postdoctoral Fellowship Award, and being named among 100 Inspiring and Aspiring Young Leaders in Africa by the Young Independents of the Times Media Group (https://www.tyi.co.za/mzansis-100/mzansis-100-healer-oghenekaro-nelson-odume/ ). He is often called upon as an expert commentator by the media on water issues e.g. Power FM, TVC-News, Nigeria, Reuter (https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL2N1L315V ), EL TIEMPO (http://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/africa/razones-por-las-que-ciudad-del-cabo-esta-a-punto-de-quedarse-sin-agua-178568 ). He has written water-related papers for the Conversations e.g. on the flooding in Nigeria (https://theconversation.com/why-flooding-in-nigeria-is-an-increasingly-serious-problem-82272 ), Nigeria water resources (https://theconversation.com/how-nigeria-is-wasting-its-rich-water-resources-83110 ) and a call for funding for water research in Africa (https://theconversation.com/africa-needs-to-invest-more-in-its-water-professionals-91398). A motivational and inspirational speaker, Nelson uses his skill sets to motivate those around him, particularly the Youth. He holds a PhD and MSc (with distinction) degrees in Water Resource Science from Rhodes University in South Africa and BSc (Hons) second class upper division from Delta State University Abraka in Nigeria, where he graduated as the top student in his class, earning him the Head of Department Award. He also holds certificates in Strategic Management, Environmental Impact Assessment, Post-graduate supervision and Computer Operations. He is a Certified Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci. Nat.) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), an accredited SASS5 practitioner, and an associate member of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA). Nelson loves to watch and play football, watch local soapies and listen to the news. He is fluent in English, Isoko and a beginner of the French Language.