James Okoye Chukuka Ezeilo (17 January 1930 – January 2013) was the first professor of mathematics in Nigeria. He was often regarded as the father of modern mathematics in the country and was the fifth vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano from 1977 to 1978. He was an alumnus of Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha and Cambridge University and died in 2013.-
Ezeilo was born in Nanka, a town in Anambra State.
Research Ezeilo pioneered the use of Leray-Schauder degree type arguments to obtain existence results for periodic solutions of ordinary differential equations.
Third-order ODEs In 1959, Ezeilo studied the stability of the third-order ODE near the trivial solution . Stability holds if for some positive constant , for some positive constant , for some positive constant , and for some constant c where , and is always nonpositive. He also studied the existence of periodic solutions to the third-order ODE . In 1966, he, together with H. O. Tejumola, generalized this work even further to study vector equations of the form .
Fourth and fifth order ODEs In 1962, Ezeilo studied the stability of the fourth-order equation . In 1978 he studied the fifth-order equations and the two generalizations and .
Honour
One of the past vice chancellors of Bayero University Kano state. A 2025 university conference announcement confirms the existence of the J.O.C. Ezeilo Twin Theatre at the old campus, indicating the lecture theatre was named in his honour.
Death Ezeilo died in January 2013 after a brief illness in Lagos.
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