 She studied mathematics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, earning a bachelor's degree with honours in 1984.On the recommendation of two of her university teachers, James O. C. Ezeilo and Isabelle Adjaero, she went to the University of Connecticut for graduate study, the same university where Adjaero earned her PhD.Agwu started her studies there in 1987, after working as a government statistician and as a lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic.