Date Published: 10/07/11

Emir of Kazaure installed as Pioneer Chancellor of Akwa Ibom University

Governor Godswill  Akpabio has appealed to Alhaji Najib Hussaini Adamu, the Emir of Kazaure, Jigawa state to assist in linking  Akwa Ibom State University  with partners around the world and engenders in staff and students alike, a commitment to excellence.

Governor  Akpabio made the appeal after installing Alhaji Najib as the pioneer Chancellor of Akwa Ibom University at  colourful ceremony held at the University campus Ikot Akpaden, Mkpat Enin Local Government Area attended by top government officials, the academia, politicians, the community leaders and the management of the institution.

He expressed the hope that Alhaji Najib would let his wealth of experience to bear in building the required strength for academic excellence for the benefit of the institution.

Chief Akpabio who congratulated the Chancellor on the installation said “to maximize the potential of the university, government sought and found in him, a man with many parts who towers in moral rectitude and accomplishment”.

Chief Akpabio said with the resounding success of the free and compulsory education policy of the state government, there was need to use Akwa Ibom state University as a dam to cope with the flood of an army of students hungry for knowledge and in pursuit of education.

Acknowledging the needs of the university, Governor Akpabio said he has approved a “two point one billion Naira expenditure for the academic buildings, lecture rooms, laboratories, offices and hostels as well as the construction of a new Faculty of Management and Social Sciences at Obio Okpa campus in Oruk Anam Local Government area”. The governor announced other plans for the university to include the acquisition of fifty unit housing estates for Mkpat Enin campus staff accommodation and the expansion of admission to meet NUC admission quota of 800 new students allocated to the institution and the opening of the third campus in Oron.

He said told the management of the institution that he has approved the payment of the new national salary scale to the university and commended the Vice Chancellor, Professor Sunday Peters and the staff of the university who have been strategic dream builders in actualizing the government vision.

The Chancellor of the university in his response said he would make valuable contributions for the development of the institution and thanked the Governor and the management of the University for choosing him as the pioneer Chancellor.

“I intend to be father of all and I want the co-operation of all staff to help build a virile institution for the best of all, he said. He urged the students of the University to pursue their academic goals with all sense of responsibility and looked forward to being a chancellor of a university free of cultism, immorality and discrimination.

Alhaji Naji said the time has come for new strategies to be evolved in the education sector to foster trust and mutual co-existence among the citizens of the country. He opined that “ there must be deliberate effort to improve the quality of  university staff and infrastructure” adding that the Nigeria cannot continue to pay lip service to vocational education.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Sunday Peters in his welcome address said institution has successfully completed its first academic session during which it tested the facilities, effective academic staff deployment, as well as campus municipal services.

He said the university offers degree programmes in the faculties of agriculture, engineering, social and management sciences, natural and applied sciences and in the faculty if oceanography of naval architecture.