University of Calabar Appoints First Female Vice-Chancellor

By Adedapo Adesanya

The University of Calabar (Unical) has announced the appointment of Mrs Florence Banku-Obi as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the 45-year-old institution.

This was announced on Friday in Calabar by Mrs Nkechi Nwaogu, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Unical Governing Council, who added that the process of the selection was transparent, fair and just as promised.

According to the Pro-Chancellor, Mrs Banku-Obi emerged the best out of the 13 contestants for the same position and will take up the post from December 1, 2020.

She explained that they used the guidelines set up by the Federal Ministry of Education on the conduct of interview for the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor.

“At the end of the day, we had a brand new first female VC of the University in the last 45 years. The interview was transparent and some of the contestants are part of our council.

“What I expect of her is to look at what the outgoing VC has done because governance is a continuous process. She should invite all those who contested with her and build a team.

“No one person can execute the programmes without the integration of other erudite administrators that presented their CVs yesterday.

“She should be an integrative agent and I expect her to look inward on the areas of internally generated revenue and pluck the areas.

“She needs to motivate staff and students of the school and as an erudite Professor and a mother, I know that she will bring all these to bear,” she said.

She congratulated Mrs Banku-Obi and wished her the best in her tenure.

During her speech, the newly appointed VC, who could not hide her excitement, stated that, “I am very happy today, I just received my appointment letter from the 12th Council as the 11th VC elect effective from December 1, 2020.”

“It was a free and fair contest and I am happy about it. The University of Calabar should expect an inclusive administration from me,” she said.

The incoming 11th Vice-Chancellor of the school will take over from Mr Zana Akpagu whose tenure ends on November 30 after five years at the helm.

Mrs Banku-Obi hails from Boki local government area in Cross River and she has been a lecturer in the Department of Education.

In the history of the university, she was the only person elected the Dean, Faculty of Education, for two consecutive times.

She has also served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) and also as a member of the University Governing Council. The educationist has over 60 publications to her credit in both local and international journals.

She has supervised over 30 postgraduates Diploma Projects, 12 Master Degrees Theses and 8 PhD Dissertations and has so far assessed 13 persons for professorial positions.