Banku-Obi assumes office as first female VC of Calabar varsity

Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) Governing Council, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, has approved the appointment of Prof. Florence Banku-Obi as Vice-Chancellor of the institution.

She took over from Prof. Zana Akpagu as the 11th Vice Chancellor of (UNICAL) in the last 45 years of its existence after her swearing-in by the Governing Council with a pledge to maintain high academic standards.

Banku-Obi, who is a Professor of Special Needs Education and appointed VC on September 10, 2020, expressed her commitment to academic excellence through quality research outputs, teaching, and learning, scholarly publications, visibility, and integrity of examination results.

She said that during her tenure, accountability, transparency, truth, and courage would be her watchwords in addition to transparent and speedy results processing, as well as handling and reinforcement of quality assurance mechanisms at all levels.

Her words: “As a psychologist, I shall deploy effective motivation, which connects the personal goals and needs of the workers to our goals as an institution. I expect attitudinal change from all categories of staff members in terms of commitment to duty in appreciation of the new administration’s disposition to welfare.

“Let it be clear that this administration will effectively use the carrot and stick approach to increase productivity and I will maintain a cordial working relationship with the various unions on campus.

“Therefore, I implore the leadership of the various labour unions to constructively engage management on genuine issues bothering on their members’ welfare and counsel their members to desist from unwholesome practices that will pit the administration against staff members.”

Speaking, Nwaogu said her engagements with Prof. Banku-Obi after the selection in September deepened her confidence in the power of her vision, resourcefulness, competence, and passion to provide the leadership required to produce tangible results.

She enjoined her to develop the institution by providing the needed critical infrastructure for a scholarship, reposition the institution for excellence and cater to the welfare of its staff members and students.

“I am optimistic that she will succeed, and to succeed, your support is pivotal, without which moving the university forward will only remain a mirage. I am conscious of the huge responsibility history has placed on her shoulders as the first female Vice-Chancellor of UNICAL after 45 years of its existence,” she added.