Professor Florence Obi has broken a 45-year record to emerge as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar. The screening which took place today and lasted for hours at the UNICAL hotel conference center, had a total of 13 aspirants vying for the position.
The governing council of the institution led by the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, announced Prof. Florence Banku Obi as its 11th Vice-Chancellor. She is the first female to occupy the position after 45 years since the institution was established.
Nwaogu, while congratulating her for emerging the first female Vice-Chancellor of the 45-year-old institution, also described Obi as “an astute educational icon” and prayed for the success of her tenure as Vice-Chancellor of UNICAL.
“You can see the tranquility in this governing council. What we assured the university community is that we were going to be transparent, open, fair, and just.
“There is a guideline from the Ministry of Education as to how to conduct interview for the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor. There are so many parameters we had to look into and that is exactly what we did,” she added.
She also said Obi’s emergence is a victory for the women and said the 10th Governing Council expects her to build on what the outgoing Vice-Chancellor had done.
“What I expect from her is to look at what the outgoing Vice-Chancellor has done, governance is a continuum, start from where he has stopped and ensure there is integration even amongst all the people that contested with her,” Nwaogu said
Before her emergence as VC, Professor Florence Obi was the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics). She is also a member of the University Governing Council, where she used her wealth of experience in the growth and development of the University.
She had served as the Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs, and Social Development and member of the Cross River State Executive Council in 2007.
Prof. Banku-Obi will be taking over from Prof. Zana Akpagu whose tenure end on Nov. 30, 2020.
