The uniqueness of in-coming Vice Chancellor of Unical, Prof. Florence Banku Obi

 

On September 10 2020, the University of Calabar Governing Council elected Professor Florence Banku Obi as the 11th substantive Vice Chancellor of the institution.

Prof. Obi's emergence was widely celebrated across Nigeria, as hundreds of congratulatory messages from well meaning Nigerians and those in the diaspora kept pouring in her honour as the first female to be appointed as VC of the 45-year old institution.

Here are some unique features about the record-breaker VC who is set to assume office on December 1st, 2020.

1. Professor Obi hails from Boki local government area in Cross River State. She began her academic career as an Assistant Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of Calabar in March 1990 (30 years ago).

2. Her leadership role in the University of Calabar began in 1993 immediately after her return from a Scholarship programme in Jodan Hill College, Glasgow, UK, when as an Assistant Lecturer, she was appointed Coordinator, World-Wide Fund for Nature/Nigerian Conservation Foundation

(WWF/NCF) funded Schools and Community Education programmes in 1993.

3. Professor Obi rose through the ranks to become a Professor of Special Needs Education in 2007.

4. Professor Obi has served the University of Calabar as Head of Department of Environmental Education and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Education.

5. She is the only two-times back to back elected Dean, faculty of Education, since the history of the University.

6. As Dean, she pioneered the take-off of 22 affiliate programmes of the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State and the Federal College of Education, Kastina-Ala, Benue State to the faculty of Education of the University of Calabar. 

7. She has also served as the Chairperson of University of Calabar International Demonstration School (formerly called University of Calabar International Secondary School) where she left lasting physical legacies to her credit.

8. Following her credibility, integrity and commitment to service, she was voted as the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) by the University Senate. As DVC Academics, she was also a member of the University Governing Council, where she brought her wealth of experience in the growth and development of the University.

9. Prof. Obi has over 60 publications to her credit in both local and international journals. She has supervised over 30 postgraduates Diploma Projects, 12 Master's Degrees Theses and 8 PhD Dissertations and has so far assessed 13 persons for professiorial positions.

10. She has held several Administrative Positions/Responsibilities which include Permanent Member of the Senate, University of Calabar since 2007, Member, University Central Accreditation Committee, University of Calabar, 2006-2008, Chairperson, Housing Loan Implementation Committee, University of Calabar, 2011-2015 among others.

11. She has also served as the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and member of Cross River State Executive Council, 2007.

12. Prof. Obi has been external examiner and assesor and visiting Professor (including Erasmus Mundus lecturer) to several universities within and outside Nigeria. 

13. She was: UNESCO Visiting Professor at the University of Buea, Cameroon; Visiting Professor (as Erasmus Mundus Exchange Lecturer) at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; and Visiting Professor at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

14. Prof. Obi has equally attended an eight weeks training programme at the University of Oregon, USA, on Women Leadership and Disability.

15. She is a pioneer Member of the Cross River State Carnival Commission; and Country Coordinator; European Union funded Erasmus Mundus Kite 2 Programme where she attracted £995million as grant for capacity building across the entire Nigerian universities with University of Calabar being the biggest beneficiary.

16. In terms of academic quality assurance, there is no doubt that Prof. Obi was the only VC candidate in the 45 years old UniCal who has been privileged to serve as member of the Board of the National Universities Commission (NUC) which is the supervisory body of Nigerian Universities. 

17. While on the Board of NUC, she was Member, Quality Assurance Committee (QAC); Member, University Development Committee (UDC), and Member Finance and General Purpose Committee (F&GPC).

18. Available record shows that Prof. Obi is leading in the frequency of participation in Programme Accreditation and Resource Verification across a wide range of Federal, State, Private Universities and Affiliated Institutions since 2008, till date. 

19. She remain the only scholar in UniCal who participated in the only/maiden Institutional Accreditation exercise in the Nigerian University System which took place in 2011. In addition, to the foregoing, she has taken part as panel member in the drafting of Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) for some programmes in Nigerian Universities.

20. On 26th February 2020, Prof. Obi became the 92nd Inaugural Lecturer of University of Calabar when she enthralled the University and indeed the world with her Inaugural Lecture titled “From Exclusion to Zero Reject: A Road Map to Inclusiveness”

22. She has taught in the first African University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, during which she

served as the Faculty of Education Graduate School Representative and Chairperson of the Faculty Seminar Committee.

23. She has been Member, Convocation Committee; Coordinator of Teaching Practice; Deputy Director (On Campus Programmes of the Centre for Educational Services (CES) Chairperson, CES/ASUU Negotiating Team on CES Programmes; Chairperson UniCAL Housing Loans and Implementation Committee; Examination Officer; Coordinator, Ikom and Ogoja Centres of the then Off-Campus Programmes; Member, University Environmental Sanitation Committee; Member, representing the University on the Cross River State Police Public Relations Committee.

24. She has been instrumental to the establishments of some new Departments and academic programmes of the University and pioneered the take-off of Affiliation Programmes of the University, as approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

25. Prof. Obi has served as External Examiner and assessor to some Nigerian Universities, including the Universities of Ibadan, Lagos and Jos; the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Federal University of Technology, Akure; Bayero University, Kano and to some foreign Universities, one of which is the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.

26. Professor Obi has also served as Managing Editor and Editor for some local and international journals, including the African Journal of Vocational Education of the Department of Vocational and Special Education, University of Calabar, Editorial Board Member of the  International Journal of Research, a publication of the Department of Educational Foundation, University of Lagos and the Pioneer Editor of the African Journal of Special Education (The official journal of the Department of Special Education of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana).

27. In terms of membership of learned societies, she is a Fellow and past National President of the National Association for Exceptional Children; Member, International Council for the Education of Children with Visual Impairments; Member, South African Society of Education (SASE); Member, Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES); and Member, Nigerian Academy of Education.

28. Prof. Obi is a grass rooter and a community mobilizer. She has served her community in various capacities such as; member of community secondary school management committee, Secretary peace committee, Founder Women Empowerment Coalition, Co-founder Banyinyi Bansan Development Union and Co-initiator, Boki Women World Wide. She is the Vice-President (The first female to be elected as such) of Ochibe Bokyi–The Boki people apex pan-sociocultural organization founded in 1951.

29. Prof. Obi, who is a serving Professor and Member of Senate in the University of Calabar, is a recipient of several awards in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the growth of the education sector and society at large.

30. Prof. Obi, who is the Czar of Quality Education and the Amazon of Academic Excellence broke the jinx on September 10 2020 to emerge as the first female VC of the 45-year old University of Calabar. She will be sworn in as the 11th substantive Vice Chancellor of Unical on December 1st, 2020 in a colourful ceremony been organised by the University's council.