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Tag: Prof. Florence Obi

  • I want to be remembered for fighting sexual harassment – UNICAL VC

    I want to be remembered for fighting sexual harassment – UNICAL VC

    The outgoing Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Prof. Florence Obi, has said she would want to be remembered for fighting sexual harassment and delayed results.

    Obi made the remark on Friday night at an event in Calabar organised by the university to mark the end of her five-year tenure as the 11th substantive vice-chancellor of the institution.

    It will be recalled that Obi, whose tenure expires today, was appointed vice-chancellor on September 10, 2020 but officially assumed office on December 1, 2020.

    She said her commitment to protecting students, especially the female ones, remained one of her greatest achievements as vice-chancellor.

    She said: “I fought against sexual predators and ensured timely release of students’ results to curb frustration within the institution.”

    While expressing fulfillment at completing her tenure and thanking God for enabling her finish strong after five years in office, she said that she would return to the classroom because teaching remained her passion.

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    Earlier, she addressed staff and students outside her office during a carnival-like marching out parade in her honour, thanking them for their support throughout her administration.

    She also encouraged them to support her successor to enable him to succeed and take the university to greater heights.

    “This institution has recorded significant growth and I am confident that my successor will advance the progress already made,” she said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that under her leadership, the largest solar power plant in Cross River State was built in UNICAL, ensuring stable electricity for the university and its teaching hospital.

    Other achievements include upgrading the Faculty of Education to a college, getting Mass Communication accredited and elevated to a faculty.

    Her administration also constructed new hostels, introduced departmental scholarships, built a fire service station, and completed the Law Faculty complex.

  • Let your research go beyond publication, VC urges academics

    Let your research go beyond publication, VC urges academics

    Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar (UniCal), Prof. Florence Obi, has advised scholars to carry out research works that will solve society’s problems.

    Obi made the call yesterday in Calabar, during a research fair organised as part of activities to mark the university’s 37th convocation ceremony

    She said that research studies should be about inventions and innovations that would be of positive benefits to the society and humanity.

    The vice chancellor urged academic staff of the university to ensure that their research works went beyond being published in journals and other outlets.

    She said that the essence of the fair was to enable the institution to showcase its research works to the world, and to attract sponsorships for some of the innovations.

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    “Research is a core mandate of a scholar; it is one of the three major components of our job, which are teaching, research and community service.

    “In the past few years, our university has impacted the society by the research efforts that we have made. Six of our staff were listed among the world’s two per cent top researchers.

    “As we speak, there are about 80 research proposals by the staff of the university to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund); this is to me quite commendable,” she said.

    Obi thanked Tetfund for its support for academic research, saying, “your interventions have increased the tempo of researchers”.

    Director, Research and Development, Mr. Bassey Okon, expressed the need for universities to develop innovations that would trigger better quality of life for the people.

    “The above is the reason for organising this fair. It provides an avenue for the private sector to see what the university is doing, and partner with it for a better society,” he said.

    Okon noted that although, researchers faced the challenges of poor Internet services and power, the Federal Government and Tetfund were taking steps to solve those challenges.