By Jonathan Ugbal
The Faculty of Education of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) on Tuesday awarded three deserving people for their contributions to the education sector.
Martins Orim, the Chief of Staff to Governor Ben Ayade was awarded in recognition of his “immense contribution to scholarship and the education industry.”
Also, Professor Florence Obi, the first female Vice Chancellor of UNICAL and Professor James Ejue who served as Provost of the State’s College of Education Akamkpa and the Federal College of Education, Obudu were awarded for their contributions to research, education and intellectual development.
The trio have all passed through the Faculty of Education with Mr. Orim obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the varsity in the 90’s. Professor Obi instituted the induction ceremonies and facilitated the partnership with different Colleges of Education across the country while Professor Ejue, an author of four textbooks, was part of the country’s technical aid corps in Equatorial Guinea in the 90’s.
This formed part of activities for the 7th induction ceremony by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in UNICAL where 137 graduates were formally inducted as professional teachers with stakeholders stressing the role of teachers in nation building and the fourth industrial revolution.
These are the last awards presented by the Faculty of Education which has been broken into three – the Faculties of Vocational and Science Education, Art and Social Science Education as well as Educational Foundation Studies.
And, while receiving the award, Mr. Orim said it was unexpected and pledged to continue working hard in ensuring quality education.
Orim who disclosed that this was “the best award” he has ever received, explained that; “the University community is a very busy community and I thought that they will not have the time to know the little things we do out there in the society. But, I am surprised that the little things I do are being noticed by the University community.”
He told inductees to discard the believe that teachers were only associated with the classroom, stating that, “teaching is the most noble profession in the whole world is the teaching profession.” He reminded them that two former Presidents – Shehu Shagari and Goodluck Jonathan were teachers as well as his principal, Governor Ayade.
On the administration’s commitment to education, he said, “as the world moves away from oil to solid minerals and agro industrialization for export, Cross River State is introducing a theme to knowledge exportation through the construction of the Teachers Continuous Training Institution in Biase Local Government Area. That institution is the brainchild of an erudite professor, a proud lecturer of a university in Nigeria who thinks we should bring our teachers to a level of international standard by constructing that institution for the continuous training of our teachers.”
