Anambra congratulates first black vice chancellor of a British university

…as Gov Obiano honours two JAMB best candidates

The government of Anambra State has congratulated Charles Egbu, a professor of Quantity Surveying of Nigerian descent (Anambra State), on his emergence as the first black vice chancellor of a British university.

Egbu will on November 1 this year, assume duties as the vice chancellor of Leeds Trinity University in England. He is currently the pro-vice chancellor (education and experience) at the University of East London, having served as the dean of the School of the Built Environment and Architecture of the London South Bank University, and a senior academic at the University College, London.

Governor Willie Obiano in a statement in Awka made available to Business A.M. said: “This is a great moment for not only the government and people of Anambra State, but also all Nigerians and indeed, Africans and blacks across the globe.”

He said: “Professor Egbu’s emergence is a game-changer in the history of higher education in a conservative society like the United Kingdom where only last January the Universities Minister, The Honourable Chris Skidmore, decried the fact that the number of blacks holding senior academic positions in Britain is officially zero.”

Governor Obiano said, “Professor Egbu reminds all Africans of when Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike, another worthy indigene of Anambra State, became the first African and black principal of the University College, Ibadan, and later emerged its first African and black vice chancellor of the university, which was established in 1948. Professor Dike, who graduated first class in the United Kingdom, just like Professor Egbu, made the University of Ibadan become synonymous with excellence in scholarship and administration throughout the world.

He described Dike, the late first vice-chancellor of University of Ibadan, as “a farsighted leader, who discovered early enough the great promise of such young scholars as Dr Jacob Ade Ajayi, and went out of his way to ensure their rapid rise, despite protests from certain quarters.” The governor said, “the records which these scholars made in various disciplines and endeavours vindicated Professor Dike’s actions, as he went on to become a distinguished professor at Harvard University until he was called upon, once again, to return home and serve his fatherland.”

Governor Obiano said that he is in no doubt that Egbu, who hails from Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, will excel in his new role and consequently market our dear state to the world in a most uncanny way. “I have no doubt in my mind that Professor Egbu will not for a moment forget his roots, and how he can contribute to our development.”

He noted that Egbu’s appointment as the first black vice chancellor of a UK university was purely based on merit rather than any primordial considerations. “With pride (this) came when Anambra people in the state, in different parts of the country and all over the world are demonstrating, more than ever before, great competitiveness in education,” he added.

According to Don Adinuba, the commissioner of information and public enlightenment, Governor Obiano recounted how Agnes Ego Maduafokwa from Ihiala scored a bull’s eye in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) history by getting 365 marks out of a maximum 400 in the 2020 examination; while David Nwobi from Nawfia in Njikoka Local Government Area made the second best result in the country.

Two weeks ago, Chidubem Obi from Ifite Dunu in Dunukofia Local Government Area became the first African to emerge the overall best student in Russia’s oldest and most prestigious medical university, while Patrick Okigbo III, a member of the Anambra State Vision 2070 committee set up by Governor Obiano to draw up a strategic plan to make the state fully developed like Dubai within 50 years, was one of the 12 persons across the globe appointed Senior Fellows at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

“These are really good times for the people and government of Anambra State,” the governor said. He will also next week in Awka the state capital, honour the two candidates with the best results in the 2020 JAMB examination.