UNIYO Promotes 240 Lecturers to Professors in Five Years

No fewer than 240 lecturers in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have been promoted to the professorial cadre between 2015 and 2020, the out-going, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Enefiok Essien, has said.

Essien disclosed this yesterday while briefing journalists during an end-oftenure press conference in Uyo, explaining that the number is comprised of associate professors and professors.

The vice chancellor noted that his tenure witnessed an improvement in the academic fortunes of the school as 30 out of the 76 inaugural lectures in the school since 1991 were hosted in his time.

According to him, the rating of the university improved to 13 from just being in the top 30 universities in Nigeria.

He said the backlog of promotions for non-teaching staff as far back as 2011 was cleared by his administration, just as academic staff members were regularly promoted, staff with higher qualifications converted to their appropriate ranks, as well as regularised the employment of stagnated staff of the university staff school.

He said the introduction of electronic voting system for the Students’ Union Government (SUG) elections, where the students voted from the comfort of their rooms, thereby erasing the issue of discontent among students during their executive transition, was introduced by his administration.

Essien insisted that his tenure operated an open-door policy for students; ran a yearly convocation ceremony such that students could get their certificates afterwards, stating that 153 students expelled from the university in November 2015 before he became the vice chancellor were reinstated in 2016 during his administration after showing remorse.