FG Appoints New Chancellor For FUNAAB

The Federal Government has approved the appointment
of a new Chancellor for the Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta. He is, His Royal Eminence,
Edidem Ekpo Okon, Abasi Otu V, the Obong of Calabar,
Cross River State. He was appointed alongside 37
prominent traditional rulers as Chancellors for all the
nation’s Federal Universities.
Born 66 years ago, the young Prince Ekpo Okon
attended St. Patrick’s Convent and St. Mary’s Schools
for his primary education and in 1963, he received his
First School Leaving Certificate from the later. In 1968,
he obtained his West African School Certificate from the
popular West African Peoples Institute (WAPI),
established by the first Nigerian indigenous professor,
the late Professor Eyo Ita and at the age of 24, Prince
Ekpo Okon obtained a Diploma Certificate in
Telecommunications Engineering, having earned the
International Telecommunication Union Best Student
Award.
The new Chancellor first worked as an Assistant
Technical Officer-in Training at the then Post and
Telecommunications (P&T) Department, Federal
Ministry of Communications and became an
outstanding Trainee Officer, who eventually rose to the
position of Operations and Maintenance Manager in its
Domestic Satellite Division. He is a Fellow of the
National Association of Technological Engineers
(FNATE). Following the deregulation of the
telecommunications sector in the country, the young
Prince was employed at the Telnet Nigeria Limited,
where he rose to the position of Divisional Manager,
until he was called upon to serve as the Obong of
Calabar. His Royal Eminence is the Natural Ruler, Treaty
King, Grand Patriarch of the Efik Eburutu Kingdom, a
prominent member of the South-South Monarchs’
Forum and National Council of Traditional Rulers. He is
married to Princess Ansa Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu and they
are blessed with children and grandchildren.
With the appointment, Edidem Ekpo Okon becomes the
fourth Chancellor of the University. The first Chancellor
was His Royal Highness, Alhaji Kabir Umar, the Emir of
Katagum, Bauchi State, who was appointed in 1989.
Next was His Royal Highness, Oba Adeyinka Oyekan,
the late Oba of Lagos, who served for a brief period,
between 2001 and 2003, while the third Chancellor was
His Royal Majesty, Obi (Professor) Joseph Edozien, the
Asagba of Asaba, Delta State, a renowned and retired
Professor of Medicine at the University of Ibadan, who
has now been re-appointed as the Chancellor for the
newly-established Federal University, Gashua, Yobe
State.