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Being a proud alumnus of the University of Calabar, in the ELS graduating class of 1988, I have taken more than a passing interest in the affairs of my alma mata, and along with my classmates around the world returned to the ELS Department in 2018 in a Homecoming in which we donated computers and accessories, held an interactive session with students and faculty officials and a Thanksgiving Mass to mark our 30 years of graduation from the famous institution. We also instituted an award for the Best Graduating Student of the Department which started running last year. I am proud to say that in spite of the burgeoning multitudes and expanding challenges, Unical still holds the promise to students who genuinely wish to obtain knowledge and the lecturers have also braved the odds to deliver quality education to serious students in spite of all the challenges. A Malabite such as I am will always have the most excellent intentions and best wishes for the institution, and it is within the afore – stated praxis that I wish to establish my locus as a legitimate interested party and therefore qualified to make an active contribution to the conversation about the upcoming Vice Chancellorship elections. This is because I am involved.
After 45 years of existence the University is a full grown corporate”man” now and is even competing on an even keel with its forebear, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In my time at the university, almost all the professors and PhDs came from Nsukka. The students were heavily Ibo as well. Student union elections always had candidates from ANIMSA versus candidates from NACRIS, the former comprising of Anambra and Imo states, while the latter had students from the old Cross River State. The story of Abia Onyike ( who later became Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi state)and Feddy Agbe ( unfortunately now late) could perhaps better be told by Honourable Orok Duke. But that is a story for another day. The point to make is that our Unical is now a well matured corporate entity that carries its destiny in its own hands and it is the voyage in the search for that destiny that we are now embarked upon.
If Professor Ndem Ayara did not come to serve in Governor Liyel Imoke’s government, our roads would probably never have crossed, but he did. And in doing so opened a broad new vista for himself and for the State. As the chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Ayara quickly became an institution himself, and government functionaries and departments did not receive budget endorsements and approvals without first passing through Professor Ayara and H – Pearson’s ( the quality control consultants he worked with) Carmel’s eye and prior authentication. He disclosed an uncanny capacity for organisation and approximation to perfection. He was humble but firm as steel. He was as meticulous as a grandmother and as generous of spirit as a French priest on Assumption Thursday. He instilled the highest quality of focus and timelines even amongst politicians and was unsurpassed in the fine art of tests and measurements. He left his position at the end of his tenure, having earned the friendship and respect of all who worked with him. No wonder that the Administration delivered so succinctly on the set targets of rural development, and up scaling of health and educational infrastructure.
Ayara signposted his availability for higher responsibility even in that brief tour of duty and it was obvious to all the discerning that we were going to hear much more about him before his sun sets in the west. And now it seems that the lot should rightly fall upon him in Unical, in due consideration of capacity, time and circumstance for the everlasting glory of that great institution. More and more the University of Calabar, like Joseph of Arematiah, is beginning to carry the cross of unemployment off the blistered shoulders of the State government. There are very nearly as many Cross Riverians working in Unical as there are working for the State, and the ones in Unical are earning better, living better and progressing better. Remove Unical from Cross River State and the economy will nose dive very quickly. Professor Zana, the outgoing Vice Chancellor has done very well because he has exposure, is inbred and is pragmatic. This is the legacy that must be built upon in order to avoid a descent to retroactive continuity.
It is often said that the morning surely tells the day, and so it is that even as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ayara showed clearly that he will not tolerate the stagnation of the growth pattern of officials. Today his tenure produced 25 Professors and a whole pride of PhDs, and also reactivating the almost moribund post – graduate program in the department of Political Science. He brought the Faculty journal that was virtually extinct back to life thereby providing academics the platform for publishing their research. It is no longer news that Professor Ayara is an innovator with exceptional ICT skills. He it was who introduced the E – Learning platform in the Faculty of Social Sciences enabling teaching on a 24/7 basis with all the features for one – on – one interaction with each student on the Platform, while also uploading course outlines and lecture notes for the overall benefit of the students. These innovations have substantially reduced students interraction with lecturers as submission of assessments, registration for courses and project supervision are now all being done online.
Upon his return from his tour of duty as the State Economic Adviser, Ayara introduced the electronic system of voting in elections as a way of curbing electoral violence which hitherto characterised SUG, faculty, departmental and even kparakpor elections on the campus. He is also reputed to have exposed many of his colleagues to consultancy engagements with reputable international organisations.
“There is a tide in the affairs of man, which taken at the flood leads on to victory…” Such then is the tide upon which Professor Ayara’s amarda sails the high seas to ultimately put ashore with a song of victory and cymbals of vanquishment. For the turn of leadership is phased and Ayara seeks only to take his turn, because he believes that they win who always wait, with love and not with hate, and he has waited these several seasons, with love and not with hate. Perhaps no one is better prepared to lead the University of Calabar to a certain glorious future at this time. And since the University community cannot be, like Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s tragicommedy ‘Waiting For Godot,’ who waited for the redeemer that never showed up, we also must seize the opportunity now that assures of a better future for the institution while it presents itself. Although Ayara exudes a steady confidence in his abilities and in his own self, he is the first to admit that there are others besides himself who can pull the chestnut out of the fire. What is left is for the electorates in the University to discover where true genius actually lies.
The temptation to buckle under the force of sentiment and emotion can sometimes be ever so strong and present, and could lead to the making of wrong choices as a consequence of language, tribe, culture and even gender. Once we are able to wean ourselves from the autocracy of emotions and weigh all the aspirants on an even scale it should become obvious who the cap truly fits.
Dominic kidzu is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information.
