The first Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University was today installed at Ikot Akpaden in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area, the main campus of the institution.

He is Alhaji Najib Hussaini Adamu (CON), the Emir of Kazaure in Jigawa State born in February 1956 is a lawyer by training.

In a colourful installation ceremony, the Akwa Ibom State Executive Governor, Chief Godswill O. Akpabio stated “Today we have come to install a worthy and a distinguished Nigerian as the Chancellor of Nigeria’s 34th university. The University with this distinction is Akwa Ibom State University, the fulfilment of our ambition as a people and the crucible of our desires for posterity’’.

‘’And in bringing the Emir of Kazaure, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Najib H. Adamu, here to install him as the Chancellor of this institution, we are setting an agenda for our children that Nigeria can only attain lofty heights by breaking the barriers of ethnicity and judging people by the contents of their character and not by their places of birth’’, he remarked.

He acknowledged that the event was about the children and their future, reasoning that ‘’We acknowledge that success without a successor is a failure. If we build all that we have built, and if we do all that we have done and we do not have children who could build upon what we have, who could not sustain the momentum of our developmental efforts who could not pick up from where we will stop in 2015, then our labours would have been in vain’’.

The Governor urged the Chancellor to uphold and preserve the statutes, liberties, customs, laws and privileges of the budding university. Chief Akpabio said upon powers conferred on him as the Governor of the state and a visitor to the university he proclaims Alhaji Adamu as the first Chancellor of the university.

While congratulating the Chancellor on his appointment and subsequent installation, the Governor presented him with the scroll containing the university law and a staff of office.

The Chancellor, Alhaji Adamu, thanked the Governor for the confidence reposed in him that culminated in his appointment, saying he has accepted the honour and was ready to play the responsibility of playing a big role in development of the vibrant institution.

Alhaji Adamu challenged the school authority to work hard to make the university among the top 20 in Africa in a decade and charged the university students to refrain from cultism, examination malpractices and discrimination to enhance the growth of the institution.

The Pro-Chancellor of the university, Dr. Okon Eminue, described the installation a milestone for the institution seen as a positive signal for the university to stand up among other state universities in the country.

Dr. Eminue congratulated the Chancellor on his appointment, describing him as a rediscovered son quite familiar with state and a rare breed recommended by the Governor.