‘How i fought against certificate racketeering, sorting in Uyo varsity- Ex-VC, Ekpo

By Lovina Anthony, Akwa-ibom 

The former Vice chancellor of the University of Uyo, Akpan Hogan Ekpo on Wednesday has revealed how he fought against certificate racketeering and sorting to a standstill at the university, even to the expense of his life, when he was the Vice Chancellor of the institution.

He however, harped on the need to sustain the standard and height the institution had attained over the years.

Ekpo made this known during a Valedictory Seminar and book presentation titled “Essays in Public Finance’ organized in his honour by the department of Economics of the University.

He noted that having tackled the issue of certificate racketeering in UNIUYO, the quality and integrity of the institution was restored even as he encouraged the current VC, Nyaudo Ndaeyo to sustain the tempo.

The former vice chancellor, Ekpo disclosed that while attempting to deal with the issue (certificate racketeering) as the VC then, someone called and advised him not to do it, in order not to lose his life.

According to him, “Cultism was a very big deal, but the issue of certificate racketeering was the major problem, I don’t think I have ever said it before.

“When I started the attempt to check the problem, someone in the state called me, prof,  leave it alone; this has been going on for more than 13 years, before they kill you, but i said thank you sir, nobody lives forever, i will do my best. 

”When we discussed the issue, he called me and said do you have any juju? I said no, I only carried the Bible and he was surprised. That was what we did to retain the quality and integrity of the University. It was not easy but we thank God that we are here. The issue of sorting was also a big problem, but we had to work on it” he said.

While acknowledging all for being part of the efforts to raise the standard of the University, Ekpo, specifically appreciated the Vice chancellor of the University, Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, for sustaining the standard of the Institution. 

In his remarks, the VC, Ndaeyo, while appreciating God for His enormous blessings upon the celebrant described him as an ‘Icon and a legend’ whose contributions towards shaping the economic and financial policies of Nigeria have  been worthwhile. 

” In fact, Akpan Ekpo is an Icon, a colossus, in fact, a legend because some of the policies we had in Nigeria, in Economics and Public Finance were from him, so on his own he has provided blocks to enable this country to come up the way it is today”. Ndaeyo said. 

Earlier, in his welcome address, the head, department of Economics of  the University, Paul Orebiyi, while describing professor Akpan Ekpo as  a titan and juggernaut noted Ekpo is worth celebrating because of his contributions to public finance and the subject of Economics generally.