UNAAB’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council, Chief Olakunle Osayemi (4th Right), the wife of the celebrant (5th Right), the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun (2nd Left) assisting the University Chancellor and Asagba of Asaba, Obi (Prof) Joseph Chike Edozien (3rd Left) to cut his 20th Coronation Anniversary cake.
The Chancellor of the University, Obi (Prof.) Joseph Chike Edozien, has revealed that his association with the institution remained the highest point of his life.
The Chancellor disclosed this, when the University delegate, led by its Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Chief Olakunle Ayinde Osayemi, with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Balogun, paid homage on the Monarch, on the occasion of his 20th Coronation Anniversary celebration as the Asagba of Asaba, in his Palace.
The Asagba, who said he will always be proud of the institution, more so, as it is the fastest growing Federal University in Nigeria, lauded the impressive impact of the energetic combination of its Governing Council and Management, with a verdict of being ‘’highly focussed’’.
Chief Osayemi later presented the Goodwill Message of the University community, with prayer for renewed strength, wisdom and long life for Asagba Edozien.
Also on the delegation to the monarch were other Council members, including Bishop Biobarakuma Degi, Mrs. Felicia Ezeozue, Professors Chryss Onwuka and Daisy Eruvbetine, as well as Dr. Sola Akinwande with the Acting Registrar, Mr. Adeleke Adeboye.
The Students Union President, Comrade Abdulkareem Bamigbade, with the members of his Executive Council, also represented the University students at the anniversary.
At the Anniversary Lecture to commemorate the celebration, Professor B.O Okwelu, in a Lecture, ‘’Preserving Asaba Culture in a Cosmopolitan Environment’’ called for an urgent need to review the traditions of marriage, music, dancing and burial among others, even as the community strive to preserve its core values.
In his remarks, the Asagba of Asaba, said people must appreciate the fact that ‘’Asaba is a melting point of all cultures’’, considering its location on the side of River Niger and that as such, efforts of redeeming its cultural values must be done with due consideration for modernity.
The UNAAB Students Union President, Comrade Abdulkareem Bamigbade, added his opinion to the efforts of preserving the Asaba culture, as he advised the community to encourage better appreciation of its language by visitors, by generously adopting it for signposts within the city.