Professor Florence Banku Obi has been appointed as the first female Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar since the founding of the institution 40years ago She has made history She is also the 11th vice chancellor of the university.
Professor Obi hails from Boki LGA of Cross River State and is a professor in the Faculty of Education. Like the outgoing vice chancellor, Prof. Zana Akpagu, whose tenure ends on November 30, 2020, Obi who beat 12 other candidates to emerge victorious is also a graduate of University of Calabar.
Obi was a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, and former Commissioner for Women Affairs in Cross River State.
University of Calabar grew out of the Calabar campus of University of Nigeria (UNN), Nigeria which began functioning during the 1973 academic session with 154 students and a small cadre of academic, administration and professional staff.
In April 1975, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria announced that as part of the National Development Plan, seven new Universities were to be established at various locations in the country. The University of Calabar was one of the seven.
