The Sun
The 6th annual birthday lecture series in honour of Professor Akpan Hogan Ekpo, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo, will be delivered by the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Professor Pius Oladeji Olanrewaju.
Scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at the 1000-seater auditorium at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Olanrewaju, a professor of Banking Law at Babcock University, Ilishan, Ogun State, will speak on the theme, “The economic crises in Nigeria: The way forward”.
According to the invitation by the Governing Board of the Prof Akpan H. Ekpo Centre for Public Policy, University of Uyo, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, will be the chief host.
Sworn in as President and Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in May 2024, Professor Olanrewaju, a thoroughbred professional and seasoned academic, belongs to several professional bodies.
He is a fellow of the CIBN, a fellow of the Institute of Capital Market Registrars, a fellow of the Institute of Management and Administrative Technology, and a fellow of the Enterprise Risk Management Professionals. He has co-authored several books and articles in learned journals.
His career has traversed the economy for the past 30 years, spanning banking, legal consultancy, management, and academia. An expert in Banking and Commercial Law, Professor Olanrewaju is currently the Provost/Dean of Law at the School of Law and Security Studies, Babcock University, Ilishan.
Formally conferred with Emeritus Professorship by the University of Uyo on Saturday, November 9, 2024, Akpan Ekpo, an acclaimed professor of Economics and Public Policy, became the first person to be appointed Emeritus Professor by the institution.
A letter of notification signed by the University Registrar, Mrs Blossom E. Okorie, stated that the conferment was based on Ekpo’s “track record of service to the university and humanity in general”.
“It is hoped that this honour would not only serve as recognition of your personality and modest efforts at human development, but also as a platform for further contributions to the advancement of our University and the Nation,” the letter stated.
Currently, chairman of the Foundation for Economic Research and Training (FERT), Lagos, Ekpo, who will turn 71 on Thursday, June 26, was also director general of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Lagos, between May 2009 and December 2018. He is also a pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the Akwa Ibom State University of Technology and a former director at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
After his secondary education at the United Christian Secondary School, Apapa, Lagos, in 1969, Ekpo received a Federal Government scholarship to study in the United States of America. He graduated from Howard University, Washington, in 1976 with a Bachelor’s degree (Cum Laude with honours) in Economics and obtained a Master’s in Economics from the same university.
He was on the Dean’s List of the university throughout his undergraduate studies and on full scholarship based on his academic performance. In 1975, as the best honours student, he won the American Economic Association Fellowship to study briefly at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. In 1980 and 1983, he earned MA and PhD degrees in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In his valedictory lecture delivered at the University of Uyo in June 2024, titled “Nigeria: The economics of potentials and the potentials in economics”, Ekpo, whose works are published in several publications, books, and journals, argued that, “A country can be experiencing high growth rates, yet 80–85% of her citizens cannot provide or have access to the basic necessities of life. Hence, development goes beyond high growth rates to include structural changes, freedom, as well as closing the inequality gap.”
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