TELL Magazine

Chris Adokeme, The National President of the University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association is dead. The death was confirmed on Tuesday by Charles Tambou, a close friend of the deceased.

The news of Adokeme’s death came shortly after he sent out a congratulatory message to the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Owunari Georgewill, a professor of Pharmacology.

It also came on a day that Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, laid the foundation stone of a new convocation complex of the university at its Choba Main Campus.

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In a press statement issued by Ono K. Akpe, the National Public Relations Officer of UNIPORT Alumni Association, Adokeme had said the University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association saw the appointment of Georgewill as a “well-earned reward for hard work, consistency, dedication to duty with a track record of outstanding brilliance.”

Adokeme stated that Nigeria’s education sector was facing many challenges such as inadequate funding and facilities, and stressed that Georgewill’s appointment was a call to serve and help transform education, not only at the university but in the entire country.

While stating that Georgewill’s appointment would have a profound impact on the university, Adokeme said that the alumni have implicit confidence in his ability to do this and more, especially since he is an alumnus of the university.

Georgewill, 55, hails from Abonnema, in Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. He attended Bishop Crowther Memorial School, Abonnema, Nyemoni Grammar School, Abonnema, and the University of Port Harcourt where he studied medicine and pharmacology.

He was employed in 1994 by the University of Port Harcourt as Lecturer II in Pharmacology and was promoted Professor of Pharmacology in 2010, at age 44.

Adokeme assured Prof. Georgewill of maximum support of the alumni association in the task of projecting the ideals of the university and urged students and all the alumni as well as well-meaning Nigerians to give the new Vice-Chancellor all the support he needs to transform the University of Port Harcourt into a world-class institution.