President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of renowned academic Dr Basilia Igbokwe as the 9th substantive Rector of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri Imo State.
A reliable source told our correspondent that she received her appointment letter on Wednesday September 11, 2024.
The appointment has expectedly thrown the polytechnic community into jubilation.
Her emergence is also significant because she broke the jinx of no staff of the Department of Humanities and School of General Studies becoming the rector of the Polytechnic.
Since the establishment of the Polytechnic there has been deep-seated discrimination and stigmatization of the School of General Studies and Department of Humanities with many of the polytechnic demagogues vowing that no member of staff of the department will ever get to mount the rector’s position.
Dr. Igbokwe had come tops of the screening exercise carried out by the Rector Selection Board headed by a former Rector of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Professor Okorie Kalu Osonwa.
She floored six other academics including the Acting Rector, Dr Onyemenonu C. C.
Dr. Igbokwe is the second female rector of the Polytechnic with the first being Dr. Celestina Njoku who served between 2010 and 2018.
