The University of Port Harcourt (UniPort) Alumni Association has hailed the appointment of Prof. Stephen Okodudu as Acting Vice Chancellor of the institution.

The association in a statement signed by its National President, Chris Adokeme, Esq. and National Secretary, Pastor Williams Ule, expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari, Education Minister Adamu Adamu and Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi (himself an alumnus of UniPort) “for actualising the vision of the alumni community to have an alumnus at the helm of affairs of the university.”

The statement described Prof. Okodudu as a thoroughbred alumnus, having acquired all his degrees from the institution, and working tirelessly all through his working life to improve the fortunes of his alma mater.

“He was Dean of Students Affairs and Director of the University of Port Harcourt College of Continuing Education. It was during his tenure as Director of the College of Continuing Education that the College pioneered the consolidation of the University of Port Harcourt Business School, established the Open and Distance Learning Centre, the Ashgrove Academy, the Claude Ake School of Government, among others, for the university.

As chairman of the “Strategic Plan Committee of UniPort 2020-2025,” the Alumni Association noted that the new Vice-Chancellor is fully equipped to pilot the affairs of the university in the right direction,” the Alumni Association said in the statement issued on Saturday.

It assured Prof. Okodudu, whom it described as an alumni activist, of maximum support “in the task of projecting the ideals of a unique institution as the University of Port Harcourt.”