Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe Unizik (UNIZIK), Awka, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku, has hailed immediate past Anambra State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna, and UNIZIK’s Mass Communication Department for transforming the school’s mass communication auditorium into a state-of-the-art facility. The project is a brainchild of Prof. Okunna, who is back teaching at the university, and after whom the auditorium is now named.

Declaring the auditorium open on Thursday, Prof. Ahaneku said: “We say that whenever we have opportunity that will benefit our students, we should not hesitate. The Department of Mass Communication started this process as a department, using the resources available to the department and they have keyed into the vision of the current administration.

“I thank the HOD, the departmental team and Prof. Stella Okunna who motivated and stimulated this idea. I’m saying that for us in the university system, we have to provide the necessary facilities for the students to study and the public. So in all, the locations where we have our facilities, whether in the classroom or in the field, we should address such facilities.

“As communicators they identified the auditorium as a very important facility to address and they have refurbished their auditorium so that the students can sit there for exams, lectures, seminars and brainstorm as communicators. What they have done today is to lay a good foundation for a good learning environment for the Department of Mass Communication and its students.”

While advising the students to maintain the auditorium by keeping it clean at all times, the VC urged the teachers, as the mentors, to continue in the good direction.”

On her part, Prof. Okunna said that she was overwhelmed with the words of the VC, adding that she appreciates him for setting a new standard in the institution.

She said: “I want to appreciate our VC for setting a new standard in the university. I am highly impressed. The HOD of Mass Communication is young and very vibrant and we will always support every good idea she comes up with. The welcome back the department gave me when I came back after my appointment as a commissioner was unprecedented and I will always support this department as much as I can.”

Also expressing her delight at the day’s event, the Head of Department, Dr. Ifeoma Dunu, noted that it was an exceptional day and a dream come true for the department, adding that the auditorium will not only serve the students and the department, but will also attract income to the department.

According to Dunu, “The VC has a listening ear; he always opened his door anytime we came calling, even if he was in a meeting, and I am really encouraged. We will work with the VC to make the university the dream university that he wants.”

•Photo shows UNIZIK VC, Prof. Ahaneku.