The Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, University of Calabar, Cross River State, DIG Udom Ekpoudom (Rtd) has vowed to tackle all forms of corruption as well as cultism in the institution.
The Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police who assumed office few months ago made the vow during an interaction with journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Ekpoudom also stressed that he was averse to corruption.
He said, There are things that I hate in life and God hates them more than I do, that’s corruption. Corruption does not mean someone taking money only. For a lecturer to say that a girl will not pass her exam unless he takes her to bed is corruption.
“For a lecturer to say that a student will not pass until he/she gives him money is a serious corruption. That’s what I am attacking first. I advise my lecturers when I went there that I don’t want those things. I told them that if anybody is accused of such things and we investigate and later found out that it is true, such a lecturer will find his or herself to blame.
“Let the student write their exam. If they pass, they pass; if they also fail, they fail because this issue of passing exam with money is posing a serious threat to the world.
“For instance, someone wouldn’t have been able to be a doctor, but just because a lecturer slept with her and passed her and she becomes a doctor. When she is called to administer what she learnt in school, she will operate and the patient will die in the process. So, I don’t like corruption.
“Again, in the area of admission, this idea of collecting money before giving admission is also corruption. When I went to the University of Nigeria, I did not pay any kobo. I was admitted on merit and till I graduated, I never sorted my way out.
“So, for someone to collect money before admission, I don’t like it. And I believe at the end of my tenure as the Chairman of Governing Council and Pro Chancellor of the University of Calabar all those things will be a thing of the past.
“They know my history and they also know my background I don’t like things like cultism. I don’t take cultism lightly because cultism brings down the culture of learning in any institution so fast.
“If you are a cultist, you shouldn’t be in that university because when you are caught, you are in big trouble. So, we’ve gone that far in UNICAL and I am very sure that by the time we are done, nobody will talk about cultism again in UNICAL.
“When I was in the police force, God gave me the grace to fight crime; there was nowhere I was sent to that I did not fight crime to a standstill. Because of that, some of my colleagues might have been very unhappy with me, but since it was God that created me and gave me that Grace, nobody was able to do me anything.”
He also assured his determination not to leave the university the way he met it highlighting some developmental ventures they were currently embarking on to include construction of more buildings for faculties and departments as well as securing more accreditation of courses.
