It was amidst clinking of glasses, great pomp and ceremony that the National Institute of Marketing Nigeria (NIMN), conferred the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale with its prestigious Honorary Fellowship in Lagos last week.
Professor Lale, who already has several accolades to his name, was cited for distinguishing himself in academics, administration and service to humanity. In an abridged citation on him before being conferred with the award, the leadership of NIMN congratulated Professor Lale on his appointment as 8th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt.
He was cited as a Member of the Tertiary Education Tax Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee under the national Research Fund Intervention for Science, Technology and Innovation Sub-Committee from 2014 till date, as well as a former Member of the Governing Council of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.
A Professor of Entomology, the Vice-Chancellor was also cited for his distinguished services at the Department of Crop Science in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Maiduguri and in the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology of the University of Port Harcourt. He was also a Consultant to the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency on Songhai Rivers Initiative between 2008 and 2014 and had also administered a number of World Bank-funded projects.
Professor Lale was cited as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of Nigerian and also holds membership of numerous professional bodies, such as the Alexander von Humbolt Fellow among other such affiliations. He has over 100 journal articles and book chapters cited by over 264,000 scholars across the globe as proof of the impact of his research in the sciences.
According to the leadership of the NIMN, the award was bestowed on Professor Lale for his immense contributions to the academia and university administration. The Institute was established by an Act of the National Assembly No. 25 of 2003 with a chattered status that confers on it the responsibility to regulate and standardise professional marketing practice through examinations, training, retraining and consultancy activities aimed at ensuring that members adopt professional approach in marketing and other related areas of the disciplines.
As an Honorary Fellow, Professor Lale is expected to advocate and promote the interest of the Institute and be its brand ambassador. A visibly enthuse Professor Lale expressed gratitude to the Institute for the honour done him, promising to live up to expectation. “I am very pleased to be inducted into the Honorary Fellowship of the National Institute of Marketing Nigeria and I promise to work with the leadership of the body to move it to greater heights,” the Vice-Chancellor told a Correspondent of UniPort Weekly in an interview.
Professor Lale was amongst nine distinguished Nigerians honoured by the Institute at its Annual Conference and Dinner Award Night. Others who accompanied the Vice-Chancellor to the investiture were the Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Professor Barisua Nwinee, former Dean of the Faculty, Professor Sylva Kalu, Acting Head of the Department of Marketing, Dr. John Amue and immediate past Registrar, Mrs. Matilda Nnodim. Others were Secretary of the Rivers State Branch of NIMN, Dr. Doris Godwin and another member, Dr. Chidi Nwankpa. Professor Lale was cited as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of Nigerian and also holds membership of numerous professional bodies. Lale is the Alexander von Humbolt Fellow among other such affiliations. With over 100 journal articles and book chapters cited by over 264,000 scholars across the globe as proof of the impact of his research.