The Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Prof. Barineme  Fakae was among other people honoured by the Andy Briggs Report on people of courage whose lifestyle have inspired others in the society.

Prof Fakae received the award over the weekend at the  Silverbird Galleries at former Obi Wali Cultural Centre, Port Harcourt.

Prof. Fakae blazed a trail  since his days as a fresh professor in University of Nigeria Nsukka. The Peter Odili administration recognized his talents and recruited him to bail out the endangered Rivers State Polytechnic (RIVPOLY) in Bori, Khana LGA of Rivers State.

By the time he left Rivpoly at the behest of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the demons of cultism and infrastructural decay that had troubled the institution had vanished considerably.

Those who had known Amaechi for quite a while were already used to seeing him take chances but he still managed to surprise a lot of people when he appointed Prof.  Fakae as the new vice chancellor of Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RUST).

Fakae had only been a professor for just a few years and it seemed like a really big throw of the dice to appoint him as vice chancellor in a university where the academia had broken up into several camps and had been waging a war of attrition.

The place had its fair share of university dons with twenty or more years in the professorial chair who would have every reason to see the new vice chancellor as an upstart. But Fakae has proved since 2007 that Rotimi Amaechi knew exactly what he was doing when he appointed him to be vice chancellor of RUST.

Under Fakae’s watch, RUST became the first e-university in the Niger Delta with a coveted ITC Center, running examinations online even its post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) screening test and results released with unprecedented alacrity.

The infrastructural upgrade is clear and present. Speaking to a group of journalists on the eve of the university’s recent convocation ceremony, the head of the university’s works department Mr. Chukwu summed it up thus: ‘

For the past four years there has been total transformation in the university, our facilities have changed, our structures are in good shape, you go around the university, you will find them’. It has not been as easy as a walk in the park.

Barineme Fakae has weathered a lot of opposition and remains undeterred in the path of innovation.