Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, (UNICAL) has extolled the feat achieved by a 27-year-old undergraduate of Philosophy from Edo for attempting a new world record.
Obi showered encomiums on the student, Daniel Aiguokhian in the late hours of Monday (Oct. 9), at the UNICAL Students Union Government (SUG) Senate Chamber, Malabor, when he broke the record of writing fiction and non-fiction works, non-stop for 188 hours to set a new Guinness World Record (GWR).
It is worthy of note that Aiguokhian who commenced on Sunday, Oct. 1, wrote 19 books, 8 fiction and 11 non-fiction works for 8 days, 188 hours, nonstop.
Speaking further, the VC said the institution was proud of Daniel for achieving such an illustrious feat while calling on other students of the institution to emulate him.
“Today, I appreciate Daniel for letting the world know the intellectual sagacity of our students for being able to write for 188 hours, indeed this is a feat that people will need to work very hard to break.
“As an institution, we will make sure the world hears about this, I have sent a message to the Minister of Education, the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education about this feat.
“In recent times, UNICAL has been in the news for negative reasons, today, we want the world to know that this is an institution of intellectual giants,” she said.
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Addressing the students, Obi said as we celebrate one of you today, think of what you will do tomorrow to continue this feat so that the university will be in the news for positive reasons.
Similarly, Aiguokhian said he felt great being able to set a record no one had set before, adding that he was motivated to go into the arduous task because he wanted Nigerian and African writers to be celebrated for their efforts.
According to him, it is not just about the record but your ability to use your record to impact lives and make society a better place for all mankind.
“While I appreciate everyone who has supported me, I call on young people not to give up on their dreams but should gather knowledge and look at the bigger picture while shrugging off limitations.
“A major challenge for me was the lack of sleep because, for 24 hours each day, I was only entitled to one hour 30 minutes break which is not enough for a normal human,” he said.
On his part, Mr Odum-Ijom Ukam, Cross River’s Commissioner for Youth and Skill Development said that Daniel was helping to change the narrative because youths used to be known for some vices such as some negative addictions
Ukam declared that with immediate effect, his ministry had appointed Daniel a Consultant to help them train young people on creative writing skills in the state’s entrepreneurship programme that was commencing soon.
