By Victory Abanjo
It was an atmosphere of excitement as the department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, University of Portharcourt, held their maiden edition of the Induction ceremony into the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON).
The event which took place at the Ebitimi Banigo Auditorium in the early hours of Thursday 2nd November 2023, had in attendance various dignitaries and academia. Some of them include;
The Vice chancellor ,University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Abraham Georgewill Owunari; The Vice chancellor,Shehu Shagari University of Education, Prof. M.U Tambawal; The registrar University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Gloria .O. China etc.
The event began with an opening speech by the Vice chancellor University of Port Harcourt, where he applauded the department for where it is today, while encouraging them to keep up the good work.
The guest speaker, Prof. Robito Ekanem also spoke at length about the importance of Counselling and its licensure. While congratulating the newly inductees, she also urged them to continue making impacts in their world as they continue to uphold the ethics of the profession.
Some final year students of the department spoke on the relevance of counselling in our contemporary society in line with some schools of psychology (theories), while highlighting the roles of the counsellor and urging individuals to seek professional help when necessary
Awards were given to some of the inductees in recognition of their outstanding performances; the best male and female counsellor of the year. Also, the award of academic excellence was given to Mr Ozi Anderson with a CGPA of 4.78 as the best graduating student.
The event was brought to a close after numerous goodwill messages to the department and the inductees.