The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of Benue State University, Makurdi, Sir Paul Chukwuma, spontaneously granted full scholarships to seven undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Wednesday, while he was presenting his keynote speech at the 6th International Conference of the Nigerian Association of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists. The conference which featured Professor Thomas Li-Ping Tang, a renowned global scholar, who came in from the United States for the conference, was well attended by psychologists and many scholars from different parts of Nigeria.
In his opening remarks, the conference’s Chairman, Prof. Anayo Nkemnebe, emphasized that digitization has significantly influenced our lives. “Digitization is impacting us as human beings. Digital devices want to steal away our human relations,” Prof. Nkemnebe said. On his part, the Head of the Department of Psychology, Prof. Chidozie Nwafor, in his brief remarks, emphasized his desire for conference attendees to learn from the guest and resource person, Prof. Tang. This was equally echoed by Prof. Frank-Collins Okafor, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences when he outlined that the “ecosystem is supposed to work for the wellbeing of the employee and when it does, it becomes conducive for employees to perform optimally”.
Delivering his incisive lecture, Prof. Tang sharply distinguished between “pay satisfaction” and “life satisfaction.” Discussing the motivation that comes from remuneration, he said that when employees are paid less than they deserve, it not only negatively impacts their productivity, it also fosters a culture of corruption in the workplace and this corruption, he observed, is seen as justice by the workers because they are not well paid. Narrating how the love of money can have a profound impact on a person’s whole life and health, Prof. Tang cautioned that the love of money must be jettisoned by all. In its place, a balanced life that integrates relaxation should be embraced.
Sir Paul Chukwuma, who spoke on the future of work and the remarkable impact of technology, said that the Nigerian Association of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists should come up with a clear-cut analysis that will scientifically interrogate the extent of impact in real terms, of technology disruption in the workplace. The findings, he said, should include possible solutions to the gradual but steady displacement of human beings from the workplace by technology. Tasking the students to take full advantage of the presence of Prof. Tang, Sir Paul Chukwuma urged them to extract all that is possible from Prof. Tang’s wealth of knowledge so that the benefits of the conference are not lost on participants. To this end, he asked for the first five students to come out voluntarily and recount any lesson learned or any part of Prof. Tang’s earlier lecture in one sentence. The first five students who came out and answered the question were then granted a full scholarship, and later, he asked another question, and the first two students who indicated an interest in answering the question and answered it were also given full scholarships, all spontaneously, evoking an eruption of excitement, celebration, and admiration.
The scholarship’s beneficiaries include about five students from the Psychology Department of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, one student from the Political Science Department, and one student from the Building Department of the same university.
Both Prof. Li-Ping Tang and Sir Paul Chukwuma were inducted as fellows of the Nigerian Industrial and Organizational Psychologists.
Ebuka graduated with a second-class upper-division degree in Political Science from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. He furthered his education by obtaining a Master's Degree in Political Science with a specialization in Government and Development Studies from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria. His academic background and professional experience have equipped him with a deep understanding of political dynamics and governance issues.
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