CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

This research work is focused on the life and times of a renowned geologist, an administrator,

a great orator, writer and author, the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University,

Late Prof. Sunday Williamson Petters.

Prof. Sunday Williamson Petters was a man of many parts with outstanding resilience. He

was a true academic, whose meritocracy, selfless service and exemplary leadership qualities

bear eloquent testimonies to his professional career. Being a versatile geologist, a renowned

academic and technologist with passion for excellence, he brought his training and work

experience to bear in piloting the construction and managerial affairs of Akwa Ibom State

University from the scratch with much dexterity and zeal 1.

Born on April 24, 1944 to Elder Williamson Akpan and Deaconess Atim Williamson Akpan

in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Prof. Petters regardless of his

uncanny educational philosophy of the missionaries, exploited the educational facilities of the

mission school to excel in reading, writing and arithmetic not for the narrow-minded nature

of the missionaries aspirations but for the universal goals of mankind.

Reading made Prof. Petters an orator, writing made him a first-class scholar and arithmetic

provided him the foundation for his exploit in geo-sciences.

Taken together, these subjects shaped the path that Prof. Petters treaded to fame and known

to become an institution of scholarship and integrity.

To concertedly personify the rare facilities of fame, honor, scholarship and integrity, Prof.

Petters advanced his educational career beyond the primary and secondary levels. At the

university, he was inspired to read geology, a course that was particularly important to him

1
and Nigeria because apart from the fact that during that time geologists were few, the country

had become an oil-producing nation, thus needing geologists in the oil sectors. The year

before his graduation, Prof. Petters started working at the Lagos laboratory of Shell-BP as an

assistant Palaeontogist before his post-graduate studies in the state university of New Jersey,

in the United State of America 2.

His intellectual migration made Prof. Petters a scholars- scholar who taught in three

universities as full time lecturers and visiting scholar in addition to holding sensitive

administrative positions in the university such as sub-Dean, Dean and public orator.

All these administrative experiences and leadership positions made Prof. Petters one of the

most sought-after academic to preside over the affairs of a new university that informed his

choice by Chief Godswill Akpabio administration to appoint him the pioneer vice chancellor

of Akwa Ibom state University in 2007.

During his seven years in office, Prof Petterspersonified the excellence and challenges of the

Akwa Ibom state University. The above analysis is the background to this research work.

Statement of the Problem

Reflecting on the life of a great scholar in the person of Prof Petters and the legacies he left

behind, it is pertinent to attempt a documentation of the life and times of this great son of

Africa. Considering his contributions to scholarship, one would agree that writing about Prof.

Petters is a great task that cannot be in one book no matter the pages of such book.

Despite this realities, it is sad to note that except the obsequies programme and a book titled

“The Scores” a festschrift in honour of Prof. S.W Petters (FAS, FNMGS) edited by Prof

Akpan, Dr Okon Udofot and Dr Charles Effiong, no one have written about this great and

renowned scholar .This created a vacuum in scholarship which an attempt to fill the vacuum

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is made by this work. The lack of enough scholarship on the life and times of Prof Petters

had created a vacuum which define the statement of problem of this work.

Aim/Objectives of the study

This research work has one aim that is to attempt to document some salient Issues related to

the life and times of Prof Petters to achieve the following objectives.

1. To unearth the person of Prof Petters

2. To analyze his contributions to the scholarship and humanity at large, and

3. To critically assess the impact of the life of Prof Petters to the university system,

Akwa Ibom state and Nigeria at large.

Significance of the Study

This research work is significant in the following ways :

1. It will give an account of the life and times of Prof Petters

2. It will assess the contributions of Prof Petters and the impact of these contributions on

humanity.

3. And this work will be an addition to scholarship and save asa reference materials to

scholars that may be interested in doing further research on the life and times of this

great scholar and academic of no mean repute.

Research Methodology

This research work is a historical research. As such, it relied much on primary source mainly

on oral interview. Also, the work made use of secondary sources such as the obsequies

programme and a book published by three scholars in Akwa Ibom State University on Prof.

Petters .

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Scope and limitation of the study

This research work spans a period of seventy seven years 1944-2021 which define the life

span of Prof. Petters. As a Septuagenarian, that is a person that lives between 70 and 79

years, the work takes a look at his birth to death.

Conventionally, any human endeavour must have some limitation or militating factors. In this

wise, a research work, on the Life and Times of Prof. Sunday Williamson Petters cannot be

an exception. In the course of this research, the researcher encountered some problems. The

first of such problems was dearth of written materials on the person of Prof. Petters. Another

limitation to this work was lack of cooperation on the part of some resource persons that the

researcher wanted to interview. Some persons refused to grant the audience while some were

economical with relevant information but some cooperated and discuss freely with the

researcher.

All said, despite these limitations, the researcher was able to make do with the available

materials and resources hence this work.

Literature Review

In this part, the work attempts to document what other people have written about Prof.

Petters. This part commence with the writing of some scholars about Prof Petters.

Otoabasi Akpan, in his article “Professor Sunday W. Petters (FAS,FNMGS): “The Man and

His Career”, argues that Professor Sunday Williamson Petters, the first vice chancellor of

Akwa Ibom State University(AKSU), had superintended over the affairs of the university for

seven years, between November 2007 and January 2015.

During this time, he built the University from the beginning in 2008, recruited both teaching

and non-teaching staff, conducted admissions of the first batch of students and attained the

accreditation of all courses in the Faculty of Natural and Applied sciences. Within these

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years, too, he engaged the academic development of university, qualitative training, the

creation of resourceful teaching and learning environment and development of critical

infrastructure for teaching, learning and research3.

This article therefore examines in brief the man and the background which sustained his

academic growth and development, over the years, to the point he became the vice chancellor

of Akwa Ibom State University. This article has analyzed also his contributions to scholarship

and the development of the University system, especially the Aksu system as a vice

chancellor.

The central thesis in this study is that Professor Sunday Williamson Petters is a first class

scholar whose brilliance and excellence in all he does conspired to make him a rising star in

the academic firmament, most especially in the office of the vice chancellor that he occupied

for seven years

On publication and research interest, Prof Akpanargues that first degree is generally a general

degree, which makes the holder a generalist. For academics in the university system, the real

beginning is acquisition of master’s degree, which conveys mastery of an area of study;

capped with a Ph.D Degree, which is Doctor of Philosophy. Ph.D empowers the holder to

philosophize or think deeply about particular issues in order to solve myriads of societal

problems. Put differently, aPh.D holder, who has passed through the crucible of scholarship,

has immense capacities to puzzle out puzzles (Akpan, 2013). But in wanting to live forever,

like philosophers of old, and be cited and quoted at all times, he has to publish for the present

and future generations4.

In the aspiration to live forever and the desire to make public his research findings, Professor

Sunday Petters has published extensively. His Curriculum Vitae, which reads like a typical

Telephone Directory embodies these publications .At last count, about one hundred and fifty-

seven publications can be cited. These span across headings like Books, Journal Articles,

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Book Chapter, Conference Papers Technical Reports and Newspaper articles on public

policy.

An attempt to examine and evaluate these publications would need a publication of book

either in single volume or in many volumes. On account of lack of time and space in this

Festschrift, it cannot even be attempted. However, we can comment generally on some field

of research in which he engaged.

A point of departure would be in his area of specialization, which is Geology. In this field of

study, Professor Sunday Petters has written a lot of articles, book chapters and books.

Generally, his first published work would appear to the first – place prize winning essay in

Nigeria 1965. It was on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Essay contest organized by the US

Embassy in Nigeria.

Entitled Education: Key to National Development, young Petters examined the role that

education could play in the development of nations especially in emerging countries of the

Northern Hemisphere.

Having been baptized into skills of publication and in one which received worldwide

accolade, the could not even be his limit in the area of publication. As a researcher and lover

of books, he needed to weave and pen down millions of words for his peers, students and the

reading public to engage themselves in. In 1976, he published in the America Association of

Petroleum Geologist bulletin findings of research in his chosen field of study. The paper was

titled: The Upper Cretaceous sub-surface stratisgraphy of Atlantic Coastal Plain of New

Jersey. Overall, in the 1976- 80, Professor Petters had published a total of 20 papers, which

were original records of his research findings in geological investigations of almost all

regions of Nigeria and parts of the world. In 1982 he was made a professor after critical

assessment of the papers.

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As professional rank is the highest rank for a university teacher, most professors stop writing

once they step into the professorial rank but for Petters, the professorial rank meant that he

needed to profess and become a reference point in his areas of specialization and research

interests as well as diversity. Above all, he undertook the International and Herculean task of

synthesizing global knowledge about the African continent into an international textbook

titled, “Regional Geology of Africa” published in Germany by Spring-Verlag, Heiddberg.

Thus, at last count he has had in excess of 150 publications. As a scholar’s scholar, he has so

far supervised 10 Ph.D and 25 Msc students, whom are today eminent scholars in the

university system and Chief Executive officers in the petroleum industry5.

Supervision of Theses and Dissertations is very important for a scholar’s scholar because it

means that in one’s area of specialization, there are lot of successors that are minted and

shaped by the supervisor. Through these feats the supervisor’s academic legacy, heritage and

contributions to scholarship are forever kept alive.

Akpan further asserted that having paid his dues in the university system and having earned

honor, glory and integrity as a result, Petters was always consulted by the Akwa Ibom State

and Nigerian governments for which he has participated in a number of technical committees.

Such committees have produced Blueprints for the development of Nigeria in several areas of

economic endeavours. Through these interactions outside the university system, Professor

Sunday Petters was quiet noticeable and , as such, was worthy of any political office in the

land. It is, therefore, not surprising that after the Akwa IbomState University of Technology

(AKUTECH) was established in 2003, Petters singlehandedly transformed it into the Akwa

Ibom State University (AKSU) in 2010, he was appointed the pioneer vice chancellor.

Between January 1 2010, that his appointment took effect and January 1 2015 that tenure of

office came to an end, Professor Petters worked tirelessly to give the university form and

currency and generally to promote academic excellence in the system. First, as a university

7
must have students, professor Petters made sure that the gates of the university were opened

to students that same year he appointed a vice chancellor. Thus, on November 1 2010, he

admitted the first batch of 300 students into the faculties of Engineering, Natural and Applied

Sciences, Ocean Science and Agriculture. The Obio Akpa campus started the same year with

the Faculty of Agriculture.

In order to make AKSU a world class centre of learning and research, he first gave the

university vision, mission and philosophy. The academic development under his leadership

would seem to be constantly guided by quality assurance, provision of excellent teaching and

learning environment, infrastructural development and their attraction of first –class

university lecturers, some of whom obtained Ph.Ds in overseas institution in Engineering.

To add value to training programmes and consolidate on gains already established since the

inception of the university, Professor Petters had always underlined qualitative screening and

selection of candidates for admission to the various disciplines. In the same manner, the

university under his watch had put in place strict quality assurance in staff employment.

Though a state university, he had a policy of recruiting the best from any part of the nation, or

the globe. Therefore, in staff nominal roll there is hardly any state in Nigeria that is not

represented.

In order to further strengthen the fundamentals of quality assurance in AKSU programmes in

the world that is highly competitive, complex and globalized, all programmes were reviewed

and up-dated periodically just as facilities for teaching and learning were expanded

phenomenally. Above all, the university under him had a consistent policy of staff

development where staff were trained in Nigerian and Foreign Universities. In addition, all

categories of staff were sponsored for local and International conferences, Workshops and

seminars. That was through the liberal funding policy of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund of

the Federal Government6.

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In the area of creating ideal teaching and learning environment, the administration of

Professor Petters had addressed frontally these challenges. Therefore, the University had

ultimately expanded on the number of classrooms and laboratories. Similarly, there were

noticeable increase in the number of staff offices and conference rooms for staff. Funding by

the state government was both timely and liberal, with more state funding interventions being

awaited.

Regarding the area of infrastructural development, it is interesting to note that on assumption

of office in 2010 there were no university style infrastructure. Put differently, Professor

Petters started with poor and limited infrastructure but in line with his vision and mission for

the university, he confronted these challenges with determination and by the time his tenure

ended, many storey buildings inspired and constructed by his administration were put in

place. Most of these buildings were funded by the state government and other by TETFUND.

Some of these buildings are: Faculty of Engineering Building, Faculty of Natural and applied

Sciences Building, faculty of Arts Building, Faculty of Agriculture Building and TETFUND

Halls in the two campuses of the university.

All of these efforts were tested during the Accreditation Exercise by the National Universities

Commission (NUC) in 2014. The NUC in series of its accreditation of courses in the

university started in the Faculty of Natural and Applied sciences. All of the eleven courses

put forward for the exercise had full accreditation status and all the programmes in the

exercise earned scores points in excess of seventy percent. Fundamentally, the exercise was a

testimony to overall quality assurance mechanism put in place by Sunday Petters

administration to raise the overall academic standard of the university7.

For a new university to earn full accreditation in the courses presented to NUC in its first

attempt means that it has what takes to be a world class tertiary institution. Meanwhile, the

feat of the faculty of Natural and applied Sciences has inspired the remaining six faculties to

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hold onto the new standard set by the accreditation exercise. Overall, Professor Sunday

Williamson Petters has contributed enormously to the development of Akwa Ibom State

University to the extent that he deserve to be celebrated at all times by staff and students of

the university.

Another scholar Professor Vincent Nyoyoko, the pioneer Dean of Faculty of Arts gave an

analysis of Prof. Petters on the development of the faculty. According him, the faculty of

Arts was established in 2012/2013 session and in all the departments students were in the

sophomore level, that is, second year of studies. As at 2013/2014 there were three hundred

and seventy three students made up of one hundred and eighty-eight students in year1 and

one hundred and eighty-five in year 2. The Faculty was yet to be visited by the National

Universities Commission (NUC) for the purposes of Accreditation. It was expected that the

Faculty will be presented for accreditation exercise that year.

The Faculty has a staff strength of Sixty- One staff, made up of Thirty-Eight Academic staff

and Twenty-Three Non-Academic staff. Until 2014, the Faculty of Arts Building was s make-

shift structure with few rooms for staff. In July 2014 the Faculty was given a magnificent

three story building with a total of 51 offices made up of 17 rooms in the Ground floor, 18

rooms in the second floor and 16 rooms in the third floor. The rooms have been given to staff

of the Faculty for office accommodation. Rooms on reserved for future use have been given

to some academic staff in the Faculties of social and Management Sciences and Agriculture

for temporary use.

In terms of achievements, both staff and students of the Faculty have excelled in different

capacities; staff in the areas of research and publication and conferenceattendance and

students in the area of competitive programmes8.

Organization of Chapters

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This research work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction which

discusses the background to the study, statement of problems, aim and objectives of the

study, significance of the study, research methodology, scope and limitations, literature

review and organization of chapters.

Chapter two focuses on the birth, parentage, early and Educational pursuit of late Professor

Sunday Williamson Petters.

Chapter three analyzed the professional, Christian, Social and marital life of Professor

Sunday Williamson Petters and chapter four is what the public say about prof. Petters while

chapter five is the summary and conclusion.

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 Endnotes

1
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.16.
2
“Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.3
3
Otoabasi Akpan , Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The scores , 2015 p.18
4
A. Fajana and S. Osoba ”Education and social development “ in O. Ikeni Groundwork of
Nigerian history (Ibadan: Heinemana educational books plc, 1999) p.161
5
Otoabasi Akpan Okon and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores , 2015 p.19

6.
forever in our hearts, A. souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters, 2021 p.4

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 CHAPTER TWO
PROFESSOR PETTERS: BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE

All humans have their origin or family root as no man is an island. Therefore, the study of

biography cannot be complete without a discourse of the ancestry of the personality being

studied.

Young Petters charismatic leadership made for pedagogical incursion into his ancestry and

the influence of his immediate environment as immutable agents that made for his success.

His great accomplishments and the process of becoming great, capture the conviction of 19th

century historians in the Great man Theory", which points that individual agents make

history. In giving expression to the question of the great man, Thomas Carlyle wrote that the

history of the world is the biography of great men. From the submission of these 19th century

scholars, it could be appreciated that Sunday Williamson Petters stood out as an outstanding

individual who phenomenally put words and action into the will of his age and accomplished

them.

Birth and Parentage

Sunday Williamson Petters was born on the 24th of April 1944 into the Christian family of

late Elder Williamson Akpan and late MrsAtim Williamson PettersAkpan of Ikot Udo Oto,

Etinan local Government Area1. Growing up in Etinan in the period of Nationalism, Nigeria

was quite exciting for young Petters. A year before he was born, Sir Authur Richard, who

was the Governor of Nigeria since 1944 had published a new constitution, which according

to him was designed for (1) promote the unity of Nigeria (2) provide adequately within that

unity for the diverse elements which make up the country (3)secure greater participation by

African in their own affairs. Through the Richard's constitution as it came to be called,

Nigeria was officially divided into three divisions that is the eastern region, northern region,

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and western region. Etinan was naturally part of the eastern region 2. His father late Elder

Williamson Petters Akpan was seasoned and renowned primary school teacher, he was also

very industrious and a peaceful individual who was always there to settle disputes in the

family. This made him to be respected by all.

His mother, late Atim Williamson Petters Akpan was also from Ikot Udo Otoin Etinan Local

Government Area, she was hardworking and ventured into many things to help in running the

family.

Young Petters was the third child out of six children of his parents, he came from Iman clan

and he was born in Ikot Udo Oto,in Etinan Local Government Area in Ibibio land 3.

Etinan is located within the South-South part of Nigeria and constitutes one of the local

government areas in the oil rich Akwa Ibom State. Known for its agricultural and arts craft

products, there are found as one of the most peaceful locations in the West African States of

Nigeria.

Etinan Local Government Area, is located on latitude 0500/N and longitude 07054'E. It is 26

Kilometres south of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital and 24 kilometers north of Eket. It

shares common boundaries with Onna, NsitIbom, MkpatEnin, Abak, and Uyo Local

Government Areas. The entire Local Government Area lies in the tropical rain forest belt and

has two distinct seasons that is the rainy season and the dry season and the vegetation is

evergreen.

Petters is from Etinan urban District, Ikot Udo Oto to be preside, one among the 21 villages

that constitutes Urban District 4.

Young Petters was born into an environment where the culture and values of his nativity was

increasingly enveloped by western civilization, he was fortunate to have been influenced by

14
the Ibibio's rich cultural past, ideas and values known to have been preserved and transmitted

through oral tradition.

The study of professor Sunday Williamson Petters must first be linked to the cultural

environment in which he grew up. It is only within this ambient that his early life can be

clearly understood5 .

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Early/Educational Pursuit

Given the anti-intellectualism of the missionary educational system, it is intriguing that

young Sunday was a professor of Geology and, indeed Geo-sciences. Essentially, as

education was conceived merely as a major means of proselytization, the missions had a very

restricted view of education for Nigeria. Schools were to magnet young Nigerians. It is not

surprising that whenever a mission established a new outpost, one of the first facilities it

strove to create as well was school for young Nigerians. One account of the general strategy

of the missionaries, the curriculum was heavily weighted on the three Rs-reading, writing and

arithmetic – which were subjects that required the trained to operate effectively under the

missionary establishment S. O. Osoba and A. Fajana have graphically captured the essence

of the aspirations of the missionaries in Nigeria thus (Osoba and Fajana, 1999, 570):

The missionary progrmame of education the ‘natives’ was consequently

restricted initially to the limited objective of producing marginally

literate Nigerians, preferably literate only in their own mother tongues.

It was envisaged that the products of this education would operate in

their familiar social milieu and would, therefore, be able to transmit the

new message of salvation to their own peoples. There was no question,

for most of the 19th century, of really introducing the “benighted

savages” to the mysteries of the Whiteman’s scientific and literary

knowledge, or of establishing educational institutions geared to meeting

the social and material needs of Nigerians. The main, if not exclusive,

concern of mission schools were to graduate to catechists, deacons and

then priests, while girls’ school were established mainly for the wives

and fiancées of their male workers”. There was, therefore a basic anti-

intellectualism built into the missionary educational system. This was

16
 betrayed in the most universal reluctance of the foreign missions to

encourage education beyond the primary school level among their

converts.

Regardless of this uncanny educational philosophy of the missionaries, young Sunday

exploited the educational facilities of the mission school to excel in reading, writing and

arithmetic; not for the narrow minded nature of the missionaries’ aspirations but for the

universal goals of mankind. Reading would alter make him a public orator, writing would

make him a first –class scholar and arithmetic would provide the foundation for the

geosciences. Taken together, these subjects were to shape the path that Sunday Williamson

Petters would tread in the future to fame and honour and indeed to become an institution of

scholarship and integrity 6. Young Petters was distinguished for excellence right from

childhood. His primary education was at John Kirk Primary School in Etinan LGA, Akwa

Ibom State.

To concretely personify the rare features of fame, honour, scholarship and integrity, Sunday

Petters needed to advance his educational career beyond the primary school level. In his early

years, primary schools were rare; secondary schools were even rarer. Getting admission into

these rare and extremely few secondary schools was like an elephant passing through the eye

of a needle; it was no mean feat. Placement in secondary schools then was meant and ,

indeed, reserved for the high and mighty alone; not measured at all in terms of material

possessions or God fatherism or even mundane issues of height, sizes and age but in

superlative terms of brilliance, excellence and sharpness. Young Sunday had possessed these

features superlatively and that made him to pass through the eyes of the needle, which is

always the threshold separating the ambitious from the rank and file 7.

The same year that Young Petters finished his Primary School in 1959, he was admitted into

Qua Iboe Secondary School, now Etinan Institute. In 1963 he sat for West African School

17
Certificate in the School and came out in flying colours. This feat enabled him to cross over

to the higher school level in the same Institute, where in 1965 he graduated with a Higher

School Certificate (HSC).

At Etinan Institute the academic ambition Of Sunday Petters glowed profusely and

satisfactorily, where he excelled in every academic endeavor and leadership role. Among the

sensitive intellectual positions were President of Literary and Debating society and an

Executive Member of Drama Club where he developed interest in Theatre. Additionally,

since the Qua Iboe Mission Secondary School had fully embraced the British Arts

Curriculum, emphasizing English, Latin and Literature, Mathematics, English sharpened

extraordinarily. All these resources recommended him to the University system. In fact, all

his teachers in the secondary school, some of whom were whites, in unison, wished him to

advance his educational career through the pupillage of Elder W. A. Akpan, Sunday’s father,

some of whom later became Governors and Professors.

By the time Professor Sunday Petters finished his secondary school in 1965, Nigeria had few

tertiary institutions; Yaba College of Technology, University of Ife, University of Nigeria,

Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Lagos and University of Ibadan

which had been established in 1948. These institutions were located in the Northern, Western

and Eastern Regions. Petters had chosen to reside and study at Ibadan in order to avoid the

Civil War which he saw coming; the drumbeats of Biafra was by this time sounding even

louder. The standard of these institutions were so high to the extent that the British

Universities were proudly accepting candidates that these institution rejected. This shows that

Nigerian Universities then had maintained very high standards in educational facilities.

The overall implication is that even when one was admitted to these tertiary institution, he

was not sure of graduating at the end of the day. Sunday Petters flew to the University of

Ibadan, the premier University of West African on the current of brilliance and excellence,

18
which the mission and secondary schools had adequately prepared him for in 1965, during

Nigeria’s first Republic.

At the University he was inspired to read Geology, the scientific study of the earth including

the composition, origin and history of the rocks and soil which make up the earth. Geology as

a course was particularly important to him and Nigeria because, apart from the fact that

during this time one could name a few geologists around, the country had become an oil-

producing state, thus needing geologists in the nascent industry. Two years before he

graduated, Shell -BP, which was the first oil company to discover oil and gas at Ikot Akata in

today's Mkpat Enin Local Government Area in 1953 and, indeed, the first place of discovery

of existence of oil in Africa, had been mounting enormous pressure on the young Petters to

work with Shell on graduation. Therefore, after graduation in the prestigious University in

1969, Petters started his working career in the Lagos Laboratory of Shell-BP as Assistant

Paleontologist.

The burning desire for advanced studies at the post-graduate level inspired Sunday

Petters to enroll for post-graduate Studies at the State University of "New Jersey in the

United States of America, where early in 1974 he graduated with Ph.D Degree and later in

1974 with the Ph.D at the same University. Already, in 1974 and 1975 he had been applied

into a new career in the University system as a Lecturer, This was at the Ahmadu Bello

University in Zaira, Northern Nigeria. With the Ph.D degree he was properly initiated into

the cult of excellence in the University system as academic staff; waiting to be crowned as

an intellectual in his chosen area of specialization and research interest. That came in 1982

when he was pronounced a Professor of Geology. Before then he had paid his dues in the

University system, which conspired to throw him up to the envious rank. Thus, between

1974 and 1976, he was a Lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, and

between 1976 and 1982, he was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader at the University of

19
Ibadan. Altogether, Professor Sunday Petters had worked in five universities; namely;

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, University of Calabar,

Calabar, University of Benin (part-time), Benin and ObafemiAwolowo University (part-

time).

This intellectual migration and settlement make Professor Sunday Petters a scholar's Scholar.

A scholar's Scholar must teach in at least three Universities as full time Lecturer and Visiting

Scholar in addition to holding sensitive administrative positions and graduating many into

PhDs. Professor Sunday Petters has stepped on all these platforms and that has made him a

scholar's Scholar. He has been a Sub-Dean, Post-Graduate at the University of Ibadan; Head

of Department of Geology at the University of Calabar, Calabar (1985-1989), Visiting

Professor at the University of Benin (1984-1986), Dean of Science at the University of

Calabar (1985-1989), Dean of Graduate School, University of Calabar (1990-1993),

Mobil/NNPC Professor of Petroleum Geology, University of Calabar (1993-1999) and

Public Orator, University of Calabar (1987-2007).

All these administrative experiences and, indeed, leadership positions made Professor

Sunday Petters one of the most sought-after academic to superintend over the affairs of a

new University. It is, therefore, not surprising that in 2007, he was appointed the pioneer

vice chancellor of the AkwaIbom State University, a position he occupied till 2025. The

position of the vice Chancellor made him so visible in the University system where he was,

strictusensu, primus inter pares. It made him chairman of the university Management

Chairman of the University Senate, chairman of the University Admissions committee,

chairman of the central A & PC (Appointments and Promotions Committee) and chairman

of several other committees. In a sentence, for seven years, Professor Petters personified the

excellence and challenges of the Akwa Ibom State University. In fact, from November 2007

till September, 2010 he was the sole administrator of the University, without a governing

20
council. During that time he merged the former Akwa Ibom State college of Agriculture into

the University thereby developing it into the second or Obio Akpan campus for the faculties

of Agriculture, Arts and Social and Management Sciences 8.

Late Professor Sunday Petters was married to former Miss Janet Akpan Umoh, now Assoc,

Prof. (Mrs) Janet Sunday Petters. The marriage is blessed with many successful and

promising children and grand-children. He was a caring and loving husband and a father

who sacrificed greatly for his family. He was a disciplinarian who raised his children in the

ways and fear of the Lord. He was extremely supportive, passionate and protective of his

family.

Prof. Sunday Petters took ill on the 10 th of July, 2021 and was immediately rushed to the

University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. Sadly, he passed on to glory at about 11.37pm on

Tuesday 10th of July, 2021. He lived a great and impactful life and has left his foot prints on

the sand of time 9.

21
 Endnotes

1
“Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.8
2
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.18
3
Ekoh Sunday interviewed 60 + at Etinan on 23rd march 2023.

4
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.3
5
Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.8
6
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.5-7
7
Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.11.

22
 CHAPTER THREE

PROFESSOR PETTERS: PROFESSIONAL, CHRISTIAN, SOCIAL AND

MARITAL LIFE
Professional Life

Professor Petters superlative intellectual and professional experience informed his

appointment as an Acting Vice Chancellor of AkwaIbom State University of Technology on

November 21 2007. His administration acumen during the period formed the basis for his

confirmation as the pioneer substantive Vice chancellor of AkwaIbom State University,

effective January 1, 2010, a post he held until January, 2015, Until his transition to Glory he

was the "Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor of AkwaIbom State on Industrialization

Master Plan.

During the course of his career life, he worked at the Shell-BP Geological Laboratory, Lagos

from 1969 to 1971. Thereafter, he was appointed a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University,

Zaria Nigeria, [1975-1976], a senior Lecturer and Reader at the University of Ibadan, [1976-

1982], Professor of Geology at the University of Calabar [1992-2007] and as the youngest

Professor at that time in the country at the age of 37 years. Afterwards he was appointed a

consultant in the NNPC Research and Development Division (1982-1986). He also served as

Sub-Dean [Post- Graduate], Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan (1982); Head of

Geology Department, University of Calabar (1982-1984, 1986-1989); Dean of Science,

University of Calabar (1984-1987), Dean of Graduate School [1990-1993], and chairman of

Committee of Deans, University of Calabar (1988-1989).

Later on his career life, he was appointed the Mobil/Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC) Professor of Petroleum Geology (1993-1999).He also served in many

Public Boards including former President Obasanjo's Presidential Policy Advisory

Committee in 1999, Chair of the Mineral Resources Committee, Federal Ministry of Solid

23
Minerals and Development, Nigeria and member of the advisory board of the Stat graphic

Committee of the Niger Delta.

Late Prof. Sunday Williamson Petters acquired the following Fellowships: Fellow of

Nigerian Academy of Science;

Fellow of the World Academy of Science (TWAS) based at the International Centre for

Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy;

Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study (Berlin, Germany); Fellow of the Smithsonian

Institution, Washington D.C., USA. Fellow of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society and

Fellow, Institute of Operations Research Nigeria.

Professor Petters was an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Scholar, at

Rutgers University. He was greatly admired by all who came in contact with him, notably for

his excellent, articulate, eloquent and great command of English ; an admiration that earned

him the Orator of the University of Calabar for several years.

In the course of his life time Prof. S. W. Petters had been awarded the following prizes by the

petroleum industry in Nigeria;

AretAdmas Awards, the highest prize presented by the Nigeria Association of petroleum

Explorationist (NAPE). Shell/Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society Award.

Texaco/Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists Third Best Paper Award for 1998.

Among his honours and citations are entries/ listings in: The International Who's Who in

Education, 3rd Edition; The International Directory of Distinguished Leadership; The

International Who's Who of Intellectual, Edition

The International Register of Profiles, 10 Edition

24
Financial Times Who's Who in World Oil and Gas Industry, 10th Edition

The Who's Who in Nigerian Petroleum Industry.

Professor Sunday Williamson Petters was a prolific and astute scholar who had written and

edited ten books, including "Regional Geology of Africa, "published by Springer-Verlag,

Germany; a book that gained him a global recognition in the field of Geology. He supervised

ten Ph.Ds and twenty-five Master's Degree graduates from Nigeria and Cameroon. He was a

member of many professional bodies, and he had citations of about 3,072 on google scholars

at the time of his demise. He was regarded as the father of Nigeria Micropaleontology, in

view of his. comprehensive documentation of fossil foraminifera and ostracoda from all the

Nigerian sedimentary basins. He led several exploration teams for solid mineral deposits in

Nigeria, notably: salt, limestone, phosphates and economic minerals in Oban- Obudu

Basement Complex.

While serving as Dean of Graduate school, he jointly with the Nigerian Conservation

Foundation, introduced the First Diploma course on Environmental Education (EE) hi

Nigeria and West Africa. Prof. Petters also wrote the first two books that were used for the

commencement of EE Diploma programme. He also successfully championed the

establishment of Federal University of Petroleum Resources in Delta State by the Federal

Government.

Late Prof. Sunday W. Petters participated in the following international projects:

UNESCO- International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP), project 145 on west

African Biostratigraphy, 1977-1981, based hi UNESCO, Paris.

UNESCO-IGCP Project 381 on South Atlantic Correlations, based in Brazil.

25
Member, Advisory Board African Micro paleontological Colloquium, Yaounde, Cameroon,

1998.

International Commission for Earth Science in Africa, Book Project on the Geology of the

African Plate, 2000.

Professor Petters did not only gain global academic recognitions but was also recognized and

honoured with the traditional tittles of Mkpisong Ibibio, Ata IfoikIman loom, Ata

IfoikOrukAnam, and OtuekongIkot Udo Oto, Etinan 1.

Christian Life

Late Prof. sunny Peters was a dedicated and devoted Christian into Qua Iboe Church of

Nigeria. One gaining admission into the University of Ibadan, he joined the Mount Zion

Lighthouse Full Gospel church. He became a committed member of the church and served

under the capacity of an elder for so many years. In April 2019, he was ordained a Pastor of

Mount Zion Lighthouse full gospel Church by late Bishop Paul Augustine at OtuEdemUsung,

IkotEkpene. He remained a committed and devoted Christian till his demise.

He singlehandedly built Mount Zion Lighthouse Full gospel Church and Qua Iboe Church

both in his village, Ikot Udo Oto, Etinan. He was a philanthropist and a giver who gave

generously to people and churches 2.

Social and Marital life

Late Prof. Sunday Petters was married to former Miss Janet the marriage is blessed with

seven (7) successful and promising children namely; Mr. Mfonobong S. Petters, Mr. Iboro S.

Petters, Dr. (Mrs.) Ememobong G. Abraham, MrsAbasiama S. Petters, Dr. Kufre S. Petters

and Dr. Unwana David Ekpa groomed as professionals in their respective fields.

26
Wearing the cap of a Father, has perhaps been the greatest honour that can be bestowed on a

man. His children saw him as a role model who had not only influenced their choice of career

but also their attitude to work and life in general.

According to Mfonobong Peters, his first son described him as a gentle, easy going and

hardworking father, in his words “daddy was internationally known and locally well

respected and over all he was a man who was able to cope with the typical life of ups and

downs, smiles and frowns, friends and foes, merit and short comings as prevalent today in

this world.

Dr. EmemPetters Abraham his first daughter relate in details “He was my role model, my

standard for excellence. My standard for excellence. He taught me how to read and be

studious, he make me choose the path of career greatness and fullness over everything in life.

He was my push, my motivation my inspiration to be more and wind beneath my wings.

Knowing I had you watching my back and fighting for me gave me confident to go through

life unafraid. He the mother hen hid his children beneath his wings. Similarly, associate Prof.

Janet Sunday Petters his wife described him as a loving husband, a caring father, a strict

disciplinarian. According to her he was protective passionate, dependable and supportive in

all ramification.

These views by members of his family extensively agrees with other body of evidence mined

from the field as well as testimonies from other acquaintances of Prof. Petters on the pivotal

roles of his personal traits in the making of the man Sunday Williamson Petters 3.

27
 Endnotes

1
“Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.9-12
2
“Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.12
3
“Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.11

28
 CHAPTER FOUR

AKSU COMMUNITY AND PROFESSOR PETTERS

This chapter discusses what people in Akwa Ibom State University community said about

the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Late Professor Petters.

According to Prof. OtoabasiAkpan the then Dean Faculty of Arts, The Faculty of Arts was

established in 2012/2013 session and in all the Departments, students are in the sophomore

level, that is, second year of studies. There are currently three hundred and seventy three

students made up of one hundred and eighty-eight students in yearly and one hundred and

eighty-five students in year 2. The Faculty is yet to be visited by the National Universities

Commission (NUC) for the purpose of Accreditation.

The faculty has a staff strength of sixty- one staff, made up of thirty-eight Academic staff and

Twenty- three Non -Academic staff. Until 2014 the Faculty of Arts Building was a make-

shift structure with few rooms for staff. In July 2014 the Faculty was given a magnificent

three -Storey Building with a total of 51 offices made up of 17 rooms in the ground floor, 18

rooms in the second floor and 16 rooms in the third floor. The rooms have been given to staff

of the faculty for office accommodation. Rooms on reserved for future use have been given

to some academic staff in the faculties of Social and Management Sciences and Agriculture

for temporary use.

In terms of achievements, both staff and students of the Faculty have excelled in different

capacities, staff in the areas of research and publication and conference attendance and

students in the area of competitive programmes. The department of Performing Arts is

singled out in this direction for commendation. It has uplifted the image of the Faculty in

particular and University in general through plays and dramas.

29
There are several challenges and or problems that face the Faculty. These may be listed as

Technical, Administrative and Faculties for Scholarship. The Faculty of Arts Building has a

lot of noticeable faults. Many rooms do not have functional water system and it would appear

as if there are cases of internal leakages through water pipes. These are serious challenges

that have led to occasional flooding of some offices. Additional, some sockets and switches

are not connected to electrical system.

In the administrative aspect, most staff in the faculty do not have tables, chairs, cabinets and

Air-conditioners in their offices. These are also the challenges in the office of the Dean.

Besides, as tradition in the University system hi Nigeria demands, all academic staff from the

rank of Senior Lecturers are supposed to have Laptop Computers from the management of

the University but in the Faculty, none of the Lectures in these ranks is given the largesse.

Equally, Professors offices and offices of Deans and Directors are supposed to be furnished

with DSTV facilities, Air conditioners, Upholstery and Refrigerators, but none in that rank of

these offices has these facilities.

Additional challenge in the system is that the Heads of Department and the Dean do

not have imprest regularly to run their offices; most of these officers use part of their income

to administer the offices they occupy.

For smooth and efficient administration of the Faculty and the University system at

large, the following suggestions and recommendations are put forward:

1. Headship

The headship of the department should be done on a rotational basis between serving

professors and lecturer who are Ph.D holders. It should be for a duration of two years in

the first instance and non-renewable. It should be based on the protocol list of

30
 departments. The duties of the Head are too tasking for any academic, whose main

assignments involve teaching and research, to hang on for a long time.

2. Deanship

Like the office of typical Heads of Department, the tasks are onerous for any Dean to say

beyond two years in the first instance. Therefore, Deanship should rotate among Readers and

Professors who should hold the office for two terms and not be eligible for immediate re-

appointment

Until the university is ten years old, Deans should continue to be appointed by Vice

Chancellor with due regards to the protocol list and or arrangement of the Faculty. After ten

years, when it is expected that each Faculty would have at least three professors on full-time

basis, positions of Deans should generally be by nominations and elections.

3. Imprest

Where the management of the university cannot afford to give Heads of Department and

Deans of Faculties imprest of fifty thousand naira and one hundred thousand naira

respectively on a monthly basis, I recommend that smaller amount that can be provided

monthly should be given. This would help in no small measures in the administration of

Department and Faculties.

4. Official vehicle for Deans

For the efficient administration of Faculties, especially in a multi-campus system, Deans

should always be provided with official vehicles. Apart from assisting in the smooth

operation of the system, vehicles deans will raise the image of the faculties and the university

and the integrity of office of the deans.

31
5. Construction of Internal Roads in Ohio Akpa Campus

Great efforts should be spared to reach out to the Government of AkwaIbom State and or the

NDDC to demand for the construction of internal roads in Ohio Akpa Campus. These roads

do not add up to 7 kilometres and to that extent will not be a big burden to State Government

or the NDDC. Furthermore, the government of AkwaIbom State or its relevant Agencies and

Departments should be contacted for erosion control measures so that most buildings and

their occupants would not be exposed to danger; the Faculty of Arts Building and their

Tetfund Hall at ObioAkpa are located in terrains that require immediate erosion control

measures and landscaping.

6. The Environment

The rolling hills of the Obio Akpa Campus should be positively turned into attractive

sceneries by adding values to them. This can be done if trees are planted along the internal

roads after road construction, special grasses are planted to replace the wind ones and, again,

if flowers are planted in selected places. Indeed, there is need for flower gardens in several

locations hi the campus.

7. Orientation Programmes and Workshops for Newly Appointed HODs, Deans and

Directors

I am of the opinion that the Management of the University should Organize Workshops for

all newly appointed Heads of Department, Deans and Directors in order to prepare them

practically for these offices which are extremely sensitive and, indeed, platforms for the

progress of the university and periodic orientation programmes may also be embarked upon

in order to cross-fertilize ideas on a number of critical issues concerning the University.

8. Provision of ATM Machines in the two Campuses

32
There is an urgent need for the Management of the University to partner with four Banks to

provide Four ATM points in the two campuses of the University; two in each campus. This

feat will help the staff and students greatly in banking services and discourage unnecessary

journeys of students in particular to Abak and Uyo for such banking services.

9. Provision of Transport Services

The University should endeavour to provide University -Sponsored transportation services to

staff and students. The project could be conceived as a public-partnership Agreement with an

external collaborative Agency willing to provide bulk funding as capital for the takeoff of the

transportation services. In wise, a fleet of buses could be assembled and deployed to services

the needs of the University Community such as that buses can network between Uyo and

ObioAkpa Campus and Ohio Akpa Campus and IkotAkpaden Campus. These Buses could

also be used for excursions as well by students and students bodies.

10. Provision of Public Toilet in the Campuses

There is urgent need to build public toilet at strategic points in the two campuses. This will go

along way in uplifting the image of the University and enhancing the sanitation profiles of the

two campuses. Apart from the students and staff which these toilet will serve, many visitors

to these two campuses will use the toilet as to prevent outbreak of strange diseases such as

the deadly Ebola that is ravaging parts of West Africa.

11. Orientation programmes for students Leaders

The Management of the University should conduct Annual Orientation Retreat for all holders

of Offices in the Students Union and Associations in the Faculties and Departments. These

offices provide these young adults with leadership capacities. To turn these capacities into

good use for the holders and university at large, these students should be well tutored and

developed in leadership skills and expectations.

33
Otoabasi Akpan the then Dean used these opportunity to thank the Vice Chancellor Prof.

Petters for giving him the opportunity to serve the University at a very visible level 1.

From the office of the Dean social and management sciences, the faculty of social and

management sciences was established during the tenure of Professor S. W Potters as the vice

chancellor. This submission from the officer of the Dean encapsulates the status of all the

academic departments in the faculty and follows the suggested guidelines as contained in the

memo with regard to the Vice chancellor's handling over note and below is the presentation.;

1. In economic department, the department has a substantive professor as its head of

Department.

2. In the department of Public Administration, the department has am Associate

professor as its head of department and meanwhile the upcoming department of

Sociology and Anthropology presently resides in this department.

3. In the department of political science, owing to non- availability of a senior Lecturer

of Political Science, in the department, in regular employ of the University or on

contract, the department has Lecturer II as its coordinator.

4. Department of Business Administration owing to non- availability of a senior lecturer

in the department on regular employ of the University or on contract, the department

has a lecturer I as its co-ordinator.

In Accounting Department, the department has a substantive professor as its Head of

Department. And owning the tenure of Professor Sunday Williamson Petters the pioneer

Vice Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University, two lecturers from the department of

Political Science bagged PhD awards from the University of Uyo and they are Dr. Monday

Dickson and Dr. PiateMene Sunday.

Consequent upon the pioneer vice chancellor unquantifiable support, the faculty facilitated a

book of reading for the university for the very first time in the University history and Dr.

34
Akpainim Ekpe (Ag Dean) and Dr. (Mrs.) Christable Brownson from the Department of

Business Administration both contributed chapters to this epoch book.

During the tenure of the pioneer Vice Chancellor several department completed their

students Handbook but waiting publication. However Political Science and Public

"Administration have published theirs already. Some staff in the faculty have attended

international conference, which was facilitated by TETfund sponsorship. Those who

benefited are Dr. (Mrs.) Eno Ukpong from the department of Business Administration, who

attended a conference in Canada, Dr. Monday Dickson, department of Science attended a

conference in Althen's Greer. Others attended local conferences and Mr. Essien Ukpe Ukoyo

from the department of Political Science attended a conference in U.S.A.2

On his part, Dr. Iniobong Daniel Umotong then Acting Head of Philosophy Department, he

said that Realizing the place of Arts in human development and its pivotal role in the

development of any nation, the Pioneer Vice Chancellor Professor S.W. Petters saw the

establishment of the faculty of Arts as an urgent and necessary tools in the quest for socio-

cultural transformation of the state and human at large. During the 2012/2013 academic

session, this dream was actualized with the faculty of Arts coming on board along with six

distinct departments.

The Department of Philosophy with its unique feature amongst the six new departments of

the faculty paraded seven seasoned academic staff, to lay the foundation of all disciplines

not only in the Arts and Humanities, but also in sciences, was designed to train persons to

develop mental capacities not only as they apply to particular subject. Matter but also in an

attempt to ask and answer some ultimate questions about life itself in all it manifestations.

The discipline is meant to develop the whole person by inculcating a holistic view, attitudes,

responses etc. towards themselves, their societies, cultures, government, religions and other

persons.

35
The department of Philosophy, Akwa Ibom State University is on its secondary year of

existence having admitted twenty nine students in the first year, twenty two in the second

year and fifty seven are expected for the one hundred level of next academic session. In

addition to the steady growth in students population, the department, in July 2014 floated its

first academic journal, (Ifiok: Journal of interdisciplinary studies) being the first journal of

the institution, since its inception. This shows a tremendous advancement in the purist of

academic excellency which the institution and its pioneer Vice Chancellor 3 Professor Petters

are known for.

Within the period under review officers and classrooms were made available with state of art

furniture and facilities that facilitate efficient, effective and learning atmosphere.

He boldly said that the department of philosophy, the faculty of Arts and the entire

University have witnessed steady academic giant studies within the reign of Professor

Sunday Williamson Petters as the Vice Chancellor of the University 3.

The public and Professor Petters:

According to Professor Franca. Anijaobi - idem, Professor Sunday Williamson Petters was an

erudite scholars a great teacher a mentor and administrator par excellence. She said that her

encounter with Prof. Petters began at the University of Calabar as her lecturer and climaxed

at Akwa Ibom State University as her Vice Chancellor while she served a Dean, Faculty of

Education. As a lecturer, Prof Petters was brilliant, eloquent and dynamic. He demonstrated

his intellectual powers and unequalled mastery of the subject matter in Environmental

Education and within six weeks, he published a text book: Nigerian Environmental Education

and Management, for the course he was teaching as there was severe death of textual

resources in that area.

36
Professor Franca Anijaobi also said that Prof. Petters was an amazing man, a fountain of

knowledge and a true lover of books. And as a Vice Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State

University, he was effective as he was compassionate and reflected all the qualities of a

sound administrator. We shall remember this academic icon of our time for his exemplary

scholarship and leadership as he was clearly a "primus inter pares" meaning first among

equals 4.

Another scholars Alabo C. D. Charles President Nigerian Mining and Geosciences society

(NMGS) Prof. Petters was an erudite scholars, a quintessential researcher, a prolific writer

and a voracious reader. With a BS.c Degree in Geology from the prestigious University of

Ibadan, Nigeria in 1969 and then M. Philip and Ph.D Degree from Rutgersiz State University

of New Jersey U.S.A and still a postdoctoral fellowship at Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C, U.S.A and at the University of Delware, Prof, was well armed for a highly

successful career in the earth sciences. Prof. S. W. Petters joined the Nigerian mining and

Geosciences society early enough in his career having been registered in 1957 and

subsequently elected into the revered fellowship of the NMGS in 2010 as the 138th fellow of

the great society. He was the winner of the Shell/NMGS Award for his persistent excellent

contributions to mining and geosciences in Africa.

Prof. S. W. Petters made a success of an outstanding career in the academia and the

petroleum sector within Nigeria and internationally with several laurels and awards to his

name. Professor Petters was also a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of science, fellow, third

world Academy of Science (TWAS); Fellow institute of Advanced study (Berlin, Germany),

and a fellow of the Simthsowan Institution Washington, D.C. U.S.A. He was also an

American chemical society Petroleum Research Fund Scholar, Rutgurs University, NGO

Jersey. Grant Awardee, and a beneficiary of the American Embassy (Lagos) Educational

travel Grant.

37
Also of particular interest is his effort in other fields beyond science including numerous

articles and papers on public policy and socio economy. This became evident in his

recognition as a John F. Kennedy scholar at the University of Ibadan, after he won the first

prize at the National Essay completion organized in Nigeria by the American Embassy. His

resolve and audacity to think by in terms of earth resources development provided

fundamental contributions in the establishment of key structures being enjoyed in the field of

geosciences today. Prof. S. W. Petters has well written and edited ten books including the

"Regional Geology of Africa" published by springer - verlag, Germany and also authorized

over 150 articles. He has supervised ten Ph.Ds and twenty-five master's Degree involving

Nigerians and Cameroonians.

For his outstanding geo-scientific research, spanning over four decades Professor Fetter has

been awarded numerous prized by the petroleum industry hi Nigeria. And Prof. Petters was a

highly valuable and respected member of our profession and the effects of his passing are

already being felt, knowing his undeniable and patent contribution in the fields of

sedimentary geology, stratigraphy, basic analysis and the petroleum systems and his

eagerness and readiness to serve led to his appointment as the Vice Chancellor of Akwa Ibom

State University in January 1,2010. He marshaled out great and though plans for the

development and growth of this young University which evident till today 5.

According to another scholar Ekemini Effiong, this man named Petters is not an accidental

creature to this planet, but a gift to the academia. A man who has justifiably obtained Doctor

of Philosophy degree in Geo-science, thereafter grew to the enviable rank of a professor. It is

worth proving that he is not just that which he meritoriously acquired, but al so many other

things yet to be unfolded as we engage on the 'smooth-ride voyage'. Educationally, God, in

his indescribable wisdom, has designed Petters as a mentor-cum-adviser to prepare and

38
groom students for demanding research-oriented careers in academia, industry arid private

consultation.

As students' adviser, he works closely with them. His aim is always to ensure that

they focus on original research in geology, soil and environmental sciences and hydrology.

He is a man of excellence who expects high academic performance from his students,

therefore ensuring that they develop original lines of research that could lead to original

manuscripts that are suitable for submission to a preferred scientific journal as well as stand

the test of time. He makes sure that his students have strong content knowledge in their area

of emphasis and additional sub-disciplines of the geologic sciences. The reason behind these

is that fundamental knowledge levels are tested first in diagnostic interview that is used to

guide the course work taken by the students, in comprehensive exam and then later in their

professional life.

As a veteran teacher, Petters always ensures that his students demonstrate the ability to

define a research problem by identifying questions and formulating testable hypotheses, to

demonstrate their understanding of scientific ethics. It is not strange to see his students

demonstrate an in-depth understanding of scientific literature for works relevant to research

projects because of his thorough supervision.

It is to his credit that his students are proud in demonstrating the ability to conduct

field and laboratory researches. Petters is a happy man when he sees his scholarly grand-

children demonstrate broad knowledge on the subjects closely related to his field of

specialization and the Arts as well as the ability to do original and creative research. As an

extension of the later, he feels fulfilled by seeing his learners filled with the potentials and

ingenuity to design and carry a substantial independent research project through to

completion with all amount of sincerity, he has groomed many geologists who are now able

to present scientific results to the audience of the scientific community and the general

39
public. It is quite interesting to come to the knowledge that Petters has brought up geologic

scholars who are ever ready to prepare publications and submit them to peer-reviewed

journals with the advantage of an excellent knowledge of at least one field of specialization.

Where there is a good leader, peace endures. The state at which AkwaIbom State University

is, is an indication that there have effective heads controlling the affairs of everything in the

institution especially, since Prof Petters became the Vice Chancellor. This wonderful

administrator has been able to suppress conflict within this citadel of intellectualism. This

means mat he is proactive in conflict management. The chord of cultism and other social

vices among students has been dismantled by Petters during his reign as the Vice Chancellor

and decorum restored among the staff and students. This great feat attained by him has

encouraged the students to have no other option than to study, since the distracting factors

have been wittingly brought to naught there is understanding among students, lecturers and

non-teaching staff due to his administrative style. There are more to write about Petters'

administrative strong points, however, since this writer is not the only contributor to this

anthology, there is need to adjourn this discourse for another medium.

The man is an authority in geo-sciences. Though one may ask "Is it that Petters knows all

aspects of geo-sciences?" The answer to this question simple. 'The only true wisdom is in

knowing you know nothing, says Socrates. Going by this assertion, one who thinks that he

knows anything in geology more than what Petters does knows nothing. As such, Petters is

found as a man who is knowledgeable in Petrology, Volcanology, Economic Geology,

Sedimentology, Geochemistry, Hydrology, Structural Geology, Soil Science, Climate

Change, Petroleum Geology and Paleontology. Though faced with a unique challenge of

seeking to understand the complexity of the earth's physical and biogeochemical systems, he

is well with the fact that climate, biogeochemical cycles, and planetary -ironies are the three

basic processes that shape the environment It is also from this knowledge that he often

40
reveals to his students that the surface environment of the earth is controlled by interactions

between the deep the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere. He is not without fact

that the interactions occur in timescales ranging from picoseconds for chemical reactions on

mineral surfaces to the billions of years over which plate tectonic processes and biological

evolution have radically the composition of the atmosphere. To his credit, he has trained his

students to be at the forefront of scientific discovery in the solid earth, the environmental

geosciences and oceanography/climate science. These students have been trained by Petters

to address critical societal issues, such as climate change and geologic hazards, through

research and education at all levels.

Petters is seen as a good administrator and a scholar of geology. Finally, his mission is

always to understand Earth's history and its future, the energy and resources required to

support an increasing global population, and the challenge of sustainability in a changing

climate 6

Endnotes

1
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.18-22
2
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.34-35

41
3
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.38.
4
Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.24.
5
Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson
Petters , 2021 p.27.
6
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015) p.115

42
 CHAPTER FIVE

Summary

This research work has five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction of the work, it discusses

background to the study, statement of problems, aim/objectives and significance of the study.

It also considers the research methodology, literature review, scope and limitations of the

study and organization of chapters.

Chapter two is an analysis of the birth parentage early life and educational pursuit of Late

Professor Sunday Williamson Petters while chapter three focus on his professional, Christian,

social and marital life. Chapter four is an evaluation of the public opinion on Professor

Sunday Williamson Petters that is what the members of Akwa Ibom State University

community said about him and what other persons in the wider society also said about him.

Chapter five is the summary and conclusion of the work.

43
Conclusion

Late Professor Sunday Williamson Petters was an academic and a sound scholar, a good

manager of men and a renowned geologist, a university administrator, an orator of

international standard a reputable writer and author and a quintessential realist, for his family,

he was a loving husband and a caring father and grandfather, a strong pillow of support and a

strong welled disciplined human. In the ecumenical circle, he was a responsible elder, a lover

of God and through bred Christian. In the secular world, Late Professor Sunday Williamson

Petters was a community leader, a public spiritedpersonality philanthropist and a humanist.

This work is an attempt to bring to the fore these sterling qualities of this great son of Iman

Ibom and a patriot of Ibibio nation.

In sum late Professor Sunday Williamson Petters was a special gift to humanity.

44
 APPENDIX

A: PRIMARY SOURCE

S/N NAME AGE STATUS MODE OF DATE OF

INTERVIEW INTERVIEW

1 Assoc. Janet S. Petters 50+ Married Direct 23rd Sept. 2022

2 Mfonobong Petters 40+ Married Direct 1st Dec. 2022

3 Dr. Emem Petters 30+ Married Direct 2nd January, 2023

4 Dr. Peter Equere 50+ Married Direct 15th January 2023

5 Mr. Ekoh Sunday 60+ Married Direct 23rd March, 2023

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A: SECONDARY SOURCES

Forever in our hearts” – A souvenir programme in honour of professor Sunday Williamson

Petters , 2021
Otoabasi Akpan, Okon Jacob and Charles Effiong, (eds) The Scores: A Festschrift in honour
of professor S.W. Petters (uyo: Aksu Press, 2015)
A. Fajana and S. Osoba ”Education and social development “ in O. Ikeni Groundwork of
Nigerian history (Ibadan: Heinemana educational books plc, 1999) p.161

46