There is joy flowing in the household of Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of The Frontier online newspaper, Mr Sunny Okim, as well as among his relations, colleagues, friends and well-wishers as his only son, Itohowo, has been inducted a Pharmacist by the Pharmaceutical Council of (PCN).

The event was the 25th Oath Taking and Induction ceremony of 2023/2024 Pharmacy graduates of the University of Uyo, a federal university in Akwa Ibom State.

The junior Okim was among the 101 students who graduated today with a Bachelor’s degree after completion of the five-year pharmacy programme in the institution.

The induction was conducted by the PCN Registrar, Pharm Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed (represented), supported by the principal officers of UNIUYO.

In his welcome address, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Prof Emmanuel Attih, thanked God for making today possible.

He commended the parents and sponsors “for this great sacrifice you have put financially and otherwise to see through these our students”.

In a Facebook post today, the newly inducted Pharmacist, Itohowo Okim, said: “For good six years (instead of five years – no thanks to COVID-19 and the infamous 8-month ASUU strike), I have been on this path. I thank God that this phase is over today. You would readily know it was not easy, but God saw me through. I now look up to Jesus Christ for the next phase of my life which He has planned for me. I am grateful to my loving parents and siblings who have pushed me this far. And to my school community, I say thank you for the full support and cooperation you gave me these past years.”

Pharm Itohowo’s mother, Mrs Grace Okim, was full of praise to God when she said: “Thank you Lord for guiding my son to this milestone. I am overjoyed to see him graduate. Your grace and mercy have been upon him. May he use his knowledge to serve others and glorify you. Congratulations my sweetheart, Mummy is proud of you”.

Itohowo’s eldest sister, Dr Utibe, the first among the three children of Mr & Mrs Okim, and who also graduated as a medical doctor from the same university, now practicing in the United Kingdom and married to Dr Jide Offor Alex-Okoro – a medical doctor as well, was full of joy over her kid brother’s induction today as a pharmacist.

“It really thrills me to know that my only brother has graduated and has been inducted as a pharmacist today. God is so wonderful to us and I will forever worship Him. It is really a thing of joy to see this happen to our humble family.”

For his immediate elder sister, Barrister Ikanna Okim, who also passed through the same institution and bagged a First Class degree in Law, now rounding up her Master’s degree programme in Law at The University of Oxford: “My brother is one of the most resilient people I know. As he gets inducted into the pharmacy profession…I first raise my voice in praise to God for his success, and then raise a glass to tenacity in human form, to diligence and excellence.”

When asked of his comments, the elated father, Mr Sunny Okim, who colleagues and friends call The Grandmaster (for being in the forefront of Nigerian journalists who promoted and projected Nollywood at its inception), said: “What else can I say than to thank the Almighty God for making all these things happen in my family during my lifetime? I am now a proud father of a medical doctor, a lawyer and a pharmacist. It can only be God. I thank Him for His abundant grace and love. Itohowo is my only son, in whom I am well pleased. He doesn’t give the family any stress right from birth. He is very knowledgeable, intelligent, humble and caring. I pray for God to be with him always.”