Written by: Wadi Ishaku
After six years as President of the American University of Nigeria, AUN, Yola, Adamawa State, Magee Ensign, Saturday, announced her resignation.
Ms Ensign made her decision public via an e-mail to the AUN community thus putting to rest weeks of speculations.
“Dear members of the AUN community, as you have already heard, I have come to the very painful decision to leave AUN. I did not come to this decision easily or lightly,” she wrote.
While describing the decision to leave as a hard choice, she, however, insisted it was purely on personal reasons.
But shortly after Ms. Ensign announced her resignation, AUN’s Vice President (Administration), Yahaya Zango, named the Provost, Le Gene Quesenberry, as interim president and the Dean, School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ahmad Hosseini, as interim provost.
The appointments, which were approved by the board of the university, took effect from February 25.
Mr Zango assured the appointees of support from the AUN community and praised Ms Ensign’s relentless contributions.
“Let me make this opportunity, on behalf of the AUN community, to thank President Magee Ensign for her stewardship of the university and to wish her well in her future endeavours,” Mr. Zango stated.
“I would also take this opportunity to congratulate Professors Le Gene Quesenberry and Ahmad Hosseini for their respective elevations and to assure them of our full cooperation and support in service to the AUN.”
Ms Ensign has worked in Africa for 15 years and had served as advisor to the Governments of Uganda and Rwanda, respectively before coming to Nigeria.
While serving as AUN president, she founded the Adamawa Peace Initiative, API, a humanitarian organisation that has catered for no fewer than 150,000 persons displaced by Boko Haram in Nigeria’s North-east zone.
She is passionate about internally displaced persons and the girl child and believes in education and empowerment as recipe for overcoming their challenges.