His name still rings bell in the Ivory Tower as one of the key players who defined his era. Among his peers he stands eminently tall both in academic and career achievements.
Professor Akpan Hogan Ekpo is Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State of Nigeria and a former Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management owned by the Central Bank of 5 Anglophone ECOWAS states with headquarters in Lagos Nigeria.
On completion of his Primary and Secondary School Education, he proceeded to the USA for further education. He graduated from Howard University, Washington, DC, USA, in 1976 with a Bachelor’s Degree (Cum laude with Honors) in Economics and obtained a Masters in Economics from the same University. He was in the Dean’s list of the University throughout his undergraduate studies and on full tuition Scholarship based on his academic performance. He was also on Scholarship from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In 1975, he won the American Economic Association Fellowship to study briefly at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. From 1980 where he bagged MA and PhD Degree in Economics. Professor Akpan Hogan Ekpo has lectured in several Universities of Calabar; he was commended for excellence in research and publications in 1987. At the age of 35, he was appointed visiting Professor of Economics by the University of Zimbabawe, Harare, in 1989. Professor Ekpo has held several government appointments in Nigeria. He was adviser to the Calabar Municipal Government; Akwa Ibom State Government, Chairman of his Investment Council from 1999-2007, from 1994-1998. Chairman, Ministerial Advisory Committee, Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, and Member of the Board of the Utilities Charges Commission 2005-2007. In 2001, he was honored with the National Productivity Merit Award by the President of Nigeria and received the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Africa Leadership Award in Accra, Ghana in 2003.
Professor Ekpo has had an outstanding academic carrier, holding several positions in the academia head of department, Dean of Faculty, and Deputy Vice Chancellor. He was visiting scholar to the World Bank and the internal Monetary Fund. In 2000, he was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Uyo, South-South Nigeria. In 2005, he was the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Akwa Ibom State University of Science and Technology, a position he resigned from in 2007 to return to the Department of Economics, University of Uyo. He was commended by the National Universities commission (NUC) for his performance as Vice- Chancellor from 2000-2005. He is a life member of the Nigerian Economics Society and was its President from 2007-2009. In 2012 he was awarded the fellowship of the Nigerian Economic Society. He is also a member of the Nigerian Statistical Association, American Economic Association, Royal Economic Society, Institute of Public Finance (Germany), African Finance and Economic Association (USA), National Economic Association (USA), among others. He has attended over 140 professional conferences and has presented papers in most of them.
Akpan H. Ekpo has written eight books and has published over 200 articles in refereed national and international Journals. He is a consultant to several national and international organization.
Professor Ekpo is married to Njeri and they are blessed with children and grandchildren.