The joy of a mother was indescribable when her daughter, Dr. Onne Ikwen, recently bagged a PhD on the rank of Superintendent of Police after 10 years service; a rank which she had spent 35 years to reach and retired on, Daily Trust Saturday reports.
Madam Dorathy Bassey, a retired police officer, joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1986 as a Constable, and retired in 2021 on the rank of a Superintendent of Police after 35 years of meritorious service.
She danced, sang and made merry last weekend at the International Conference Centre, venue of the 36th Convocation of the University of Calabar, when her daughter, Dr. Onne Ikwen, was conferred with Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Computer Science.
Dr. Onne Ikwen joined the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet ASP and has attained the rank of Superintendent of Police, 10 years after enlisting in the force.
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She is also said to be the first Cross River born police woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science from the prestigious University of Calabar in addition to being the second female to have bagged a PhD in that field in the history of the university.
“I am so joyful today and a very proud mother. I remain grateful to God for all He has done for my daughter, especially the perseverance to weather the academic stress,” said Mrs. Bassey.
“She has made everyone in the family very proud. What I could not achieve in record time, she has achieved.”
Speaking on her achievement, Dr Onne Ikwen said the five years duration of the PhD programme was very stressful for her, being a mother and a wife.
She said although her bosses gave her full support and cooperation, the academic tasks were quite demanding.
“I am a mother of two boys and two girls. I can tell you that it was really stressful and demanding for me to cope. I had to perform my duties as a wife and mother.
“I also had to perform my official duties in the ICT department where I head without faults. At the same time, I needed concentration on my academic activities.
“I had to endure all these because I had challenged myself to achieve this feat because my father was looked down by someone who said he was a doctor and my dad wasn’t.”
On his part, Dr Onne’s husband, Mr Eno Ikwen, said it was a tortuous journey to success for his wife.
“This journey was not altogether rosy,” Ikwen said.
He pointed out that there were times Onne thought of giving up the academic pursuit due to numerous challenges, but he had to keep reassuring her to keep pushing and have faith in God.
Mr. Ikwen said the wife’s thesis, “Enhancing Crime Prediction Using Machine Learning Algorithm”, which earned her the PhD has a lot to offer the nation. “It is a solution to crime prediction using Machine Learning Algorithm.”
“Dr. Onne is extraordinary. I have met women, but this one is a superwoman. In the last five years of embarking on this project, she carried two pregnancies and with four children, was still able to graduate with a CGPA of 4.75 in record time; combining all that with a tasking career, rigorous training and still being a great wife at home.
“My wife is a woman with a difference. She’s one who believes that with ICT, the Police Force can solve crime even before they escalate, so that the nation is spared from having a huge chunk of our youthful population in prisons by deploying available national resources to educate and equip these youths before their environments derail them into crime.”
Dr. Ikwen’s father, Chief Vincent Bassey, said he initially opposed his daughter’s choice of studying Computer Science. His had preferred Medicine and Surgery. But as fate would have it, Dr. Ikwen got admission to study Computer Science but promised her father that she will bring home the doctorate title to him.
“Today is a day of joy for me as a father seeing her become the woman she has become today.”
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