In every human community there are
those that strive to make things happen, striving to expand the frontiers of
development and make a difference in their society. This breed of progressive
minds, through their personal and collective efforts, gives their best to their
community and in turn derives maximum satisfaction from the attendant
development. At the opposite end, however the dark minds crouch and work and
even pray against the success of every enterprise embarked upon by the positive
minds. The vile-minded persons neither improve themselves nor contribute to the
development of their community. In fact the word development is an anathema to
them hence should not be given space to blossom.
Michael Okpara University of
Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State has, unfortunately, found itself
saddled with anti-development elements, who have sworn to see nothing good in
the visionary leadership of Professor Hilary Odo Edeoga, the Vice-chancellor of
the institution. The naysayers, who congregate in the name of “concerned ASUU
members”, have been sowing seeds of discord among staff and students. But when
they found they were not making any headway in their divisive mission they went
to town and, not surprisingly, found willing tools in two local tabloids, The Eastern Reckoner and National
Ambassador to propagate their falsehoods. The media practitioners (if they
actually merit that noble title) in the two tabloids displayed the most
reckless and unethical practice by publishing all the falsehoods fed them by
the concerned ASUU members without making a modicum of effort to verify the
information. Obviously the two local papers were already suffused with
irrelevance and to the editors the only way out of their doldrums was to engage
in sensational publication to entertain their gullible readers. What a shame!
The reaction of staff and students of
our great University to the falsehoods and outlandish claims made by the dissidents
have deflated the insidious propaganda. But we still deem it pertinent to put
the records straight for those outside the MOUAU community who may not be
familiar with the trend of events in the institution. To start with, there is
need to define the so called concerned ASUU members and properly situate them
in order to understand their motive in correct perspective. The people behind
the malicious falsehoods are not amorphous even though they chose to hide under
the veil of concerned ASUU members MOUAU chapter (as if it is national body).
The MOUAU dissidents are well known to their fellow academic staff and the
authorities of the University. There are not more than five lecturers that
bandied together to wear the toga of concerned ASUU members, constituting an
infinitesimal 0.6 percent of the total academic strength of 764 lecturers in
the institution.
The gang of naysayers comprises no
more than five disgruntled academic staff members who were sanctioned for
various acts of delinquencies unbecoming of their professional calling as
lecturers. They are serving suspensions and other sanctions for engaging in
selling of grades, extortion, sexual harassment and intimidation of students.
Before they were sanctioned, the dissidents were subjected to due process of
investigation and fair hearing before the Governing Council welded the big
stick. It is no gainsaying the fact, that the activities of these randy and
fraudulent lecturers have done a lot of damage to the image of our well
cherished institution. In the eyes of our students and their parents/guardians,
the concerned ASUU members are worth not more than rags. Naturally, nobody had
expected the culprits to rejoice and clap over the punishment meted to them for
their malfeasances. Having soiled their own images their immediate reaction was
to drag the image of the hardworking Vice-chancellor aground for taking
disciplinary measures against them. As the chief executive of the institution
there was no way Professor Edeoga would fold his hands and allow an
infinitesimal number of the academic staff to drag aground the image of MOUAU
and rubbish all the sterling achievements he has made over the past four years.
Under the administration of Prof
Edeoga the federal university named after the late premier of the defunct
Easter Region, Dr Michael Iheonukara Okpara has witnessed unprecedented
development in infrastructure and academic programmes. But the dissidents are not happy because
their stock in trade is to see nothing good in the success of others. They
quarrel with everything, ranging from employment and promotion of staff, development
of infrastructure to expansion of academic programmes and increase in student
admission quota. While everyone else was lauding the effort of Prof Edeoga in
deploying internally generated revenue (IGR) to build 10 hostels at a cost of
N1.4 billion, the dissidents refused to see anything good in this singular
achievement. They went to town alleging that the contract was awarded to one
single contractor appointed by the VC.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The
contract for the building of the 10 state of the art hostels was awarded to 10
(ten) different contractors. A breakdown of the list of contractors that
handled the project showed that three contractors each were from Abia, Imo and
Enugu, respectively while one came from Rivers state. Yet the dissidents
claimed that only one contractor handled the huge project in record time. It
did not occur to them that each of the 64-room hostel was handled by a
contractor hence it was possible to complete the project in record time of 12
months. Each of the rooms is en suite and has four bed spaces giving the 10
hostels a combined capacity of 2, 560 students. Arising from the infernal minds
of the dissidents was a screaming headline in the Eastern Reckoner entitled,
“N300 million fraud rocks Michael Okpara varsity” in which they alleged that
our students were made to pay hostels fees and were not allocated bed spaces in
the new hostel and their money not refunded.
The truth of the matter is that
students over subscribed for accommodation in the ten new hostels. Our students
were excited at the new hostels and its attendant possibility of paying less
and getting much more in terms of facilities and comfort. Compared with
privately-owned off-campus hostels where they are charged N120, 000 per bed
space the new hostels named after former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
came as welcome relief for students. Even those already accommodated in the old
hostel wanted to relocate and enjoy the modern facilities in the new ones. At
the end of the day it was not possible to accommodate all the students that
applied for accommodation in the new hostel. The VC could not help the
situation and gave the affected students the option of getting their money
refunded or rolling over option for next session. Some of the students and
their parents bought the idea while those that did not accept the roll over
option were fully refunded their money. Where then can one locate the fraud in
the issue of students accommodation as alleged by the concerned ASUU members.
It is only in the morbid imaginations of the dissident lecturers. It is indeed
laughable for the concerned ASUU members to insinuate that Prof Edeoga would
turn round to defraud the same students he treats as his own children and has
never left any stone unturned to make them comfortable. For the avoidance of
doubt the VC of MOUAU has acquitted himself as a prudent manager of resources.
That was why he has successfully accessed the funds from the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund (TETFUND) and other interventionist agencies to improve the
infrastructural fortunes of MOUAU, which has made it one of the fastest growing
universities in the country.
The concerned ASUU members did not
hide their distaste for the incremental rise in student intake at MOUAU. It was
a product of the expansion of academic programmes brought about by the Prof
Edeoga’s sterling leadership. Prior to his assumption of office in 2011, MOUAU
was lagging behind among the federal universities that were not filling their
admission quotas. Prof Edeoga was in fact embarrassed when he attended his
first meeting at JAMB when he learnt that his institution could not fill its
admission quota of 1, 250 students. With the introduction of new academic
programmes , MOUAU was made not to only
absorb its admission quota but now has capacity to take in as much as 4,000 new
students per session. What then is wrong with Edeoga’s effort in providing more
admission opportunities for our children, who otherwise would be left wandering
in the streets with annual disappointment of missed admissions in the over-subscribed
universities? Is it not natural that with the exponential increase in
infrastructure and the expansion of academic programmes, the student population would increase?
Presently, MOUAU is a university of choice for students seeking admission. The
reason is not far- fetched, bearing in mind the conducive environment provided
for learning by the Edeoga-led administration.
The growth of the University has
equally resulted in the increase of academic staff. When he assumed office four
years ago, Prof Edeoga inherited 329 teaching staff but the number has increased
to 764. The quality academic staff strength comprises 276 PhD holders, up from
134 four years ago while the number of professors has increased from 33 to 67.
In the same vein the number of Colleges in the institution rose from 11 to 13.
It is to the credit of Prof Edeoga that
MOUAU community enjoys 24- hour water and power supply. He knows that these
basic amenities constitute the antidote for student restiveness. Every hostel
and college has its own dedicated water and power supply. To achieve this feat
the VC has procured eight (8) units of 800KVA generators stationed at different
locations in the campus to compliment the epileptic public power supply. In the
night students study with solar light made available by the VC. All the internal
roads in the campus have been tarred while the environment is landscaped and beautified
with flowers.
In their characteristic sour mood the
concerned ASUU members grumbled over the employment opportunities given to
deserving Nigerians by the management of MOUAU. They alleged nepotism and
favouritism against the VC. But they were missing the point. It is on record
that Prof Edeoga on assumption of office gave full employment to over 200
casual staff, who had been waiting endlessly for upwards of 15 years to become
full employees of MOUAU. To such people Edeoga has come as a messiah and they
would eternally remain grateful to the man who empowered them to be bread
winners of their families. Though he hails from Enugu state the VC of MOUAU has
never used it as a criterion to influence employment or admission policies of
the institution. Michael Okpara
University of Agriculture is a federal institution and this is reflected in its
employment and admission policies. There is no way Prof Edeoga could have populated
the university with his Enugu people and family members as the concerned ASUU
members want the general public to believe. It is part of their smear campaign.
It is to the disappointment of his
detractors that the VC of MOUAU cannot fit into the parochial mould they have
constructed. It is rather the people with circumscribed minds like the
concerned ASUU members that allow their thoughts and actions to be defined with
parochialism. Every promotion and training opportunity given to staff has been
determined by merit. It is pertinent to state that while some academic staff
have been on their toes improving themselves and engaging in meaningful
research and academic publications some others prefer to lazy about finding
fault with everything under the heaven. Such indolent lecturers readily turn
green with envy when they see even their juniors galloping past them in
academic achievements and the attendant promotions. That has been the lot of
the concerned ASUU members, who in their state of academic inertia want every
other person to remain stagnated like them.
It is interesting to note that
despite the campaign of calumny and downright peddling of falsehoods, Prof
Edeoga has remained focused and unfazed in implementing his vision for MOUAU. He
has continued to sustain the pace with which he started his development efforts
in the University and the magic touch is evidently clear. In a matter of months
his eventful tenure would end and he would leave MOUAU far better than he met
it. Those jostling to take over the mantle of leadership should spare Prof
Edeoga the trouble of dragging him into the politics of succession. Enough of
the propaganda and malicious blackmail by the concerned ASUU members!
(Written by Onyinye Ralph-Nwachukwu,
Head,Public Relations & Protocol, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture,
Umudike, Abia State)
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