NO CRISIS IN MICHAEL OKPARA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, UMUDIKE
By Onyinye Ralph-Nwachukwu ( Source: The Sun, August 7, 2015 )

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 ( 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)