Reports of rot at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, (MOUAU) under the watch of Prof. Hillary Odo Edeoga as Vice Chancellor unsettled the peace of the institution recently. Campus Sun reporters visited the institution to ascertain the facts. They spoke with the Director, Centre for Project Development and Revenue Generation, Prof. Nnamdi Mbanefo Anigbogu. Excerpts:
Sir, there have been reports of rot in this university. How did it start?
It will interest you to note that moral and ethical standard was not in place in MOUAU before now: Rather, there was a mafioso that hijacked the office of the Vice Chancellor for a long time now. They had great influence in the mismanagement of the system before Prof. Anya/Prof. Edeoga came on board. These cabals have been recycling themselves from the tenure of one administration to the other, and to worsen things they determined what happened in MOUAU before now. They are mutants that mutated from within the system. You see, when they were neglected, and changed for better qualified and intelligent young managers, that are of the digital-age than those of analogs, this resulted to what we are seeing now, that is, fighting and creating lies on Prof. Edeoga, the Pro-Chancellor, Prof. Anya and the entire Governing MOUAU Council. I see what is happening as an abuse of academics.
It was alleged that some students paid N60,800 for hostel accommodation but were never allotted any space nor refunded their money. What’s your take?
My friends, I am in this system, and I am a member of the University Senate of MOUAU. I am also the Director of the Centre for Project Development and Revenue Development. If there was any mistake, all of us are to blame. There is a laid-down rule guiding the universities in Nigeria. Also, it is the Senate that makes the law and deliberates other matters of the university as the case may be. I am aware that when the hostel was completed, the amount of N60,800 was fixed. There was a rush by students to pay for their accommodation, but the allocation was based on first come, first serve, for the new as well the old students. This was allowed that way, so that one would not say, some groups were paid more attention to than the others. The hostel allocation was not on man-know-man, or influenced by any person, not even the Vice Chancellor or the Pro-Chancellor. It will interest you to note that, two of my relations were also involved. Ten of my friends wards were involved because I encouraged them to pay. At the present, many hostels are being built by the university and are about to be completed and commissioned. Therefore, the problem of hostel accommodation will soon be a thing of the past. You have gone round to see things for yourself. Compare what is now on ground with what were there previously.
What is your reaction to the fraudulent allegations that were laid against your Vice Chancellor and the MOUAU Governing Council by a local newspaper recently.
I do not agree with the newspaper on any ground. They just framed lies. The newspaper sowed seed of disunity and hatred among us. Why did the newspaper refuse to disclose her source of information? I hope you had visited our campus before Prof. Edeoga and the new Council came on board. One should know that Prof. Edeoga is a no-nonsense man. He is a man that is very careful in life, a man who is here to achieve and for a total change in MOUAU. Prof. Edeoga is a radical transformer that MOUAU needs at this time.
How did MOUAU lose 12 accredited courses in your institution as being alleged?
This was an institution without enough lecturers to teach the students, and with very poor enrolment mostly from the pre-sciences and those awaiting results. As of then, I was teaching almost four to six courses in a semester as against two courses that I teach today to undergraduate students. How could it be, when most of the post-graduate programmes were not mounted simply because there were no qualified lecturers to teach them? What are the factors for such accreditation as of that time? Today, MOUAU is better in infrastructures, quality lecturers, good programmes, and better environment both for the students and the staff. And with abundant grants for researches, for overseas and local conferences all to the credit of the current MOUAU Governing Council, the Pro-Chancellor, Prof Anya and to the MOUAU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Edeoga. If not because of the high ranking of the current MOUAU and the accreditation of almost all her programmes, the students from the western world will not be coming to this institution to study. It is good for you to know that MOUAU is at present offering Medical Science programmes, to produce quality medical staff, including doctors. We are in the rural setting, with farmers and rural communities being afflicted with many types of diseases, tthat lead to death. And from such developments we could train the health personnels for efficient performance. That’s why MOUAU is going into Human Medicine. A lot of complications in the rural areas affecting the farmers have made the MOUAU to do this, thanks to Prof. Edeoga, the MOUAU Governing Council and the Senate.
Could you please tell us a few of the programmes that are now accredited?
Looking at the progammes on campus. The Mathematics Department, College of Veterinary Medicine and its component departments and others are among those with full accreditations now. In the history of MOUAU, this college and many departments have never been accredited. Thanks to the enabling atmosphere provided by Prof. Edeoga and Governing Council with the cooperation of the respective Deans and Head of Departments that made this to work. It is on record that the College of Veterinary Medicine just took their first board examination which has been denied them since the onset of that college. I also put you on notice that all the students passed the said examination, all, to the credit of whom? Is it for Prof. Anya, Prof Edeoga and the MOUAU Governing Council? No, it is for all of us.
Is it true that Georgina Edeoga, the wife of the VC, completed her Masters in two years on part-time basis, instead of three years, and was appointed Lecturer II instead of Lecturer III?
As far as I am concerned Mrs. Georgina Edeoga is an intelligent woman who has showed the quality she is made of in MOUAU. Many have benefited from her programmes and her directorate in MOUAU. What is in it for someone to complete his or her M.Sc in two years? That means she is intelligent. It is high time we did away with this colonial mentality. The same MOUAU also investigated me for doing my M. Sc. in two years, and PhD in three years. They wrote my alma-mater on this but my alma-mater gave them an answer that shocked them: “that I was one of the exceptional students and that they could not stop me from having such a record.”
On Mrs. Edeoga’s entry point as a Lecturer II, instead of an Assistant Lecturer on first appointment, that is rubbish. I am sure Mrs. Edeoga has all the qualifications to make her capture the Lecturer II as given to her. She must have had some publications in that area and in other related areas as dimmed fit for Lecturer II. As I can recall, she was part of my publication in the “Utilization of Municipal organic waste for farm animal feed: as an alternative municipal waste management.” The lecturers that taught her at MOUAU can attest to her excellent class works. Is it because she is the wife of Prof. Edeoga that what is due to her should not be given to her? With even three to five papers based on the quality of the write-up and the journals, she is qualified to be Lecturer 1. Should she be left out simply because she is the Vice Chancellor’s wife? I also put you on notice that she is the first and the only Vice Chancellor’s wife that reached out to the grassroots to implement programmes regarding MOUAU Women Centre, which she founded. Do you know that she has helped more than 200 women of MOUAU to obtain the US visa to the United States, and also helped not less than other 500 women to travel on conferences and excursions outside this country, to the credit of this university? Also some fools are going round saying that shops at the MOUAU business centre were being allocated to her. I have debunked that as a big lie. The shop she is managing in MOUAU business unit is that of the MOUAU Women Cooperative that was allocated to the association during Prof. Onyido’s time as requested by Mrs. Onyido as the MOUAU women head. This is the simple truth.
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