By Chijioke Okoronkwo,
Analysts opine that Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia, has witnessed immense transformation in both infrastructure and academics in the last four years.
According to them, the developments range from new structures to expansion in courses, population of students, improved rating and revenue generation, among others.
They recall that the university was established in 1992 with the objective of providing high quality education and practical training for students to equip them for self-reliance, among others.
They note that before the present administration of the university, there were challenges of moribund facilities, dearth of learning facilities, poor image and low level of students’ population.
They, nonetheless, stress that the appointment of Prof. Hillary Edeoga as the Vice-Chancellor of the university in 2011 has elicited a flurry of developments in the institution.
The vice-chancellor said Edeoga said he had to reposition the institution to justify its objective by embarking on overall development of the school programmes and physical structures.
“To frontally address the challenge of accommodation, we built 10 hostels worth N1.5 billion within one year with internally generated revenue.
“Before I was appointed in 2011, there were only two hostels in the institution and when I came on board, I constructed 10 hostels in one year which were inaugurated by the former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai.
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“We started the construction in August 2012 and completed them in August 2013 and we have made alternative accommodation arrangements for the few students we could not accommodate.
“Also, some of those who had paid but could not get accommodations in the new hostels were given the option of either to have their rents refunded or use them next academic session,’’ he said.
Edeoga said that the N60, 000 per room which the university authorities charged the students in the hostels covered accommodation, transportation and other facilities.
He said that the university provided 20 buses and taxi cabs that were conveying the students around the campus free of charge upon showing their cards from the hostels’ rent.
“When I came on board, I rebranded the colleges and upgraded the university’s ICT which made the public to start patronising our programmes.
“Also, our JAMB quota rose from its initial 1,250 to 5,000 at present within three years,’’ he said.
On revenue generation, Edeoga said that the university was targeting N800 million annually from catfish production.
He said that the fishery/aquaculture and poultry departments had been rehabilitated to ensure their viability and productivity.
“On assumption of duty as the vice-chancellor, l met a fishery/aquaculture department without a single tadpole but today one of the sources of our internally generated revenue is our fish pond.
“We have a project called Operation Produce One million Catfish in a year. If you produce one million catfishes in a year, each weighing minimum of 1kilogramme, we have got N800 million because one catfish of 1kilogramme costs N800.
“We rehabilitated the hatchery project and the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has recognised this institution in terms of fingerling research and production.
The vice-chancellor said that in recognition of the university’s efforts in fish farming, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture donated two vehicles to the institution.
He said that from internally generated revenue, he had tarred all the roads in the school, adding that more projects would be implemented.
He also said that the university was in collaboration with more than five foreign universities on research development.
Speaking more on the developments in the university, Mrs Onyinyechi Ralph-Nwachukwu, the institution’s head of Public Relations, said that the school had been lit up with solar-power street lights.
She said that the university had embarked on other ventures to boost the revenue base of the institution.
She explained that besides fish farming, the institution under Edeoga moved from one-pig house of 20 pens to three-pig houses of 20 pens each.
“The rate of production of the pigs is very encouraging as well as the sales; hence the management recommended the construction of a third 20 pens pig house.
“Live adult pigs are regularly sold in size or slaughtered and sold to the university public at moderate price,’’ she said.
Ralph-Nwachukwu said that efforts were underway to construct a standard Water Bottling Plant, adding that MOUAU Bottled water had 50cl and 75cl sizes.
She said that under Edeoga’s administration, the MOUAU Filling Station, which was moribund, was revitalised.
Sharing similar sentiments, Prof. Polycarp Okafor, the Director of Academic Planning, said that before the present management came on board, there was only one college housing all disciplines in Natural Science.
“We took the first step of unbundling the three disciplines of Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics which were put in one department.
“This disaggregation has begun to yield expected benefits as it has created ample space for specialisation and enhanced vigorous interdisciplinary synergies.
“To further leverage these benefits, the senate of the university created colleges out of the former College of Physical and Natural and Applied Sciences.
“We now have the College of Physical and Applied Sciences and the College of Natural Science,’’ he said.
Commenting on the development at the university, Dr Nnamdi Olebara, the Former Special Adviser, Media to the Minister of Former Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, said that he was impressed that most of the infrastructural developments were undertaken with internally generated revenue.
According to Olebara, such laudable achievements were possible because of a high level of transparency, probity and accountability with regards to fiscal matters in the institution.
Perceptive observers, therefore, opine that with the pace MOUAU is going terms of research, innovation, functional leadership and best practices, it deserves to be designated as an African Centre of Excellence.(NANFeatures)
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