Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, Vice Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike
Leave Michael Okpara Varsity to thrive, Abia needs new federal university – Prof Iwe
…Lists achievements as he clocks 4 as Mouau Vice Chancellor
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Vice Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, has advocated for the establishment of a new, full-fledged conventional federal university for Abia State.
Prof. Iwe made his stand known in the ongoing debate regarding the proposed conversion of MOUAU to a conventional university.
He spoke on Monday, March 3, 2025 during a media parley organized as part of events to mark his fourth year in office as Vice Chancellor of the institution.
He said MOUAU was unique and has a historical origin that need not be tampered with.
Recall that some federal lawmakers from Abia are sponsoring a bill seeking the conversion of MOUAU from a special agricultural varsity to a conventional university, to expand its programmes and be able to admit more students.
The move to change the status of MOUAU through the bill which has already passed the First Reading in the House of Representatives has attracted varied reactions. While many have welcomed the move, others are of the opinion that proponents of the bill should rather push for establishment of a new federal university which is lacking in the state.
Adding his voice to that of those in support of establishment of a new federal university for Abia, Prof. Iwe, thanked those pushing for the conversion of MOUAU but urged them to tread carefully.
“We appreciate everything that anybody is doing to show that he/she loves MOUAU, loves Abia State and loves Igboland.
“For me, Abia in particular, needs a think-tank devoid of politics. Some of us have come a long way; some of us were young children during the civil war; we have been across the country, we know what is going on around Nigeria.
“This university is a historical university and because of that, we must tread carefully, when we are handling the issues of MOUAU,” he cautioned.
According to him, MOUAU does not jus belong to Abia but the South east region because the request for its creation was presented by the people from the region as a bloc. “The Igbo asked for the tripod to be created outside Abeokuta and Makurdi and those two universities are still universities of agriculture,” the food scientist said, explaining that the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration renamed the institution Dr. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in honour of the late Premier of Eastern Nigeria in recognition of his exploits in the development of entrepreneurial agriculture in Nigeria.
“It will be good that we read history; as life goes on, we must respect history, we must respect people whose names are placed on history, so it will be good that since Nigeria knew that Michael Okpara did a lot on entrepreneurial agriculture, that this university should be left to bear that name,” the Vice Chancellor submitted.
For him, federal government should establish a new university for Abia to cushion the disadvantage the state was suffering because of dearth federal universities in the state. “So, Abia needs another university, that’s the bottom line of what I am saying and the earlier it is given to Abia, the better because surrounding states have two federal universities (each).
“The more you leave Abia with one university, the more you cause more tension and stress upon Abia people,” he said. This is because Abians find it difficult to get admission and jobs in other universities outside the state, he added. As a result, he said “I think we should all go for another federal university and continue to grow MOUAU.”
The Vice Chancellor said that the university has witnessed tremendous transformation under his leadership in the past four years and expressed gratitude to God that there has been peace on the campus which made the achievements his administration has recorded possible.
“We have enjoyed God’s grace and peace on campus here,” he said, as he listed his achievements to include making the university “an entrepreneurial, agricultural university, responsive to the agricultural needs of Nigeria by producing highly skilled manpower,” while “providing administration that is all-round friendly, and will continue to be as fair, just and humane to all and sundry.”
He said that his vision was to improve the Internally-Generated Revenue of the university to compliment government subvention by creating an institutional environment free of security lapses, secret cult and examination malpractices, among others.
“I vowed to commit myself to maintenance of high academic standards that will match international benchmarks within the context of the law, vision and mandate of MOUAU.
“We have been able to create an environment of friendship, environment of peace, environment of productivity, environment of having students that we can attest to that these ones passed through us in training.
“We have made it clear that our student population should be something that we should be aware of. We made sure that the students that enter examination halls are our students.
“Of course, we have gone as far as adding to the programmes we met on ground, in engineering, in agriculture, in Management; the courses that we lost few years ago, we are relisting them for reaccreditation.
“I have brought in Centres that never existed before: Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Agribusiness and Incubation Centre (ABIC) so that people can come here to learn how to grow their own agricultural hubs and projects, and MOUAU Business School; Centre for Excellence in Root Crops, among others. Even though earlier on, we had our Centre of Extension but we also made sure that the other Centre of entrepreneurial Development is working hard,” he told the Press.
