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•ASUU strikes have helped universities to grow
By Agatha Emeadi
Prof Owunari Abraham Georgewill, a Professor of Medicine, was the 9th substantive Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State who served the institution from July 2021 to July 2026.
Within the five years of his tenure, Owunari painted a glowing picture of how humility, diligence, hard work and grace made him an excellent team leader as VC.
In his words, “History was made when I, the first graduate of the University of Port Harcourt to become a functional Vice Chancellor of the school since its inception in 1975, handed over to my classmate, Prof Chike Princewill Chike in July 2026.”
In an interview with the reporter, Georgewill summed up his life and accomplishment as Grace-to-Grass and Grass-to-Grace.
What do the expressions, Grace-to-Grass, and Grass-to-Grace mean?
Well, what that means is, my twin brother, Hon. Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill and I (The Georgewill Twins) were born in Lagos. Our father was a middle class Manager with Railway Corporations which was a big feat then. But six months into our birth, our father died and our mother relocated us to our village in Abonema, not Port Harcourt town. People have ruled us out that our father was dead; therefore, we would not amount to anything in life. Our grace was the status of our father who was comfortable, while the grass was moving to the village all of a sudden. Then working hard to become who we are today is our grass to grace. We had no other person except our mother and her own mother who was our grandmother. There was no uncle or aunty, just nobody except mummy and grandma. At 61, my twin is the presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal in the South West. I am a Professor of Medicine and the first graduate of the University of Port Harcourt to become the 9th substantive Vice Chancellor of University of Port Harcourt since 1975.
How was growing up like for you?
Well, our mother and our grandmother raised us with emphasis in strong academics, humility, character and hard work. Our resolute was to fight poverty through education. So, growing up, I gained admission into UNIPORT to study Medicine & Surgery while my brother studied Law at University of Nigeria Nsukka. I remember vividly that it was not rosy at all. Whatever our mother who was a catering officer in UNIPORT gave us was the best she could afford. Therefore, garri, sugar and groundnut were compulsory to augment whatever we had. But she did not joke with our books. At the beginning of every new semester, the shirts my twin brother wore in Nsukka will serve me in Port Harcourt and vice versa. Our only business was to read our books. We did not have any social life as undergraduates. So to the glory of God, God refuted those thoughts. Apart from academic heights, we are both Chiefs, members of the Order of Knight of St. Christopher and Lay readers in the Anglican Church.
You just left office two months ago as the 9th vice chancellor of UNIPORT, what have you been doing?
I came into office in July 2021 and handed over in July, 2026. Though I have been on leave, but with academics one works and rests as well.
After five years as VC, what exactly would you be remembered for?
To God alone I give all the glory for the milestone. First, I should be remembered as a humble VC who communicates, interacts, serves all levels of the stakeholders in the university, starting from the government, ministry, staff, students and to the level of cleaners, yet, it did not make me a less VC. The sum total of the success in the university is not the VC, but the little work from various places put together, that is the success of the university. Coming down at all levels helped create a bond between me and the university community. That bond also made people to give out their bests because they were motivated.
Now, I will be remembered as a VC who brought peace to the university community. About seven professors contested with me. When I won, I integrated everybody which brought peace. I made them Directors of Centres, Deans of various Faculties for the first time in the history of UNIPORT. They remained relevant in the system, stood the opportunity to contest again, and worked out their heart which was a win-win for us all. Otherwise, they would have stood as opposition.
I am the first VC that students call ubiquitous VC or Daddy because my interaction with all makes me get information from all the students more than anybody. Students know that when they write me, VC will be there even before the Chief Security Officer (CSO). During examinations, I go round all examinational halls and share scripts alongside lecturers which excite students. Next students will post and share ‘Does your VC share exam scripts for the students? As a VC, I taught my medical students for five years but did not examine and mark scripts. I did it because since I have the knowledge, expertise, experience and was active. Their lecturers were my students that I taught as well. So, medical doctors do not remember their VC but will always remember their teachers.
Again, I will also be remembered as the VC that elevated over 500 senior lecturers to become professors. Since inception, there was a rule that for one to become a professor, after all the hurdles, you will then face mother-of-all interviews. I abolished that rule. Before I left office, from July 2021 to July 2026, we produced about 500 professors. The moment you are qualified, send your details, prove yourself, except you are not qualified, no Jupiter can stop you. It was history made in UNIPORT.
In the same vein, there was a career structure for non-teaching staff that has been dilly-dallying for years where they retire at level 13. It has been tough fighting to remove that career structure. I was the VC that removed it. Today, non-teaching staff can get up to level 14, 15 and 16 before retirement. I took it to council and they approved it. It is career motivation.
I am the VC that celebrates staff and students who achieved feats. I, the VC will post it myself, not the PRO. For all the awards won, I celebrated it. It brought about healthy competitions among staff and students knowing the VC will celebrate them on all the platforms. I also did what is called ‘This week in retrospect’ where in every Friday I publish all significant activities that took place in the University from my own social media handles. Every week, every staff and student knows exactly what happened in the school. I did it for five years. The compendium of that is in a book that I have which are more than 400 pages. If you read that book, you have read my five-year tenure. Everything is recorded in that book. It is one thing to be a VC and another to have the passion for the job. If you have the passion, you will go beyond the office and try to make things work.
Equally, I will be remembered as that VC who used partnership to complete a CBN abandoned project since 13-14 years ago. When I came into office, I went to CBN; they came to UNIPORT and handed the structure to me. Then, we looked out for partnership that completed it into a five-star hotel. Same partnership pays money into the university on monthly basis. Other universities still have theirs abandoned.
At the University of Port Harcourt, we have 10.7 Mega Watts’s power plant High-bridge solar system that was installed by the Federal Government which costs millions of dollars. I am talking of a solar farm that has 40,000 panels installed like a football field. I switched it on in January before I left in July. That gave me a big sigh of relief because it took charge of electricity and power issues. With that, UNIPORT has at least 18 hours power supply every day which dramatically reduced our electricity bills.
Same way CBN was building a centre of excellence, a multipurpose hall for seminars and conferences, they gave me that one too and that complex hosts most international conferences than anywhere else in South-south.
As the 9th VC, I cultivated a lot of friendship with strategic partners who paid school fees of over 3000 students in this university. These students do not know their benefactors until they graduated. I was doing that before NELFUND came on board. I saw the struggling system of school fees payment. I knew I have to look for people to support some students. If state-of-the arts-buildings are erected while students cannot pay fees, it is no development. I met some friends who asked what I wanted. I told them “Train my student.” I also told them the truth on how to go about it. I did not go into a launching of millions for Educational Trust Funds. I simply told them if you pay One hundred thousand in a year, (N100, 000.00) a student will be trained because school fees were N48, 000.00 then. So when we took N48, 000.00 as school fees, we give the student the balance for upkeeps. With that simple truth, some people decided to train 5, 20, 30, 50 students within their capacities. Even when school fees of public universities rose, we did not tell these sponsors to increase. No, just give us N100, 000.00 only. Those sponsors became the stars of my administration.
In the five years that you were the VC, were you sleeping with both eyes closed?
For the passion I have for the job, I hardly slept. Why, because agreed, you will delegate power and authorities, but delegated authorities must be supervised. There are people manning different segments of the university, but as the team leader, you must wander around; otherwise things might spoil. My passion led me to monitor effectively even with authorities, I must supervise. I watched things with my eyes because I go round. Sometimes I stumble on things before the person in charge gets there. Sometimes, I see students eyeball to eyeball and sort out their issues before others come. I did all that because when the system fails, the VC has failed and must be held responsible. There are times I left classrooms by 2.00am with my full security after going round the three campuses. I go round to see that lectures and researches are going on etc.
Here in UNIPORT, we have three big campuses, Choba, Abuja and Delta Park which we go round steady for five years and God did the remaining. I got a feedback that those my midnight patrol made thousands of students to come out and read in the night because they knew that the VC is on patrol and fear was removed from them. Now, no university is free from the good, bad and ugly. It is one’s presence and seriousness that made the difference. My patrol became so effective that students would tell others, “Do not go there, the VC and his team might be there because the effect of the VC is not the same effect of other officers. Students cannot dare the VC. So, through the mercy of God and with my activities, I had no issues at all for five years I was the Vice chancellor.
How healthy do you think Nigerian Universities are?
Nigerian universities are healthy. Even though there are challenges, but Nigerian universities still produce graduates that can hold on their own in any part of the world.
But some think that present graduates are not a match to graduates of yesteryears. What is your take on this?
I do not agree to that as a vice chancellor. I trained in Nigeria. But presently the curriculums have become wider and there are a lot of things to do now than then. Everything is more sophisticated now than then. In terms of technology, there is no programme that is still as it was in 1975 till date. Technology has almost taken over to get advanced knowledge. It has become more sophisticated and knowledge has also evolved unlike our time. New ideas have come on board. We are now updating our knowledge. Even some diseases in medicine today were not there when we were in medical school. So today, the students are learning while we are updating. So, it is not entirely correct that this generation of students is not as good as the old ones. On individual grounds, there are some who are far better, there are students who are excelling and doing very well, when they leave Nigerian universities, they go out there and excel. Nigerian universities have their challenges but they are healthy.
Incessant strikes have been one of the problems of public universities. Even now, ASUU has been giving warnings. How can this be addressed?
Strikes are for a reason. ASUU does not go on strike because they like strikes. They want the public universities and their welfare to be upgraded. ASUU always goes on strike when they think that what is happening will not allow them to do their work properly, or will not allow the students to get the knowledge they need properly. I can tell you that these strikes have helped the universities to grow, serve better than what they would have done if there were no strikes. Some of the strikes become compulsory to draw government attention. I will also let you know that the major challenge in Nigeria university system still remains funding. In public universities, students pay N48, 000.00 and N78, 000.00 to study Medicine and Surgery while their counterparts pay N6, N7 and N8m to study the same course. Should government allow public universities to charge such amount so there will not be strikes again? If we do that, how many Nigerian children can have education? When I became the VC in 2021, fees were N45, 000.00; yet, more than 50 per cent could not pay it. So, if we do N7m, how many people will be able to pursue a career in Medicine and other courses? One should therefore look at the funding challenge between the private and public universities. If the government asks public universities to charge like the private, the public university will have so much money.
What about Alumni members of schools? Can they not support public universities?
Some Alumni members of some public schools are interested in what they will get. Most of them are in court fighting over superiority and leadership. In the past, I must confess that the Alumni of University of Port Harcourt have tried on individual basis and as a group. Remember that former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Rotimi Amaechi, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike and Governor Alex Otti are all alumni of UNIPORT. Their footprints are written here like so many others who have built structures to support the university. But as a group, it has been difficult to organise themselves. In my five years as VC, I did not see more of the alumni as a body. Again, some classes of graduates like U-83, U-76, U-99 would organise themselves to do something for their Departments, Faculties and Colleges. In that wise, they are trying.
Public universities struggle to pay PHCN bills, Can’t they generate electricity on their own?
They cannot because it requires millions of dollars. First where will a university get the money to generate and set up the machinery for electricity?
What about university IGR?
The challenge of universities to provide services only is not an easy task. Should other services in the university be ignored because one wants to generate electricity? Knowing that 33,000 litres of diesel for just one tank can cost up to N40-50m? How much school fees of N78, 000.00 can do that? Before one is able to generate their electricity, PHCN bills goes as high as over N100m per month. Do not forget that school fees are paid once in a whole academic year which is also expected to manage for the whole year. We are not talking about other expenses of the school. There is no way any public university in Nigeria can use its own money to do an independent power plant to give electricity to the whole university. The way the university runs, there are things that if neglected for just one day, the university will be in trouble. We thank God that government is trying to intervene in the energy sector.
What kind of pressure do you face as VC during admission exercise?
I do not face any pressure. Pressure is for VCs who want to face pressure. I had no pressure because someone has the right to make an admission request. We also have the right to find out where the person can fit in. The pressure only comes when a parent wants a particular course and the VC succumbs, that is the pressure. If you tell the person what the score can give him or her, then if it is not okay for them, they will accept otherwise, God knows I have done my best. I had no pressure at all. I will offer what the qualification is because the public universities remain the best schools to train children.
How did you feel handing over to your classmate, Prof Chike Princewill, as the new VC?
In the history of Nigerian Universities, it was the first time a classmate handed over Vice Chancellorship to a classmate. It was history made. Prof Chike Princewill is a professor of Cardiovascular and Tissue Perfusion Physiology. UNIPORT Governing Council announced him as the 10th VC in June. I handed over to him in July.
For two of us, UNIPORT was agog in celebration. It was one week celebration of the outgoing and incoming classmate VCs. Recalling our days as young medical students, we used to read together.
