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By Steve Osuji
If trials and tribulations don’t vanquish you, they are bound to make you better and vault you to higher heights of glory. This saying best encapsulates the story of Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe University (KOMU), in Ogboko, Ideato South LGA, Imo State. KOMU was until recently, known as Eastern Palm University (EPU). It is the brain child of the former governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
According to official reports, it was originally conceived as a state university. It was actually one of the tertiary institutions former Governor Okorocha promised to build in all the senatorial zones of Imo State. But, only the project at his hometown, Ogboko was pursued with purpose and vigour. However, what would have been one of Okorocha’s everlasting legacy to Ndi Imo and humanity at large, was marred by greed and human frailties.
The story of the institution changed midway. First, it changed to a private establishment, then it morphed into a public private partnership with the Rochas Foundation and some foreign partners claiming to own controlling equity participation. At a point, the story was that Imo State government and people owed Okorocha billions of naira expended on their behalf in building the edifice. All of these shenanigans were happening in broad daylight, before the eyes of the people, even those who were privy to the facts of the matter. In 2016, the National Universities Commission (NUC) statutorily recognised and designated the Eastern Palm University as the 42nd state university and 143rd in the Nigerian university system yet the former governor would not let up his vice grip. Though the university commenced business in the 2017 academic year, it continued to bleed and deteriorate as ownership tussle went on. A panel of enquiry was set up with the attendant gamut of Reports, White Paper, legislative enactments taking their toll thereafter.
It is to the credit of Governor Hope Uzodimma that expedited and courageous actions were taken in the last two years to extract the institution from the talons of Rochas Okorocha and his family who are laying claim to a public asset using a foundation. Last year Governor Uzodinma took a series of quick and salutary actions viz: getting the Imo House of Assembly to promulgate the Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe University (Establishment) Law No.1 of 2021. This Law repealed that of the Eastern Palm University.
Second, the incumbent was wise to name the institution after the great K. O. Mbadiwe, a pre-eminent son of Ideato and Imo State. While it’s an administrative feat to have resolved this crippling problem with dispatch, more noteworthy is the appointment of a thoroughbred scholar and administrator, Prof. Ikechukwu Nosike Dozie, as the first Vice Chancellor of KOMU. Prof. Dozie seems the right choice and the best fit for the job. This is why we think that KOMU may well rise from adversity to a glorious tomorrow. Focused and fixated on excellence, Dozie pledged upon resumption, to make KOMU a reference point and one of the best universities in the country.
A professor of Microbiology, specializing in Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, he is also a Public Health Scientist and Community Health Specialist. In order to achieve synergy between academics and management, he also took a certificate in business management from Israel. An alumnus of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Prof. Dozie is driven by excellence. In the document outlining the strategic goals of KOMU, it is stated clearly that the institution’s progress is geared towards “global competitiveness and world-class status.” KOMU’s philosophy as enunciated in its strategic document is to produce scholars who have capacity for success, global competitiveness and stardom. These are to be anchored on the core values of Integrity, excellence, team work, innovation and collaboration. By virtue of his pioneering status, the Vice Chancellor understands the huge burden of history he bears. This is because, the standing of KOMU in the future will be determined by the administrative, academic, sociological and psychological foundations that he and his team lay today.
But the VC seems to have a good compass going by the markers already laid out. Some of them are: curriculum review to reflect 21st Century skills and realities in the global market place; enhanced use of technology for teaching and mainstreaming information and communications technology for digital transformation and efficient service delivery; attraction of foreign scholars, admission of qualified students and adherence to staff-student ratio as prescribed by the NUC.
Furthermore, the school will cultivate a strong culture of sustainable innovation and cutting-edge research; promote students exchange programmes; enhance quality students’ experience and nurture innovation hubs, among others. Nigerian public universities are generally wretched and poorly managed and it is more so with those owned by states. Their physical environments are often unkempt while management is perpetually embroiled in cat and mouse game about subvention with State governments. But Prof. Dozie who spent most of his working life in Imo State University and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri seems to have a grasp of his environment. The VC is already contemplating various strategic business units and commercial ventures that would improve the school’s revenue streams. Since having resources and managing same are two different kettles of fish, the VC seeks to improve institutional governance and financial management systems as well as the university’s internal control mechanisms. This will ensure accountability, and fiscal and financial responsibility.
Some of the banes of state-owned universities also include poor school calendar management, sloppy admission process, accreditation of programmes and proper conduct and management of examinations. KOMU under Prof. Dozie promises to institute a culture of early preparations for the accreditation of programmes.
Many state universities have backlogs of certificates and outstanding NYSC call up stretching to about five years or more; among other debilitating ills. But Prof. Dozie seems poised to found KOMU on a solid culture and tradition of tertiary education benchmarked against the best in the world.
KOMU’s motto is: “selfless service to humanity.” Would the latest state varsity in Nigeria live up to this ideal? Most important, would Professor Dozie, the pioneer VC, lead KOMU from an ignominious beginning into a glorious sunshine? Time will tell and history shall judge.
Osuji, a veteran journalist,
writes from Lagos
