Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
Controversy has continued to trail the bill before the House of Representatives seeking the conversion of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike(MOUAU), Abia State into a conventional university.
Among those that have come hard on the bill sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, is the immediate past Rector of the Abia State College of Education Technical Arochukwu, Dr. Phillips Nto.
In a statement in Umuahia, Nto, who is a fellow of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, vehemently condemned the move to amend the Act setting up MOUAU in order to convert it to a conventional ivory tower.
“It amounts to misplacement of priority to switch over to conventional university at this period the country and the South-east zone are battling food insecurity,” he said.
“I believe our founding fathers had a cogent reason for making (the institution) a university of agriculture,” he added.
Nto, who is a former Finance Commissioner in Abia, argued in favour of retaining the status of MOUAU as a specialised institution while another federal university should be sited in Abia.
The bill seeking to alter the status of MOUAU has already passed its second reading with the Deputy Speaker, who represents Bende Federal Constituency, said to be desirous of ensuring that it is passed into law.
But Nto insisted that the bill is ill-conceived, saying that the sponsors were not in touch with the people they represent hence there was no consultation before rushing the bill to the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.
“What Abia needs is a brand new conventional university not upgrade. A new university will attract a new take-off grant and fresh employment. Other states are doing bills to attract a third university. The deputy speaker should also use his good office to attract a new one for Abia State,” he said.
According to him, converting MOUAU to a conventional university would not attract additional funding from the federal government, nor would it accelerate development in the state the way a brand new university would.
He regretted that at a time Mr. President is harping on food security, those at the helm of affairs are busy working against the attainment of the set goal.
Nto urged both the government and its functionaries to place more emphasis on agriculture as it has a huge potential to generate employment for the youths of the country.
He insisted that what agricultural universities in Nigeria needed now was a law for special and adequate funding so as to attract more students to agriculture and not the conversion of existing ones to conventional universities.
The university don called for adequate funding of MOUAU and scholarships for graduates of agriculture to embark on agribusiness ventures thereby making the institution more relevant instead of assuming a new status.
He also advised Kanu and other federal lawmakers from Abia to emulate their colleagues in other states by vigorously canvassing for additional federal universities instead of pushing for the conversion of the only federal university in the state.
