•Facilities are topnotch, Prof Ajienka
•We Are Poised To Groom Future Pan-African Leaders, Dr. Sam Dede
”For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come”. Habakkuk 3:2. Nothing can be truer than this inalienable scriptural fact. It encapsulates the visionary force of the late Dr. Herbert O. Wigwe, a former Chief Executive Officer, and CEO, of Access Bank Holdings.
Wigwe might have died on February 9, 2024 along with his lovely wife, Chizoba, his son Chizzy and a friend in the ill-fated Eurocopter EC130 that pathetically crashed near the border of California in the United States, but his vision of raising future Pan-African leaders through qualitative education powered by a serene environment, came alive on Thursday, October 17. Eight months apart.
It was an opening ceremony to mark the official commencement of a full blown activities as a prelude to the 2024/25 academic session. The central discussion on the lips of guests and indigenes alike about the University was a deliberate attention to every detail.
Giving the audacity of Wigwe’s vision to have provided such world class learning facilities as showcased in the university, the Pro Chancellor and chairman Governing Council of the institution, Professor Emeritus Julius A. Okojie confessed with excitement that he has never seen any private university with the capacity to take as many as 200 fresh students on its own campus from the crucible like Wigwe’s.
”I was the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, for ten years. Within this period, I gave licenses to eighty private universities in this country and I helped to establish them. None of those universities started with 200 students”.
A physically thrilled Professor Okojie noted that some private universities started operations from primary or secondary schools, “they did not have a full fledge campus with first class facilities like we are seeing in Wigwe university”.
Taking an empirical assessment of the university environment, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, a registered safety and environmental professional, Professor Joseph A. Ajienka said the facilities arrayed in the Wigwe University are “topnotch”.
According to him, “from day one, the university planned to be entrepreneurial. Students from this school will compete with anybody anywhere in the world. They will be minds on, hands on and they will be solution to global problems”.
In the euphoria of that excitement, the special guest of honor at the event, the Rivers state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara announced an award of 100 scholarships to indigent students on the ratio of 70% for Rivers indigenes and 30% for non-indigenes who reside in the state.
Represented by the Commissioner for education, Dr. Okey Chukwuma, Governor Fubara said the opening of the Wigwe university has not only become a reality but has also put Rivers state on a global map, adding that the Wigwe university will change the dynamics of higher education in Nigeria.
“Rivers state government is deeply committed to this university. We are in partnership. We have given scholarships to 100 students. 70% for the indigenes and 30% for non-indigenes who reside in the state. My prayer is that this standard will not go down. Let it be that when next we come here, the standard is even higher”, he said.
Also speaking, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Marwan Al-Akaidi said the Wigwe university was more than just a mere institution of learning: “It is a catalyst for transformation and will apply knowledge to solving real-world problems.
“Our campus will feature cutting edge classrooms, laboratories, libraries and arts spaces designed to support a range of academic and extra-curricular activities”, adding that “from the latest technology in digital learning to sustainable building practices, our facilities will be a model of modern education infrastructure”.
Professor Al-Akaidi promised that Wigwe University would be a citadel for leadership development as its central pillar. “As Vice-Chancellor, I pledge that Wigwe University will focus not only on academic achievement but also on cultivating leaders of integrity, courage, and vision”.
Lecturers, students and non-teaching staff of the institution expressed excitement about the serenity of the university environment and the quality of facilities to make learning a lot easier.
Going by the founder’s vision, Wigwe University is wired to be one of Africa’s first fearless universities poised to ignite the African potentials for greatness and development. The environment is more like a training ground for the next generation of fearless leaders, thoughtful leaders and progressive Pan-African leaders in their own right.
For a start, there are four colleges: college of Arts, college of science and computing, college of engineering and college of management and social sciences. In all, about 40 courses have so far been approved by the NUC.
“College of Arts has four extremely innovative courses and we are offering degree on animation and visual communication. It is the first in Nigeria. We also offer degree on communications and digital media studies. We have film production, theater and performance Arts and we have fine Arts and design”, said Dr. Samuel Dedetoku, popularly known by stage name as Sam Dede.
Melting the spurious argument in some quarters about the school fees being on a high side, the veteran Nigerian Actor and director concedes, “yes, the fees are quite high given the present economic realities, but if you look at the facilities, they are world class. Lecturers are brought in from all over the world. The message of the university is that you do not need to travel out to get good education. You can get that here”.
To him, the cardinal reason to associate with the University is the vision and the way it is designed as the African university. It is built with the mission to tackle Africa’s problems and impact the world globally.
“In the next five years, we are looking for people who will be fearless and forward-looking. That is one of the attributes we lack in Africa. We need to be fearless about the decisions we take on the behaviour of our people. We are training them not to run away with their degrees to Canada, UK or all that. We are training them to impact Africa”.
Depending on the courses, students will pay as much as N12 million and over N9 million in a session. This amount covers a variety of concerns like fees, health care, consumables, books and a lot more.
Baring her mind, Ms Nwogu Obari, a Software Engineering student expressed excitement about the university environment saying, ”this is the first university I have seen that has these kind of facilities. The environment is first class and I expect so much. I am on scholarship and the process was very smooth. Everything was orderly. No preferential treatment.
Another student, Onohirenuan Anne-Maria, of Fine Art and Design only hopes that the classes will be impactful as regards her intended studies. “The recruitment process was not hectic. I got my cut off mark and that was it. I am excited about the facilities”.
In his perspective, Dr. Tayo Isijola, a lecturer in the Theater and Performing Arts department remarked that a mix of “the aesthetic, serenity, the security and the sparkling light at night make life on campus an exciting one”.
A former lecturer at the federal university of Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Isijola recalled regrettably that he had lectured 400 students in a class with no technological aids. But here, “every class has digital interactive tools powered by digital microphones to make teaching and learning a lot easier”.
With the Wigwe University now beaming its full academic blaze from the ancient kingdom of Isiokpo in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers state, Africa is set to renew a platform of churning out future great leaders in the mold of The Great Zik of Africa, Kwameh Nkrumah, Julius Nyereye, Nelson Mandela to mention but four.
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