Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, Umuahia
30 years after its establishment,
the Vice Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, in Abia State Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, urged the Federal Goverment to release the University’s take-off grant, to enable her meet up with its challenges.
He said inadequate physical infrastructure, poor funding, high demand on provision of amenities and public utilities and bad access roads to the University are major problems facing the institution.
Pro. Iwe spoke on Thursday during
a pre-convocation press briefing ahead of the 11th convocation ceremony slated to hold on Saturday November 23, 2023.
The VC also pointed out that access to and control of the land acquired for the University by the Federal Government and constant disruptions in the academic calendars due to national industrial actions as other challenges.
He however revealed that despite the brick walls faced by MOUAU, the University has within the 30 years of existence, made a giant stride in academics, human capital development, infrastructure, community service and administration.
He said, “I am pleased to let you know that we have continued to make remarkable headway in various key areas.
“For instance, we are succeeding in making MOUAU an entrepreneurial University in line with our dream of ensuring that it attains a level of enterprise that would enhance its resources.
“Our bread and biscuit factory, as well as our water factory are growing exponentially. All our Colleges are also thriving. Our College of Animal Science and Animal Production and the College of Crop and Soil Sciences, for instance, are vigorously driving a level of animal and crop production that is consistent with our vision.
“Within the next two months, our feed mills will become functional. We will have enough feed for our animals and excess to sell for profit. Additionally, we are working hard on getting feed internally for our fishes, so we can boost fish production to generate more revenue. We are also enhancing our laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment and we will continue to do so for sciences and engineering”.
Prof. Iwe also said that the University is increasing its bandwidth in the area of Information and Communication Technology to achieve full coverage by the end of year 2024, adding also that his administration embarked on the biometrics capturing of all students to enhance security, strengthen examinations and facilitate the speedy preparation of transcripts.
The Vice Chancellor went further to give the statistics of the graduating students as follows: Bachelor’s Degree – 6,917; Postgraduate Diploma – 159; Master’s Degree – 802; and Doctorate Degree – 491.
According to him, a total of 121 students made First Class; 1941 – second class honours upper division; 3063 – second class lower division; 1121 students made third class, while 6 students got Pass.