Nothing is inviting in the proposed location of the two faculties. The single-lane and the ever-busy Umuahia – Ikot-Ekpene Road with ubiquitous potholes, and the noise pollution effusing from the new Umuahia Industrial Market intertwined with traffic gridlock, make the place very unacceptable for studying a prestigious course like Law. I wonder if the National Universities Commission (NUC) team will sustain the partial accreditation status to the law faculty when the team visits soon. Indeed, it is a complete contradistinction with the present location at Uturu campus, which its aesthetic beauty and functional facilities are not only state-of-the-art but also command respect and conviviality. The Law Faculty at Uturu campus is also contiguous to other disciplines where law students mandatorily borrow courses for universality of knowledge and for continuous assessment results. If one may ask: what does the university stand to gain from the hurried relocation of the faculties? Why were the critical stakeholders – founding fathers, state legislators, alumni, academia, and students not consulted before the unilateral decision? Does the university currently face the challenges of space and accommodation? Why is that a government that mounts the rostrum with the claim of peoples mandate have scant regard for purposive inclusiveness in policy issues? Where are the democratic tenets of consultation and consensus building?
One side of the conspiracy theory maintains that the governor, for security reasons and to dissuade the prying eyes of the inquisitive public, wants some members of the first family interested in studying law, to attend lectures from Government House to the classroom at Umuahia campus. Insider sources indicate that the governor’s cronies and senior government officials also pushed for the relocation to enable them attend law classes at Umuahia instead of shuttling between their offices at Umuahia, the state capital and Uturu campus. And since no reason was officially given for the militarily–styled action, rumour mill has taken a centre stage. It is even argued in some quarters that it is a part of the grand plot to decimate Abia North for the audacity of their sons to dare Ukwa-Ngwa people in the gubernatorial tussle. Be that as it may, let it be known that Abia State University is a strategic asset that gives the people of Abia North a huge measure of belongingness in Abia project, and so, reducing it to a shadow of itself, in any guise of public policy, is tantamount to a siege on the soul of Abia. For the avoidance of doubt, Abia Central houses the seat of power – the state capital, with a federal university in its environs; and Abia South is home to Aba, the commercial nerve-centre, where the state invests billions of naira annually to fix infrastructure, besides the state polytechnic located in Aba. Why must this special institution sited in Abia North be balkanized without recourse to the people from the area? What informed the state EXCO decision to move the recently approved engineering courses to Aba, where the university clearly has no structure or engineering equipment for the take-off of the programmes?
Realistically speaking, the Law and Business Faculties at Uturu Campus have no need for relocation. They are accommodated in modern and gigantic edifices recently built by TETFUND and the structures are conducive for teaching, research and learning in a serene environment. In economics of scale, the university will incur more running cost and logistics in running a multi-campus outfit, and I know that even before the economic recession, ABSU has been hemorrhaging under financial strain occasioned by poor and irregular statutory subventions from the state government. The Law Faculty is still battling to gain full accreditation from NUC. The disruption in consolidation of giant strides made in Uturu campus is grossly misguided, self-serving and comparable to administering a poisoned-chalice on oneself. Certainly, Abians do not expect this from a governor, who parades a PhD. Politicization of education policies has far reaching implications that may not be readily fathomed. We should be reminded that history will judge our actions in offices. This is the first time, since the creation of Abia State, that persons of Ukwa-Ngwa stock emerged the governor of Abia State and the Vice Chancellor of ABSU, so they should not set a dangerous precedent.
Must we play politics with our children’s future and education? When shall we put an end to the personalization of public policies in Abia State? Senator Ike Nwachukwu, the former military administrator of old Imo State, who oversaw the full realization of the university, and who ensured that the university is bequeathed to Abia State when Abia was carved out from Imo State in 1991 is reportedly not happy with the development. His efforts to remind the authority of the university’s enabling law are being rebuffed. Even from antecedents, the present Pro-chancellor of the university, Senator Adolphus Wabara, cannot make any difference. He is a well known accomplice of powers-that-be, who is usually interested in playing the script of his paymaster. Nonetheless, Abia North indigenes in the state executive council will perennially have questions to answer for keeping quiet when it mattered most. The Deputy Governor, Sir Ude Oko Chukwu should mobilize his people to nip the ugly development in the bud. As the highest political office holder from Abia North serving in the state government, he should adeptly convince his boss to have a rethink. Heavens will not fall! The cloak of state EXCO in the whole laughable drama was merely to give a resemblance of legitimacy, but critical minds are aware that it was the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau. The Senator of Abia North, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa should rise up to be counted. He should not be a dog-in-the-manger.
The situation requires leadership, no matter whose ox is gored. Were Senator Chukwumerije to be alive today, his stand on this issue would have been unambiguous. Our human rights activists should challenge the obnoxious decision of Abia State Executive Council at a law court. Everybody must not be kowtowing to the powers-that-be. Society changes on contradiction. Our people should stop a lily-livered lifestyle and imbibe the culture of asking questions. They should engage their leaders constructively. One remembers vividly with nostalgia, the robust resistance of South-Westerners against the muted plan by the Federal Government to rename University of Lagos after M.K.O. Abiola. And they had their way. According to a former United States President, Dwight Eisenhower, “may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion”. Abia State University should, for the last time, be insulated from the unconscionable politicking of successive helmsmen in Abia’s seat of power.
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