UNIZIK: One Week, more Works, One Trouble!
By Richard Obiorah,Awka, Anambra State.
There is a mixed ambiance at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) where productive academic activities and massive infrastructural development come in successions, even as detractors foment troubles. That perfectly captures the present experience of the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ikechebelu’s administrative team with the forces striving to undermine his efforts at the university.
So far, available records have shown that Prof. Ikechebelu has laboured tremendously to justify President Bola Tinubu’s reason, for appointing him as the most capable hand to steer the affairs of the distressed university; and pull it out of the woods occasioned by its administrative crises in 2024. However, in the past few weeks, UNIZIK became a microcosm of constant progress with persistent challenges – a real narrative shaping the activities of the staff and students of the university.
Early January 2025, every staff smiled back home with their productivity bonus which was least expected owing to the humongous crises that tore the university apart for the greater part of 2024. In keeping with the administration’s BLESSeD Mantra, the university management has restored constant power supply at the Awka and the Nnewi Campuses of the university. Also, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ikechebelu recently equipped the ICT/CBT Centre with 100 computer sets at the Nnewi Campus. This was done just shortly after the Physiology Department at the same Nnewi Campus was gutted by fire from yet unknown sources.
In fact, the current university administration’s commitment to infrastructural development is palpable, from the erection of the UNIZIK perimeter fence vandalized during the 2024 crises-ridden period to the promising improved and more secured learning environments as evident in the recent engagement with the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with the former accepting to establish a Police post at the university. The ongoing projects at different faculties and the completed works in the departments that had accreditation recently are enough testaments that the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ikechebelu, with his team works round the clock in delivering services at UNIZIK.
In the middle of February 2025, the university was in the news owing to its student’s assault on one of the lecturers, the latter’s demonstration of high sense of responsibility and maturity earned him wide commendations; while the former’s exhibition of fighting skills earned her public condemnation and subsequent expulsion from UNIZIK within the same week. As the naysayers thought that the handling of the case would be an albatross to Prof. Ikechebelu, thinking that he would misfire in the case as a parent of the student is reportedly one of the staff, it never happened! However, the university was in the news a negative reason, and every stakeholder was perturbed.
For instance, during his maiden address before the university senate recently, Barr Olugbenga Kukoyi, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, decried the situation of the university and appealed for all that have interest in it to cease actions that can put UNIZIK in bad light especially in the media. While lamenting on the UNIZIK’s negative featuring on the media the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, observes that “in recent times, the university has been in the news for not so ennobling reasons.”
After his lamentation, Barr Kukoyi, made a passionate appeal to the university senate and all that have concern in UNIZIK requesting “let us resolve to be the agents of the good and positive transformation that we desire. Let us brighten the corner where we are. We can do it. And we must do it. If not for our sake, then for the sake of those coming after us.”
Sadly just about three days after the Pro-Chancellor’s lamentation on the negative portrayal of UNIZIK in the media and requesting all stakeholders to take positive actions as transformative agents in the institution, on Sunday, March 2, 2025, the university was featured in an online news outfit – Sahara Reporters, with a screaming headline: “Nigerian University, UNIZIK Caught in Contract Scandal as Acting VC Awards Same Project Twice, Second Over Double Initial.”
Sahara Reporters disclose further that its findings have shown that the contract for UNIZIK’s perimeter fencing was awarded twice to Messr Abdullai Hawawo Construction Co. Limited and Dukkoni Nigeria Limited between October 2024 and February 2025 respectively. The online news outfit claimed that the first contract for the fence was awarded to Messr Abdullai Hawawo Construction Co. Limited at the cost of N180,031,437.50 and the same contract was later re-awarded to Dukkoni Nigeria Limited at the sum of N370,738,367.05 without official revoking of the first contract.
The university immediately responded and debunked the above weighty allegation that Sahara Reporters published. The university swiftly clarified that UNIZIK had no contract with Messr Abdullai Hawawo Construction Co. Limited concerning the perimeter fencing. A discerning mind could perceive the hands of desperate mischief-makers with the audacity to ignore a humble appeal of Barr Kukoyi, the UNIZIK Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council who just left the institution imploring all to sheath their swords in media war against the institution. Regrettably, Messr Abdullai Hawawo Construction Co. Limited is the first to disregard the plea of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council since his appointment in UNIZIK.
In the UNIZIK challenges, the Prof. Ikechebelu-led administration deserves a pat on the back for weathering the storm, offering essential services and providing infrastructural projects amidst distractions. The administration is encouraged to prioritize more on surmounting the endemic challenges hindering the university from getting topmost ranking in the world or Africa, as foreshadowed in the Pro-Chancellor’s recent address to the university senate; where he stressed that “in our efforts to promote excellence, we must work together to advance the university’s research output, non-academic reputation and impact of notable alumni in order improve our rankings in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.”
Also, having confronted the power problems, the university administration should seek other better and cheaper permanent solutions by exploring sustainable energy solutions and investing in a robust power infrastructure. Simultaneously, the ongoing construction works and building projects need to be concluded at record time to ensure that learning and research are giving higher attention for the university to keep gaining visibility.
As UNIZIK navigates this period of transformation amidst daunting challenges, people should eschew fomenting further troubles to undermine Prof. Ikechebelu and his team, as that is, tantamount to sabotaging the university’s prosperous future. The Ikechebelu leadership has shown capacity at the most intimidating periods of troubles and it should be allowed to freely work for the better interest of everyone in UNIZIK. The eyes of the benefactors, the alumni, the host communities, the students, and their parents are firmly fixed on the administration, and indeed, all staff to see how the university progresses without further troubles.
The attention towards improving some learning facilities is commendable, indicating a proactive step to addressing the enduring infrastructural deficits that have plagued the institution. The effort for a more modern and conducive learning environment is a confidence-booster for many in UNIZIK signaling that the Ikechebelu-led administration is committed to all-inclusive development. Nonetheless, the persistent challenges, mostly the internal forces’ collaboration with outside detractors to frequently destabilize the institution, is an unbecoming act that should be totally condemned.
