NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT RENAMES AFTER EKWUEME

However, in a related development, Management of Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, FUNAI, has reacted to the renaming of the institution after the late former Vice President of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme.

The management of the institution in a statement on Saturday signed by Vice Chancellor of the University, Chinedum Nwajiuba said it was excited and proud that the school will now be associated with Ekwueme

“Some may ask why not rename the Polytechnic at Oko? That is for those unfamiliar with protocols and rankings in governance. Some may ask why not upgrade Oko to a university? Government is reluctant to have two federal universities in a state,” he said.

“He had at least seven degrees from a diversity of disciplines including Architecture, Law, and Sociology. Of everyone who has had a university named after in Nigeria, he is the most educated, and perhaps most deserving’.

“He was at a time Chancellor of the Ebonyi state university. He was an early entrepreneur establishing perhaps the first firm of Architects in Nigeria, in the late 1950s. He went on to establish hotel businesses in Enugu, Owerri, and Abakaliki among others.

“The timing and locations of his hotel may tell something about his Igboness. He built the school that became the Federal Polytechnic Oko, and for decades was responsible for the education of so many persons in and outside Nigeria,” Mr. Nwajiuba said.

The VC further described  Ekwueme as a visionary whose ideas, though opposed in 1995 are today being adopted on the country, adding that he was a man of integrity the school should be proud to be associated with