Abia State Deserves a Conventional University with Diverse Courses, Says Former Lawmaker
Abia State in southeastern Nigeria is in dire need of a conventional university that offers a wide range of professional courses, such as medicine, law, engineering, and many more, according to Jerry Uzosike, a former member of the Abia State House of Assembly. Uzosike, who represented the Umuahia South constituency in Abia parliament, made this call in reaction to the recent bill before the House of Representatives for the establishment of Bola Ahmed Tinubu University of Nigerian Languages.
Uzosike believes that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has the capacity to attract a conventional university to Abia State, which is the only state without a conventional Federal University. In fact, Abia State’s Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike has lost many departments in the past due to the scrapping of non-agric related courses.
Uzosike also commended General Ihejirika, who established a military language school in Isuikwuato, but laments that it would have been more beneficial if the school was made a conventional military university, offering a broader range of courses. This, according to him, could have significantly advanced local development in the Isuikwuato area and Abia at large.
It is imperative that the Nigerian government and relevant stakeholders take Uzosike’s advice seriously and work towards establishing a conventional university in Abia State, providing the state’s young people with access to quality education and equipping them with the skills needed to contribute to the country’s development. With a conventional university, Abia State can leapfrog its current educational limitations and join the ranks of states with world-class institutions.
