KEEPING THE LION ALIVE
University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus is in bad shape. It needs help, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi
In the course of our journey through Enugu last week, a very senior lawyer and I decided to visit our alma mater, the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus (UNEC). It was my second visit in the last two years. Before making a left turn from College road and embracing the UNEC gate which will finally lead us into UNEC, we requested a final year law student to be our guide round the campus in case our residual geography of the campus failed us. A young man of pleasant bearing, he kept repeating that the prestigious campus had been left to rot by those who ought to labour to maintain its prestige.
On entering UNEC one sees a university squirming in pain, owing to wear and tear. Manuwa Hall, Mariere Hall, Mbonu Ojike Hall, Kenneth Dike Hall, Lady Ibiam Hall (Babylon) had probably not been re-painted for a very long time. Our guide confided in us that UNEC students learn and study under very degrading and inhuman conditions. The decrepit toilets ooze suffocating odour. We were greatly shocked when we visited two professors living in what serves as the university lecturer quarters. Most of the apartments in the quarters are worn out. In fact the buildings looked like pre-Nigerian Civil War’s. The louvre blades and louvre glasses to the apartments were all broken leaving the apartments in a very miserable state.
The first professor we visited was practically living inside a mangled house located inside a small bush. He welcomed us with a smile and beckoned on us to enter his sitting room. For obvious reasons, we turned down the offer and instead preferred to chat with him outside the house. The second professor we visited insisted we that we must enter his apartment and at least greet his wife and members of his family. Of course, we obliged him. He offered us kola nuts and a bottle of wine. As we sipped the wine, I noticed that the walls of his poor apartment were all broken down. A part of the roof to the apartment had big holes, an indication that the roof leaks. All the door locks were either in a broken state or had been yanked off. What used to serve as the car garage had been overtaken by bush and rats and lizards.
We later left UNEC dumbfounded. Our guide just smiled at us. He had been vindicated. UNEC is in a bad shape. It needs immediate refurbishing and cleaning up. The university environment is an integral of part all-round
THE UNIVERSITY IS SQUIRMING IN PAIN OWING TO WEAR AND TEAR. MANUWA HALL, MARIERE HALL, MBONU OJIKE HALL, KENNETH DIKE HALL, LADY IBIAM HALL (BABYLON) HAD P ROBABLY NOT BEEN REPAINTED FOR A VERY LONG TIME
formation which a university ought to impart in the students. If university students study under very dirty atmosphere they would later graduate as dirty students. As I stated here last year, the University of Nigeria (UNN) is not just any university: it is the first indigenous and first autonomous university in Nigeria. It is a national monument that belongs to our national pantheon. All over the world, first autonomous universities like the UNN are always well preserved. Lest we forget, the UNN is not just a university: it is the symbol of our brotherhood in one fatherland. It is the bond of our unity and fraternity; a living testament to our triumph over British colonial rule. That was why when many years ago the idea was mooted to change the name of the UNN to Nnamdi Azikiwe University in order to immortalise the late Rt. Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the idea was unanimously rebuffed.
Therefore the Buhari government should ensure that sufficient funds are made available to give the national monument that is the UNN a befitting face-lift. But beyond government, the UNN authorities should get the UNN Works Department to carry out routine repairs and re-paintings of buildings. What does it cost to, for instance, re-paint a university hostel or repair a broken tap? Little, I suppose. Therefore the UNN Vice-Chancellor should mobilise people across the divides to come to the aid of UNN. The various branches of the University of Nigeria, Alumni Association could undertake to effect routine repairs or sponsor full projects in the university. Already the Ibeto Group of Companies is erecting a medical centre at UNEC at its own cost. The Central Bank of Nigeria too is building a gigantic structure which will serve as a Centre of Excellence at UNEC. Therefore alumni, friends and admirers of the university, philanthropists, business moguls and the private sector in general should assist too in rebuilding the UNN.
A framework of human solidarity should be built to resuscitate the UNN. If the motto of the UNN is to restore the dignity of man, then the UNN academic environment should be upgraded to communicate that philosophy to the students and all. And if the logo of UNN is a roaring lion and if the students of the university metaphorically address themselves as lions and lionesses, it testifies to the high learning and character imparted at UNN. For a lion does not die. It is the king. It is always alive.