A very patriotic Nigerian, an alumnus of the University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Phillip Ozuah has donated the princely sum of one million dollars to the University. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Montefiore Medicine, United States of America. The donation was confirmed in a statement signed by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka. Professor Ozuah made the donation while delivering a keynote address at a fundraising ceremony. The VC stated that the donation would serve as a catalyst for the timely construction of an ultra-modern Student Hostel.

The Vice-Chancellor who aligned himself with the position of an eminent Geographer, Professor Akin Mabogunje on the management of public universities proffered that the only solution to the lingering ASUU crisis is for the regulatory bodies to provide a sustainable platform for funding. According to him, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) and other three university-based unions have been on strike for the better part of the last six months and there is no end in sight. ” The fundamental cause of this protracted strike can be attributed to the inadequate funding of public universities in Nigeria.

”An interrogation of this crisis has been traced back to 1975 when the then Federal Military Government took over the four hitherto regional universities at Nsukka, Zaria, Ile Ife, and Benin City in addition to the two Federal Universities at Ibadan and Lagos while simultaneously creating, by fiat, seven new Federal Universities which are now referred to as the Second Generation Universities (Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Jos, Maiduguri, Sokoto and Bayero Kano). Ibadan, Lagos, Nsukka, Zaria, Ife and Benin constitute the First Generation Universities by this classification template. In effect, from owning and funding two Universities the Federal Government suddenly had 13 universities to manage without a corresponding increase in funding. ” That marked the beginning of the decline of the glorious era of the Nigerian University system. ” It is doubtful if the crisis bedevilling the Nigerian (public) universities can be addressed on a sustainable basis until the funding issue is tackled robustly.”

Prof. Ozuah is an indigene of Nteje, an industrial town in Oyi, Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria. His generous donation is a wake up call and sharp reminder that an educational institution is only as strong as the strenght of its alumni. The management of Nigerian Universities should therefore put strategies in place to fully harness the enormous potential and power of its alumni. God bless you Prof. Philip Ozuah. Posterity will forever remember you.

Tony Osakpamwan Agbons