A former Commissioner for Finance in Abia state, Dr Phillips Nto has rejected the moves by the House of Representatives to amend the Act setting up Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike by converting it into a conventional University.
He said the action would not only be counterproductive but deepened the marginalisation of Abia State in the siting of federal institutions and even appointments.
He said what Abia State needs now is a second federal university as being obtained in surrounding states and not to tinker with the structure of MOUAU as it is currently constituted.
The Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Rt Hon Benjamin Kalu, who hails from Abia, sponsored the Bill seeking to transform the already existing MOUAU into a conventional university The bill passed its second reading last Thursday.
Dr Nto who teaches at MOUAU and who is the immediate past Provost of Abia State College of Education, Technical, Arochukwu, insisted that the bill was ill conceived as it would not add value to both the University and the State generally.
He said converting MOUAU to a conventional university would not attract additional funding from the federal government, and neither would it accelerate development in the state the way a brand new university would.
He regretted that the sponsors of the bill were out of touch with Abia people as they did not even deem it wise to consult widely to ascertain the real needs of the people before rushing the bill to the House.
He noted that it was inconceivable that at a time the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was harping on food security through agriculture, those who claim to love him are impeding the process for the realization of that goal.
” It amounts to misplacement of priority to switch over to conventional University at this period the country and the South-East zone are battling food insecurity. I believe our founding fathers had a cogent reason for making it a university of agriculture, “he declared.
The former commissioner called for adequate funding of MOUAU and scholarships for graduates of agriculture to embark upon agribusiness activities as a means of making the institution more relevant and not a conversion to conventional university
He also lamented that while lawmakers from othe states are vigorously canvassing for the setting up of even the third universities in their states, those from Abia are pushing for the conversion of the ony federal University in the state.
According to him, ” what Abia needs is a brand new conventional University not upgrade. A new university will attract a new take-off grant and fresh employment. Other states are doing bills to attract a third university. The deputy speaker should also use his good office to attract a new one for Abia State. ”
Dr Nto who is also a Fellow of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, urged both the government and her functionaries to place more emphasis on agriculture as it has a huge potential to generate employment for the youths of the country.
He insisted that what agricultural universities in Nigeria needed now was a law for special and adequate funding so as to attract more students to agriculture and not the conversion of existing ones to conventional universities.
