Titus Eleweke l Wednesday, March 22, 2017
ISUIKWUATO, Abia, Nigeria– Chairman of Isuikwuato Local Government Council of Abia State, Hon. Nnamdi Michael Udueze has given reasons why the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu moved out some faculties of Abia State University Uturu (ABSU) from its main campus Uturu to Umuahia and Aba.
The chairman who was speaking with indigenes of Isuikwuato, Uturu and Acha residents in Lagos during a town hall meeting recently , said the removal of these faculties from Uturu to Umuahia and Aba were not politically motivated but for the best future interest of Abians.
He said 95 per cent of activities of the institution take place in Okigwe, Imo state and all the revenues that were supposed to be accruable to the state are going to the neigbouring state of Imo state.
According to him, there is need for the state government to relocate some of these faculties out of the Uturu in order for the state government to generate enough revenue from the activities of the institution to the state, instead of the revenue going to Imo state.
“When the University was established it was established as Imo State University and when our son senator Ike Nwachukwu became the governor of the then old Imo state he relocated the institution to Uturu.
About 95 per cent of revenues from Abia State University, Uturu go to Imo state, despite the fact that the institution is sited in Uturu. 95 per cent of the university’s activities take place in Okigwe, Imo state and there is need to change the trend so that more funds will be coming to the state .The relocation of these faculties were not politically motivated but for the betterment of Abians to curtail the wastages and funds from the university going to Imo state.
Any person who said that the relocation of these faculties from main campus Uturu to other towns were politically motivated was not being fair and just to the governor because the government acted in the best interest of the state”, he said.
Hon. Udueze further said that the law faculty relocation to Umuahia, the state capital was the best for the faculty because courts are in Umuahia and none in Uturu, saying that it is more honourable to site the faculty where it will be closer to courts and not Uturu without any court.
Earlier in his address, the chairman, assured that he will run all inclusive government and called on every sons and daughter of the Isuikwuato local government to partner with his government to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
“My concept is to run all inclusive government in Isuikwuato local and that informed my decision to come to you in Lagos to seek your support. My administration vision is to reunite Isuikwuato people despite political and individual differences” he said.
According to him, he has four agenda which are security, security, security and security, saying that if there is good security in the local government, many investors will be attracted into the area.
He always disclosed that he had made plans to focus on agriculture in the locality, saying that his administration has entered into agreement with Union Bank to support farming of rice in the local government, saying that he had mapped out part of Isuikwuato, Acha and Uturu for the rice farming to boost food production.
Udueze also stated that, his government has decided to build a megacity in the Uturu and urged all well to do individuals to come home and invest in the project.
According to him, the megacity will be sited between Ihube and ABSU and urged all sons and daughters of the local government to take up the opportunity and invest in the project, assuring that his government was doing all things possible to make sure that the local government get the permits to develop the area, saying that as it stands now the land still belong to ABSU.
“I want to first get the permit to develop the land from the Abia state government, especially now it is still belong to ABSU” he said .
Earlier, in his address, the chairman of Uturu Development Association (UDA) Lagos branch, Mr. Kenneth Nwaro, while commending the chairman for the good gesture of visiting Isuikwuato in Diaspora for a town hall meeting, urged the chairman to use his good office to impress on the governor to return all the relocated faculties from Uturu to others towns, lamenting that Uturuians were not happy with the development.
“Perhaps this forum is an opportunity to implore you to use your good office to convey to His Excellency, the governor of Abia state, Dr. Okezie Ipkeazu of the desire and plea of Uturians to relocate the faculties moved out of Abia state university, Uturu. The master plan of the university by the founding fathers, senator Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu was to develop the citadel of learning into a world class institution both in learning and character, but it is disheartening that this dream is being scuttled even before the permanent site in Uturu has not been developed up to 40 per cent . The university was not intended to be a multi- campus institution therefore our humble plea is that they should be returned to its original state”.
In similar vein, we want to implore you to look into the indiscriminate marking of houses by Isuikwuato Town Planning Authority without recourse to extant laws. We urged you to call these overzealous officials who go about harassing property owners in the bid to extort money from them, despite planning permits approval to order” he lamented.
The second national president of Uturu Development Association Hon. Uche Akaeme, who claimed that he was not allowed to speak during the town hall meeting despites all attempts to talk , told our reporter, that the position of the chairman that the relocation of the faculties were not politically motivated can be substantiated because, any law faculty of any institution does not need court in the town to function.
According to him, ABSU has been producing quality lawyers in the past years without courts in Uturu, while all of the sudden proximity of court become too important issues to move the faculty out of Uturu?
He said that the relocation was purely politically motivated and nothing can be truer than that and we can understand the chairman’s position, and expressed worry that the chairman had such information and failed to give Uturians. However, I believed if that is the truth he should have told us earlier.
He also faulted the argument that 95 per cent of the activities of the institution take place in Imo state, a claim he said was unfounded and untrue.
According to him, most of the activities of the institution take place in Uturu and these faculties were instrumental and these facts are verifiable in Uturu and Okigwe.
He said the town is passionate about these faculties because it has helped the people to upgrade their educational status and boosted their economic activities and to some extent the state government.
“I did my first and second degree in the university and I know that the institution’s activities are higher in Uturu than Okigwe. I can understand the position of the chairman, that 95 per cent of the institution’s activities take place in Imo state. That position is not correct. The relocation of these faculties are politically motivated and called on the governor to rescind his decision, because nobody can convince Uturians that the relocation was based on revenue and absence of courts in Uturu. The excuse is very lean” he said.
Also collaborating Akame’s position, the chairman of Hochiez Pharmaceutical Limited, Mr. Hillary Chimezie said that Uturu was worried about relocation of these faculties and there is no how any person would convince them that the relocation was not political, but prayed that God will compensate Uturu in this injustice, when somebody who really understand the pains of Uturu people ascends to position of authority in the state.
When the chairman was asked how much is his Internally generated revenue IGR, and how he intend to spend the local government funds on the development of the local government, apart from collaboration with corporate bodies and individuals, he was not clear on the revenue generation of the local, but he however said that his achievement in the last three months was prompt payment of workers’ salaries .
