By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
In a bid to elevate Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) to one of the leading Universities in Africa, the Chancellor of the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership and former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, has advocated for the establishment of a 100 Billion Naira Endowment Fund
The Ex-Minister who made the call while delivering a lecture as a Guest Lecturer during the 3rd Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Lecture, held at University’s ETF Auditorium, urged stakeholders to position COOU as a hub for innovative solutions to pressing challenges such as erosion, insecurity, and sustainable development in Igbo Land and Nigeria.
‘Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University should not just bear the name of a great leader but embody his legacy by becoming a centre of excellence and innovation.
‘This endowment will guarantee the university’s capacity to foster groundbreaking research, provide scholarships, and sustain world-class infrastructure, independent of fluctuating budgets,’ he said.
He also called on the government to adopt what he termed the Elitism of Ability, drawing examples from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and noting that Indians were leading the world’s technology companies like Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Adobe, and IBM, and attributed this success to the foundation laid by IITs.
He lamented the failure of Nigeria’s higher education to achieve the rigour or global integration level of the IITs, noting that though Nigeria had numerous universities and an abundance of bright, motivated students, its institutions lacked the resources, global partnerships, and strategic focus to become feeder grounds for global companies or prestigious institutions, thus limiting the broader impact of education on societal transformation.
Using Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s choice to join the military despite his privileged background as a guiding metaphor, Chidoka argued that education was not a ticket to comfort but a foundation for courage and purpose.
Chidoka emphasized that education must instill values, civic responsibility, and the drive to address societal challenges.
Earlier in her remarks, the Vice Chancellor of COOU, Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha, explained that the personality of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was of remarkable significance to the entire Nigeria, adding that his name would always be in History as a man who came, saw and conquered and whose legacy lived on.
She said, ‘The University will build Ojukwu Hall of Fame, where great men and women who contributed through endowments, to build the university named after the great man – Ojukwu, shall be immortalized.
Omenugha also lauded Governor Soludo’s footprints in the education sector in the state, disclosing that through his initiative, the University was being connected presently with uninterrupted Wi-Fi internet broadband.