In responding to the developmental needs of the people of Enugu North Senatorial Zone, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi displayed tremendous insight and thoughtfulness. He invested so heavily in the future of the people of Enugu North Senatorial Zone such that hundreds of years to come his name will still remain a highly-prized trophy, especially when the fruits of the foundation he is laying today would have been blooming.
The oldest university in the United Kingdom is the University of Oxford; it is more than nine hundred years old. Today, Oxford is still looking brand new, churning out high-velocity graduates every year. The University of Aberdeen, where I had my Doctoral training was established by Bishop Elphinstone in 1495, well over five hundred years ago. Today, Bishop Elphinstone is one of the most coveted names among the Scottish people. A major concern for Elphinstone was to bridge the knowledge gap between Scotland and England. So, in 1495 he planted the tree that has become an Oak of learning and enlightenment.
Some of the great men of old that were killed for blasphemy were people, who predicted, where the world was headed for. Some of them suffered the gruesome pain of being burnt at the stake. Copernicus was considered iconoclastic and prohibited by the Catholic Church for asserting that the earth revolved round the sun. ‘Happily’ for him, he died shortly after publishing his book. Galileo, on the other hand, faced the Inquisition for making the same assertion. Today, they are legendary scientists.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi should be of good courage. History keeps records with unfaltering fidelity. God blessed him with the depth of insight that is available to only few people. Call it psychic powers or clairvoyance or second sight, Ugwuanyi has shown expansive perspicacity into the future of Nsukka people. I will give just one example for illustration. If one takes the statistics of Nsukka youths across Nigerian Universities studying courses such as Medicine, Pharmacy, Radiography, Lab Science, Dentistry, Optometry etc., one may be surprised by how poorly represented they are in such high-brow disciplines compared to their representation in Humanities and Social Sciences. Why do they avoid the medical disciplines and troop to Humanities and Social Sciences as though the latter are the default placement areas for them?
For four solid years in the UK, I did not encounter one Nsukka man that is a medical doctor in any UK hospital. The same thing cannot be said about Udi, Ezeagu, and Awgu, yet all of us are Enugu people laying claim to the same education system. In the course of four years, I had a number of young Enugu indigenes, who stayed in my apartment at College Bounds, Old Aberdeen to prepare for the exams in Manchester that will license them to practice as health professionals in the UK. Not even on one occasions was I blessed to receive one Nsukka person. Is this meant to diminish the Nsukka man? By no means no! I am an Nsukka man myself. Sometimes, however, we have to tell ourselves a few home truths.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi saw this gap, probably before even becoming Governor, and has invested enormous resources to close it. With the State University of Medicine and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) at Igbo-Eno, Ugwuanyi has changed the game. It is, in fact, the first time in any place in South-East Nigeria that a University solely dedicated to the study of Medicine and Allied Sciences was established. Was he ever expecting a standing ovation? Of course, no! Is this a show of commitment to the future of his people? I leave you to supply the answer.
It is narrow-mindedness, and myopic pecuniary motivations that make the likes of Okey Ezea declare that Ugwuanyi has not empowered Nsukka people. What is their definition of empowerment? Raw, bleeding cash and contracts. Simple. Would they want the cash and contracts to trickle down to the poor masses? Of course not! It is for the big boys. We all know that those stop-gap economic opiums cannot take away poverty from the grassroots, but a University such as SUMAS can.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi should not beg or campaign to go to the Red Chamber. It should be a given. God bless him.
Long live Enugu State!
Dr Hyginus Eze
