Rumble in Eastern Palm University

Governor Rochas Okorocha’s dream of having a world class university in his home town of Ogboko, in Ideato-South local government area of Imo state, may have materialized with the building of Eastern Palm University.

But questionable managerial skills are now robbing the University of a smooth take-off.

Plans to begin academic activities at the University last November failed to materialize due to the delay by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to give its final nod to courses so far listed for operation.

However, when the nod was finally given, it became apparent that the university may never take off due to management issues which pitched the first Vice Chancellor, Prof. Linus Osuagwu, poached from American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, Adamawa state, against pro-chancellor of the university, Nonye Rajis-Okpara, a former Nigerian envoy to Singapore.

The management disagreements, which included alleged recruitment of top level management staff with questionable academic credentials by the pro-chancellor, were said to have made Prof. Osuagwu quietly walk away.

Sources at the university told Ripples Nigeria that Prof. Osuagwu spirited himself away and only informed Governor Okorocha and the pro-chancellor, of his decision after he had resumed safely at his erstwhile duty post in Yola.

Following Prof. Osuagwu’s move, the university’s director of communication, Lady Cordelia Onu, was also said to have quietly walked away. She too was said to have informed the university management of her decision only after she had reached a safe abode outside Imo state.

Prior to quitting, Prof. Osuagwu was said to have been pitched against Mrs. Rajis-Okpara, over her managerial skills and penchant for full involvement in the day-to-day running of the university.

An inside source disclosed that the ex-envoy, who hailed from Isu area of the state, is said to be closely related to the governor and administers the university like a local government to the exclusion of the Vice Chancellor.

It was gathered that efforts made by Prof. Osuagwu to properly fix the university and get it ready for effective take-off was rebuffed by the pro-chancellor who populated the staff list with persons mostly from political circles, instead of the academia.

According to our source “she sees the university like a local government motor park where every Tom, Dick and Harry from her village who does not have a job must be accommodated even if they have no academic qualification to work in a university environment”.

Though our source acknowledged that Prof. Osuagwu made efforts to put the university on a smooth footing, it was disclosed that the bubble burst for Osuagwu after he stopped an alleged plot by Okorocha, and the pro-chancellor, to have the university recognized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), as a private university.

According to findings, Eastern Palm University was registered at the NUC as the 42nd state-owned university and the 143rd university in Nigeria. However, it was listed by JAMB as a private university.

Governor Okorocha had also been quoted as saying that Eastern Palm is a university built on public-private partnership model. He had allegedly said the university is owned by the Rochas Foundation and Imo state government indicating that while his private foundation owns 90 percent of the university the Imo state government owned 10 percent.

However, Ripples Nigeria learnt that the university came into being by an act of the Imo State House of Assembly through an establishment law cited as Imo State of Nigeria Law No. 13 of 2016.

Our query indicated that Prof. Osuagwu’s protest forced JAMB to re-order its brochure and list it as state-owned.

Irked by the protest, it was gathered that the pro-chancellor marked out Prof. Osuagwu for antagonisms leading to her single-handed employment of Prof. Dafe Otobo, a retiring professor of industrial relations at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), as alternate Vice-Chancellor.

He became Vice Chancellor with Prof. Osuagwu’s exit.