RSU’s New Campuses: What Import To Rivers?

Last week, the Rivers State Government announced a release of the sum of N16.6 billion for the upgrade of facilities at one of Nigeria’s foremost state-owned universities, the Rivers State University in Port Harcourt.
The amount was announced to journalists in Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, who said that N9 billion of the amount would serve as take-off grant for the building of new campuses of the institution in Ahoada, Emohua and Etche Local Government Areas.
According to the commissioner, the sum of N3 billion would be spent on each of the campuses for the construction of faculty buildings, students hostels, offices, libraries, auditoriums, lecture halls and also address other needs required for the campuses to maximise their operations.
“This is a landmark development in the history of the institution which has maintained one campus since its establishment in October, 1980.
“With the establishment of the three campuses, the communities where they are sited will be opened up for consequential development and economic activities. It will reduce the rate of unemployment in the state,” Nsirim said.
He also disclosed that the remaining N7.6 billion has been released to enable the university’s College of Medical Sciences establish the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Pathology Building.
In his address to the journalists, the state Commissioner of Health, Prof. Princewill Chike, said that, with the fund release, the College of Medical Sciences could now operate as a full-fledged college with all its required programmes running.
He said it would serve to secure accreditation of more departments and programmes and enhance the capacity of the college, since it already has the requisite personnel.
Also at the media briefing, the Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kaniye Ebeku, said those unrepentant traducers of Governor Nyesom Wike who thought that His Excellency was only making mere political statement when he promised to establish three new campuses for RSU can now see that the man is already walking the talk.
According to Ebeku, with these take-off grants, contractors would soon start the construction work at the approved sites in the three local government areas and there would surely be an expansion of the institution to benefit the entire state.
He said that this would increase access to education because admission spaces would be opened for more prospective students, and those host communities of the new campuses would enjoy increased commercial activities and development in general.
Outside this media parley, one of the earliest personalities to react to the governor’s fund release was his deputy, Dr Ipalibo Harry Banigo.
She was said to have disclosed, in a statement, that the N16.6 billion fund release for facilities upgrade in RSU clearly indicates that Governor Nyesom Wike is committed to making Rivers State the education hub of Nigeria.
Banigo also expressed delight that the N7.6 billion granted the College of Medical Sciences would not only qualify the teaching hospital for full accreditation but make the state a centre of excellence in the training of health care professionals.
“The college will now be accredited to take a full stream of 150 undergraduate students annually in medical sciences,” she pointed out.
The deputy governor who is also a highly reputed public health doctor said that Wike’s huge investment in health and human capital development was exceptional, and that it behoves all well-meaning Rivers people to continue to support him to succeed in the quest to turn the state around for everyone’s benefit.
Bro Felix Obuah is the sole administrator of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA). He is among the earliest commentators on the significance of this administration’s fund release for an expansion of the RSU campus.
Obuah was reported to have described the N16.6 billion fund approval by Governor Wike as a masterstroke that would open the frontiers of the institution for the educational upliftment of Rivers State.
According to a statement signed by his media aide, Jerry Needam, the erstwhile state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and owner of Go Round Football Club said:
“What the Governor has done is an uncommon feat which we had been yearning for, for a very long time, to no avail. Now that God has given us a leader that has the wisdom, interest and political will to ensure our state and our people join other advanced societies in technological advancement through quality education for our children here at home, we must not let the opportunity slip.
“Our collective wish and prayer should be more wisdom, strength and life for His Excellency for more of what he’s been doing in all sectors of our state economy which have endeared him to many across the globe. I think the best appreciation is to queue into his vision and make best use of the opportunities for the benefit of our people.”
As contained in the statement, Obuah also appealed to Rivers youth to take advantage of the planned facilities and programmes to be put in place at the state university with the approved fund and go for studies like the medical sciences that would address the pressing needs of the state, country and society at large, stressing that the governor has creditably played his own part by laying a solid foundation for them.
Prof. Okey Onuchukwu of the University of Port Harcourt is also among those who have, so far, attempted to explain the potential effects of the latest government largesse to RSU, particularly on Rivers State and its residents.
Speaking as a guest on a current affairs radio programme in Port Harcourt, last weekend, he described the RSU campus decentralisation as a timely intervention to expand the tertiary education sub-sector and improve the rural economy of the state.
The renowned Econometrics lecturer and former director of Uniport Business School who was part of the team that drafted the development blueprint of Governor Wike’s NEW Rivers Vision in 2015 said:
“The Rivers State University is a very critical area Governor Nyesom Wike had in mind earlier before he came into government that look, ‘I am going to intervene in this university by ensuring that the campuses are decentralised and build a world-standard medical college.’ That has been there. Wike didn’t just jump into government; he had a well-prepared blueprint of how he is going to develop the various sectors of the state.”
Equally elated by the decision of the state government to site a campus of RSU in Etche Local Government Area, a traditional ruler in the state, King Samuel Amaechi of Igbo-Etche, was reported to have described the move as another laudable proof of the love Governor Wike has for the people of Etche.
According to the report, the monarch said the step would increase the level of consciousness of Etche people towards university education, boost employment opportunities, create wealth and, above all, attract rapid development to Etche.
Amaechi who commended Wike for his show of love for Etche people noted that, from the inception of this government in 2015 till date, the governor has continued to carry Etche and its people along in the scheme of things.
“Each time Governor Nyesom Wike makes promises to the people of Etche, he shows outright commitment by fulfilling them. We are happy with the impact his administration is making in Etche land.
“Etche campus of the Rivers State University will remain one legacy of Wike’s administration which the present Etche sons and daughters as well as those unborn will ever be grateful to him for.”
The Onye Ishi Agwuru of Igbo-Etche assured that Etche people would support the government to ensure that the new campus was fully developed by maintaining the prevailing peace in the area.
However, there were people who expressed some reservations even while commending the state government for the initiative.
Mrs. Doris Job-Ogbonna is an alumna of RSU and former banker in Port Harcourt. She was quite excited at the decision to upgrade facilities in her Alma Mater, particularly expansion of the campus after many years of such plan being abandoned by successive regimes.
But she was concerned that the three local governments in question had been largely notorious for kidnapping and cult activities over time and wondered what was being done in that regard.
A private-school teacher in Oyigbo, Empire Faribo, was also full of commendation for the state’s decision. He, however, wondered why no riverine local government area was considered in the RSU campus expansion plan.
“I am happy with the government for the decision but, coming from the riverine part of this state, I wonder why no riverine LGA was chosen.
“They often use non-availability of land as ready excuse even when a state like Bayelsa has its expansive Niger Delta University on riverine Wilberforce Island.
“In any case, let’s not forget that former Governor Chibuike Amaechi had wanted to relocate the entire RSU campus to his native Ikwerre LGA. But I think this decentralisation idea makes better sense as it will serve to open up more areas of the state for development,” Faribo concluded.

By: Ibelema Jumbo