Allegations of sharp practices rock the Akpugo campus of Madonna University with the students at the receiving end, reports Olaolu Olusina This is, indeed, a pay back
time for ObinnaOjukwu, a
fresh graduate of Madonna
University, Okija, Enugu State.
Sitting comfortably in his
office at the Akpugo Campus of the first private university
in Nigeria, where he studied
Engineering and graduated
only last year, he could not but
thank his stars for being a
lucky young man. At a time, his mates were still
mourning their inability to be
called up for the compulsory
one-year National Youth
Service Corps (NYSC)
programme due to the non- accreditation of their courses
by the Nigerian University
Commission (NUC), Ojukwu is
already calling the shots at his
alma mater. And just about the time his
school mates were still
ruminating about what
becomes of them next in the
labour market due to the non-
recognition of their Engineering degrees obtained
from Madonna University, Ojukwu has no
reason to bother himself as he
is already back to what he
knows how to do best in his
days at the university, and at
a higher level. But his mates are not envying
the young man, who is now
the Dean of Students Affairs at
the Akpugo Campus of
Madonna University.
Current students, who knew him well during his days as
the school’s General Hall
representative, are not also
surprised at his rising profile.
Known for being a bully and
unrepentant ‘Man Friday’ for the university’s authorities to
the detriment of the interests
of his fellow students, whose
interest, he was supposed to
protect in the first place, many
can only conclude that this, among many other alleged
malpractice, could only
happen at Madonna
University. But many are worried that
such things could be
happening in a university that
prides itself not only as the
first private university as well
as the first Catholic university in Nigeria but also one of the
most expensive private
universities in the country
where standards and morals
are supposed to be high. Students of the institution are
equally worried as they are
not sure of what the future
holds for them with the non-
accreditation of their campus. Yet, THISDAY gathered that
the authorities of the
university appeared
unperturbed as what matters
to them most is the money
being collected from the helpless students, whose
parents are, unfortunately,
being made to believe that
their wards are being given
sound education and morals
in a supposedly Christian institution. But different allegations
rocking the school are sure
pointers to the fact that
Madonna University may have
derailed from its initial
objectives and reduced to nothing more than a
concentration camp’ where
the students are exploited in
so many ways. The Petition A petition sent to THISDAY in
Lagos about the current
developments at the Akpugo
Campus of the university,
titled “Madonna University
Akpugo Enugu State Appoints Fresh Graduate as Dean of
Students Affairs,”mexposed
many shocking and quite
unfathomable developments
in the school. “I’m seizing this
as a medium to bring to the notice of the National
University Commission (NUC)
and other branches of the
government, which should be
notified about the current
developments in Madonna University, Akpugo Campus,
Enugu State (Engineering
Campus). “The Administration Council of
Madonna University Akpugo
Campus led by the founder/
chancellor of the university,
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Edeh, on
August 7, 2012 organised a final semester meeting with
the students of the above-
mentioned campus. At the
meeting, the chancellor of the
university announced to the
students the swearing-in of a new Dean of Students Affairs
in person of Obinna Ojukwu, a
student with registration
number PTE/08/ 034. The
bearer at that time was an
undergraduate student of the university and the General
HallRepresentative of the
male students of the
university. “Obinna, who was traced to
be a student of the
Department of Petroleum
Engineering, was still writing
his final semester
examinations at that time. The bearer, Obinna, as I write
to you has not been mobilised
for his National Youth Service
Corps (NYSC). Neither does he
posses any preliminary
qualifications to fit into this position as the Dean of
Students Affairs of a
university. “As I write to you, Obinna
Ojukwu, a fresh graduate is
currently the Dean of Student
Affairs in Madonna University
Akpugo Campus, Enugu State.
Beyond every reasonable doubt, this is an eyesore or
should I say a dent to the
struggle by NUC and the
Ministry of Education toward
ensuring good standard in the
nation’s education sector. “Obinna who is known to
have a reputation for
assaulting and brutalising
fellow students during his
tenure as the General Hall
representative of the university has been put into a
position to continue his cruel
acts on students,” the petition
sent by a close observer of
happenings in the school had
stated in part. Non-accreditation of Courses The petitioner, who craved
anonymity also continued his
expose: “On the other hand, I
would also shed light on the
other illegal activities
happening within Akpugo campus Enugu State. The
Engineering Faculty has none
of its departments accredited;
therefore the students who
have completed their years of
study and have advanced into the labour market do not have
certificates to show as
graduates. Neither are they
mobilised for the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
scheme. Incompetent Heads of Departments “The Head of Department
(HoD) of the Examinations
and Records Department in
Akpugo Campus who goes by
her regular name-’Point and
Kill’ -is not a graduate . She was employed into the
university as a labourer
(cleaner). As I speak to you,
she is the Head of Department
of the Examination and
Records unit in Akpugo Campus. Another disturbing angle is
the fact that the lecturers in
the campus who are
engineers are not allowed to
mark and grade examination
scripts of students they have taught. Instead, they are
handed over to the Reverend
Sister in charge of the
Examinations and Records
unit, Rev. Sis. Eleonora, who
distributes the scripts between her other Rev.
Sisters and other non-
lecturers for marking. This
disturbing development
brings the question: Why
should a professional course such as engineering be
marked and graded by non-
qualified individuals? “Rev. Sis. Eleonora has been
given the go-ahead by the
Chancellor of the university to
remark examination scripts,
thereby failing a lot of
students. This is a system which Madonna University
uses to hide the actual
number of its students from
NUC. “Another method which
Madonna University uses to
reduce its population and hide
its actual number of students
is wrongly accusing students
of offences, thereby placing penalties on them and
expelling students in their
final year and suspending
students for no defined
reasons.” Suspension of Operating Licence In July last year, NUC
suspended the operational
licence of Madonna University
along with that of six other
private universities for
violating its guidelines in physical facilities and
academic programmes. The
other affected universities
were Achievers University,
Owo; Caritas University,
Enugu; Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Osun; Lead City
University, Ibadan; Obong
University, Obong and Tansian
University, Umunya. NUC ,
according to its spokesman,
Mallam Ibrahim Yakassai, had based its decision on the non-
compliance with the
regulations guiding the
operations of universities in
the country as stipulated by
the NUC. “The operators of the
universities affected know
their offences because so
many times, we have
informed them about their
failings but they did not take necessary steps to address
their shortcomings. Anyway,
It’s just a suspension and it
will be lifted as soon as they
do the correct things,” he was
quoted as saying. Nothing Has Changed And true to his word, the
suspension on Madonna
University was lifted not long
after but it’s simply back to
the basics with little or no
changes made. An impeccable source close to the powers-
that-be in the university told
THISDAY that there is little or
nothing NUC can do about the
situation in Madonna
University. “NUC is just a toothless bulldog; the
authorities there are mere
stooges and cannot do much. They are tied down to the
apron strings of the powers-
that-be. The owners of
Madonna will continue to do
whatever they like because
they already have their ears of people in power,” this
reporter was told.
A student at the Akpugo
Campus of the University also
confirmed to THISDAY last
week, saying nothing really has changed in the school. “The suspension by NUC has
been lifted since and we are
now in session. But nothing
has really changed. You need
to come here and see things
for yourself,” the student who craved anonymity told this
reporter in an e-mail
correspondence. Shocking Testimonials Reacting to the suspension of
the operating licence of the
University by NUC last July, a
student of the school, who
spoke on condition of
anonymity, said: “I’m a Madonna University student
and I’m very happy that NUC
took this bold step to suspend
the university. I’m studying
Electrical/ Electronics
Engineering and in 300 Level. My campus is in Enugu State,
in the deep village of Akpugo. In Madonna university, a
carry-over program was
introduced where students
are to pay N150,000, which is
higher than our second
semester school fees and almost equal to first semester. “Illiterates are made Heads of
Departments, Dean of Student
Affairs, Secretary, etc. A
person who washes toilet in
Madonna University is the
Head of Exams and Records. We go to church eight times a
week in Madonna. Eighty
students are in a particular
department but only
twongraduated from that
department and the others were not given certificates.
Madonna, on purpose, fails
students and lie to NUC on the
total number of students in a
department. “No department in the Faculty
of Engineering is accredited
and the university is allowed
to run and collect money from
students. If you use a
Blackberry phone in Madonna, you are suspended for two
years and any other phone
attracts a year suspension.
The Students’ Handbook is
written by illiterates. We
suffer every single day of our stay in Madonna University.
We stay 12 students in a room
but the authorities always lie
to NUC.” State of the Hostel Jesus The Saviour Hostel is the
main hostel for male students
at the Akpugo Campus. The
hostel, according to
impeccable sources, is in
decrepit condition, despite the fact its development is still
ongoing. “Students in this hostel are
forced to use the toilet as bad
as it is. There is also a swamp
harbouring several reptiles
close to where the students
live. The students are also forced to live with a fully
loaded trash bin because the
workers don’t get paid so
they cannot empty the bin.
Instead we are told to sweep
and throw the bin,” THISDAY was told. Madonna Officials Keep Mum THISDAY made more than
three trips to the Akpugo
Campus of the university over
a period lasting a month in
order to get an official
reaction of the authorities to all the allegations. But no one
was willing to volunteer any
information as this
newspaper was told at the
first visit that only the
founder of the school who could react was away in
Rome. Subsequent visits did
not yield any results either as
officials of the school kept
tight lips all through. Telephone calls made to the
official lines of the school and
its key officials did not go
through at all, though
THISDAY gathered that no
telephone mast is available on the campus, hence reception
is very poor. No reaction was also
forthcoming from the NUC in
Abuja thus lending credence
that there might be some
elements of truth in the
insinuations being made about the commission’s
helplessness in the case at
Madonna. A Sad Commentary Madonna University was
established to, among other
things, “revive in its
community the age-long
tradition of Catholic education
and the exacting demand of the contemporary society for
sound education enrooted in
salubrious life-promoting
morality.” The university has
its main campus in Okija and
the second campus at Elele. According to the information
obtained from the school’s
official website, “Akpugo is
the third campus of Madonna
University which houses the
Faculty of Engineering with the following departments :
Electrical/Electronics, Food
Science and Technology,
Petroleum Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering, Civil
Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Computer
Engineering.” Additional
reports by Christopher Isiguzo
in

I always know that public universities are better than private universities. #teamunizik2012 proudly"