PIONEERING graduates of the University of Benin are set to immortalize the founder of the university, Dr. Sam Ogbemudia and Chief Edwin K. Clark, (UNIBEN) minister of state for works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, disclosed in Benin City yesterday.
He disclosed this at the launching of a book titled, “The foundation of the University of Benin, written by Clark, the commissioner for education under Ogbemudia.
Memories of the foundation of the UNIBEN, which started as Mid-West Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1970, were relived during the launching of the book by Clark, Prof. Emmanuel Emovon and other speakers at the occasion.
Ogiemwonyi told the gathering that, at the inception, the University started with 100 students but only 14 of them graduated during the first convocation of the university in 1974.
While appreciating the good works of Ogbemudia who was the founder and then governor of the Mid-West and Clark, Ogiemwonyi disclosed that the first set of students from the university would immortalize Ogbemudia and Clark.
In his brief comment, Clark remarked that he was glad that one of the first set of students to graduate from the university, Ogiemwonyi, was now a minister, while Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola as well as the former governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan are products of the university.
He expressed gratitude to the management of UNIBEN for the launching of the book.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion and member of the university planning committee, Prof. Emmanuel Emovon, who stood in for Ogbemudia, congratulated Clark for the book, saying, “Clark worked so hard that he applied himself to the setting of the university”.
The book reviewer, Prof. Chris Ikporikpo, Vice-Chancellor of Niger Delta University, Amasoma, Bayelsa State, described the book as lucid, truthful and controversial and an insider account.