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By Chinedu Adonu

ENUGU—The Vice Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Prof. Christian Anieke, said no fewer than 19 students from the Northern part of the country have been awarded scholarship by the institution.

Anieke, who addressed newsmen on activities marking the 4th   convocation of the institution in Enugu, said that the gesture wasits contribution to the promotion of national unity.

He said the institution understood the plurality of the country and the need to pursue national integration through the three dialogues which the institution pursues.

He mentioned the three dialogues as religious, cultural and epistemic dialogues.

“Fifty students have so far benefit from the full scholarships of the institution and 19 of them are from the 19 states in Northern Nigeria. This is to encourage national harmony.

“We are conscious of the fact that we are a Catholic university and that is why we assist our students to be the best they can,” he said.

Anieke said that additional five students would be awarded full scholarships in the course of the activities marking the convocation.

He however, said that the institution was faced with infrastructural challenges just like other private universities due to the unwillingness of the Federal Government to include it in the TETFUND projects.

“There is the need to support private universities in the country, and I still find it difficult to understand why private universities are excluded from TETFUND.

“There is need to support projects in the private universities because our students are also Nigerian students.

“It is our obligation to ensure they have the same experience like their counterparts in public schools,” he said.

Anieke said that students of the institution were well prepared to face life’s challenges, adding that its graduates had excelled in their various fields of studies.

“There are those who believe that there is no unemployment but unemployable graduates and that is why in our institution we see academic life as apprenticeship,” he said.

Anieke said that the institution had been adjudged as the fastest growing private university in the country.

“Every year our students are involved in environmental sanitation in Enugu and by so doing, learn how to protect the environment,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 281 students will take part in the convocation on Saturday out of which nine made First Class degrees.

Former governor of Cross River State, Chief Donald Duke, is expected to deliver convocation lecture on friday.