By Dennis Agbo

The Human Race Foundation, HRF, a group of graduate students from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, last week, in nostalgia, returned in their numbers to their alma mater in the Enugu Campus of the university, where they commissioned some projects for the upgrade of infrastructure in the 64 years old Nigeria’s first indigenous university.

The HRF is a charitable support organization in educational and scientific initiatives that improve the livelihoods of its members and their communities, with a strong focus on advancing social and economic causes and with a strong presence across Africa, Asia, USA, and in Canada.

In its homecoming last weekend, the group commissioned the re-painting of the faculty of Health Sciences in the College of Medicine, UNEC, and the installation of solar power electricity in the faculty building.

Led by the Zonal Marshal coordinator for Asia & Africa, Engr. Obinna Eneh, the group is made up of captains of industries, Health Physicians, politicians and successful men from different walks of life, who said they came back to the university to give back in a meaningful way as they had always done even in their undergraduate days.

Eneh disclosed that HRF was formed over 40 years ago inside the Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria for improved academics and students’ welfare, noting that as far back as that time; the group had started acts of charity which it has continued till date.

“So, now we feel that we have come of age where we can give back in a more meaningful way and this is just the first part of what we are going to do in both Enugu and Nsukka campuses of the University of Nigeria. We are like-minded for self development and after your own development you can be able to give back and develop the larger society,” said Eneh.

Receiving the group, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Enugu Campus), Prof Daniel Nwachukwu who was represented by Prof Emmanuel Kalu-Agbeze commended the HRF for its infrastructural uplift in the faculty of Health Sciences, stating that it was a life saving intervention and a reprieve from the electricity and water scarcity problems that the university is bogged with.

“We thank you for coming back to give back to the school. One other major problem in this campus is students’ accommodation, we don’t have a sports club for the staff; even though we have the land and design for it, there has not been money for the actualization. But this legacy you have left here will live after you and the circle will get wider,” Agbeze commended.

The Associate Dean, Student Affairs in UNEC, Dr. Godwin Imo noted that it was not always easy for people to come and give back to the society, particularly with the reality of Nigeria’s hardship. He lamented the poor state of the university hostels, which he described as a correctional center look-alike. He blamed the decadence on federal government’s inadequate funding, stating that it was from bailouts such as the ones offered by groups like HRF that the university copes with.

“The same size of classroom that used to accommodate 38 students in our time is still the same classroom that over 300 students now use and nothing has changed there.”

One of the members of the HRF and a former House of Representatives member, Hon. Jones Onyiyeri while responding to some of the lamentations of the staff of the university, gave it back to the university dons whom he blamed for helping to install unmerited politicians through election rigging.

“What has happened was caused by the academics and not the politicians, UNN could be exonerated, but Vice Chancellors are the bane of electoral malpractice in Nigeria. They go ahead and announce rigged results to install those whom they know will not renovate the universities, they give us people that cannot change our society,” Onyiyeri alleged.

The former parliamentarian revealed that HRF had helped them live up to the university mantra, ‘To Restore the Dignity of Man,’ stating that they were proud to be products of the University of Nigeria and the Human Race Foundation.

The two-day event included a career fair where mentorship of students was conducted among other programmes for the reunion of the foundation members.