By Udo Ibuot
UYO—Akwa Ibom State has struck a major limelight in the national education sector as its university earned recognition from the National Universities Commission, NUC; while its governor, Chief Godswill Akpaibo won “Best Governor Award” from the Nigerian Union of Teachers for his feat in educational development.

At a colourful ceremony in Abuja, on Tuesday, the NUC presented a letter of consent and licence to Governor Akpabio for the Akwa Ibom State University, AKSU, Ikot Akpaden, to commence operations.

NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, who named AKSU as the 34th state University in the country, congratulated the state on the feat, remarking that the university would have been the 37th but for three earlier others that have gone into trouble, with two of them closed by the Commission.

Okojie noted that the take off of the university was delayed because it did not initially meet the standard set for universities by the Commission.

He said the institution was touted as a university of technology, but its programme contents were a far cry from what such a specialized university should be.

Okojie insisted that even though education was on the concurrent list of the constitution, there were globally-acknowledged standards for universities, and as such any state wishing to start a university should ensure that such standards in terms of universality, research, infrastructure, students and staff dispositions, are met.

Responding, Governor Akpabio thanked the Commission for assisting the state government in its quest to give its citizens the necessary education, noting that apart from the delay in the granting of licence for the institution, the other major reason for this was the fact that the school had no identifiable address.

Akpabio said that calling the location of the institution “university town” merely because land acquired for it was taken from several communities was faulty. He said that to correct this, more land was acquired from the Ikot Akpaden people, which enabled government to name the university after the community.

The governor re-stated his commitment to the promotion of education, arguing that this was the major key to opening doors of development in all spheres for the people.

Akpabio stressed that though the university was state-owned, it was open to all qualified students from everywhere, adding that the fees and charges would be such that the poor would not be shut out.

He said that standards would be maintained to ensure it ranked among leading universities in the country within a short time.