By Ehichioya Ezomon
On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the establishment of 20 private universities, one of which is the ‘Mudiame University,’ located in Irrua, Esan Central local government area of Edo State
Briefing newsmen, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the approved universities would get their provisional licenses from the National Universities Commission (NUC), “which they will use for the next three years while monitoring and evaluation will go on.”
So, the Mudiame University is set to take off in the 2021-2022 academic session at a campus sited on an expanse of land straddling the Idumabi and Oyomon communities of Irrua.
That Idumabi is the take-off site of the university has an endearing and enduring meaning for the community, as the birthplace of the Proprietor of the institution, Prof. Sunny Eromonsele.
The university also has a personal attachment for the writer, as the campus is located behind his residential plot of land, containing a yet-to-be completed building in the community.
Due to proximity, the university tipped the sand and gravel to mould the blocks to replace the low fence demarcating the university from the writer’s plot on which are erected the electric poles conveying lines from the national grid to the university.
Prof. Eromonsele, whose country-home is three plots away from the writer’s on the same street, is the son of Mr Elimighale Oiboh, a junior age-mate of the writer’s in a close-knit community.
Thus, to Idumabi people, home and abroad, the university is a “family affair” brought about by the prayer of the Esan, that “children should surpass/be greater than their patents” in life.
Nonetheless, while the university is a pride to the Idumabi community, the Irrua Kingdom of Esanland is the major beneficiary, having longed and yearned for an institution of higher learning.
The proprietor’s name, “Eromonsele”, meaning, “Prayer has succeeded” or “Prayer has been answered,” symbolises the aspiration of Irrua people for a tertiary institution in the foremost ancient kingdom of Esanland of Edo Central of Edo State.
Irrua, for unexplainable reasons, has been overlooked in the development of the component units of Esanland. Domiciling the “Okaijesan of Esan” (Number One King of Esanland), Irrua ought to be the epicenter of government institutions and establishments.
But from siting of local government headquarters to a general hospital and tertiary institutions, Irrua was shunned by successive governments, state and federal, for decades.
When the Ishan (Esan) Division of the old Benin Province was split into two local government areas of Agbazilo and Okpebho, Irrua was bypassed in the siting of the headquarters in Ubiaja (formerly the headquarters of the Division) and Ekpoma, respectively.
Ditto for the establishment of a General Hospital in Uromi; repeated location of a College of Education in Igueben; the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) in Ekpoma; and moves to site, via the National Assembly, a University of Technology in Uromi.
Yet, Irrua was once host to the divisional water scheme, which served the larger part of Esanland, with the water source at Ugbalo, and the Waterworks and Pumping Station located at Ibore, both communities in Irrua.
But it wasn’t until the coming of the late retired Admiral Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu, between 1986 and early 1993, that Irrua re-emerged in the scheme of official policies and programmes.
Aikhomu, from Chief of General Staff (CGS) to Vice President under the regime of retired Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, was instrumental to the creation of additional three local councils in Esanland, with Irrua hosting Esan Central.
Aikhomu also influenced the location of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), via Decree 92 of 1993, “to provide tertiary services to people of Edo State and beyond,” which, in the interim, serves additionally as the Ambrose Alli University teaching hospital.
Though the hospital has largely met the medical needs of the people of Irrua, and Esanland in general, it hasn’t quenched the thirst for an “Ivory Tower” to be sited in Irrua.
Gladly, this is the void the Mudiame University has come to fill, following its approval and award of a provisional license by the Federal Government, to commence full academic programmes.
With the Motto, “Mind of Innovation,” the university’s Mission is “to contribute to the sustainable welfare of society with expertise in science, technology and business, and through teaching, research and community service.”
On April 17, 2018, the university’s Planning and Implementation Committee hosted the Verification Committee of the National Universities Commission (NUC) that visited to ascertain the level of work done to meet with the varsity’s accreditation requirements.
The university has met those requirements, hence its approval and accreditation to run degree programmes under a three-year period of “monitoring and evaluation,” for which Prof. Eromonsele specially appreciates President Muhammadu Buhari.
Going forward, he pledges that, “we will make the best of these licenses, especially in bridging the gap between the academia and the industry… as a measure of harnessing the nation’s resources and halting the continuous export of raw materials.”
Besides, he says, “we will work hard to use these new universities to contribute in making Africa’s abundant resources useful to the continent by improving practice-oriented knowledge that will lead to exploration and refining of our resources.”
Prof. Eromonsele affirms that Mudiame University will significantly contribute towards “improving quality of education in Nigeria, boost the nation’s economy, reduce capital flight, create jobs for unemployed youths, and improve the quality of lives in the community where the university is sited.”
Already, there’re increased economic and social activities, and employment opportunities in Irrua, as the university embarks on hiring of academic and non-academic staff, development of infrastructure at the take-off site and environs, and acquisition of land, with sharp appreciation in value of property in the town.
Former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), who represents Esan Central, Rt Hon. Victor Edoror, sums up especially the expected gains of the youths from the university. He spoke during the NUC visitation to the university in April 2018.
Edoror’s words: “The graduates from Mudiame University… Irrua, will go a long way in creating employment for the teeming youths, thereby reducing violence and criminality amongst our youths.”
So, to specifically the youths of Esanland, the university comes at an opportune moment in the quest for skill-based educational attainment for self-employment or being employable.
Even as the institution represents a win for its proprietor, Prof. Eromonsele, the people of Idumabi community, Irrua Kingdom, Esanland and Edo State, it’s hoped the youths will seize on the opportunity to better their academic pursuits and career prospects.
Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.