THE UNIPORT ISSUES
In my early JAMB days, I never imagined that I could be here today. Not even in my wildest dreams did I conceive the idea of schooling in a “prestigious” institution like Uniport. Then, the name of Uniport sounded to me like Oxford University of London. One was thinking that Uniport is a school for the highly privileged and most gifted; a school whose admission would be quite a privilege. In other words, I highly esteemed the name of Uniport. Today, here I am, in University of Port Harcourt!
I am one person who will appreciate the good sides of a thing over and above the bad ones. So, I will tell you the good sides of Uniport before I go on to highlight the unpleasant ones. I came in through the merit list, and haven been an insider (course rep) in the academic process, I can tell you, categorically, that meritocracy works in this school. Secondly, we have seasoned intellectuals as lecturers here. Another good thing about Uniport is that the toughness of the processes of things here would challenge your creativity and bring out the best in you.
Just recently, a friend of mine outside told me that my school is a university of suffering, a university of stress, a university of fashion, a university of pleasure, a university of this, a university of that. Agreed!
If you’re looking for an institution where unwarranted stress is the order of the day, it is Uniport. If you’re looking for an institution where gallivanting is the order of the day, it is Uniport. You want to know if non-academic staff of a university can be rude and unfriendly, try those of Uniport (but in spite of these, a lot of people finish from the same Uniport and still become colossuses in their various fields of endeavor). My stress in Uniport started from my days of clearance. I don’t even want to narrate what one passed through in the name of clearance when one was admitted, because that would be reminiscent of the ugly. My class passed through a hell of stress due to inadequate classrooms. Most times we dragged classrooms with other people, almost aggressively. Most times, as the course rep then, I would run around looking for a free classroom, while my course mates would gather in a place waiting for me; from CBN to New Lecture Halls, to PS Halls, down to my faculty building, and sometimes to MBA Halls in Ofrima if it was CSC 280 that we had to learn, mostly under intense sun, and if I found a free hall, I would call someone in their midst on phone and they would come over. But most times when I couldn’t find any free hall after running around, the lecturer would leave and that would amount to the cancellation of the scheduled lecture. This happened for quite a number of times. That is what we passed through especially in our year two first semester. I was getting leaner by the day; I really suffered as a course rep. One of the days, I almost fainted, and I vowed to myself that in the future, if God will enable me as I wish (as an alumnus), I will build a NAPASS secretariat that would have four classrooms; one classroom for each of the four levels in PAS department. That is the way it is supposed to be if things were working well; each level of a department is supposed to have its exclusive classroom. This would make learning easier and better.
Some of these issues are what unionism should be addressing. But unfortunately, unionism is not effective in Uniport (I don’t want to say more than this here). As an ordinary student, I don’t think I’ve really felt the impact of SUG since I came to this school. The only thing that makes me hear about SUG in Uniport is SUG election. And we keep electing SUG officials who obviously don’t know the implication of unionism. Unionism is supposed to mean activism, and such activism is supposed to ensure that students’ rights begin where those of the school management/staff stop.
Now, since our school is not what we would have wanted it to be, let us keep our eyes and minds focused on the thing that matters most – the Golden Fleece. Let us emulate the Chinese; have you ever observed the Chinese? When they come to your country to work, they don’t gallivant, they hardly even rent houses or hotel rooms; they just raise a tent or a make-shift and stay there, disciplined and confining themselves to what brought them there, after which they would take their money back to their home. China today is one of he greatest places on the face of the earth.
So, let’s do supremacy of purpose; holding tenaciously on to the purpose of our being here. This is the same school where many men and women of substance of today attended; Goodluck Jonathan was here, Chibuike Amechi was here, Nyesom Wike was here, Ejike Asiegbu was here, Rita Dominic was here, just to mention but a few.
Access to education is the important thing, the most important thing. Access to quality education matters more than physical location. In advance countries, people access education through the internet, in the comfort of their homes or offices. This informs my preference for intensive private study of my relevant materials over attending some of the lectures; and it works for me! Access to education is not necessarily in the four walls of a classroom; but, it is the paramount thing. Hear what Goodluck Jonathan said about access to education:
“My story is that a young Nigerian whose access to education has opened up vast opportunities that enabled me to attain my present position.”
Access to education is the paramount thing. Thanks for reading this article.
Kingsley Onwuka. (onwukavoice@gmail.com)