By Chiaka Ozokoli, PhD
From all indication, most of us prefer to shout “marginalization” only when we are at the receiving end. Some members of the public may have been privy to the undercurrents of complaints in the University of Nigeria regarding the winner-takes-it-all mentality of the people of Anambra extraction who work in that institution. Well, I come with a revelation that it is only people of the so-called Greater Awka Area that have hijacked the institution. With an Association formed for the purpose, called AAA (Awka Area Association), they marginalize and relegate not only the non-Anambra staff of the institution but also other staff of Anambra state (ordinarily publicly perceived as their “brothers and sisters”) who are not of the so called Greater Awka Area. Let me not bore you with any historical antecedents; the current makeup of the current university administration and other juicy positions is enough to make my case:
1. Professor Charles A. Igwe, Vice-Chancellor – Greater Awka Area
2. Professor Patrick Okpoko, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) - Greater Awka Area
3. Professor Anene Moneke, Director, Centre for Environmental Management & Control (CEMAC) - Greater Awka Area
4. Professor Uche Oguonu, Director of Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB) - Greater Awka Area
5. Professor Romanus Ezeokonkwo, Director of CEDR - Greater Awka Area
6. Professor Emmanuel Ezeani, Director of UNN Consult - Greater Awka Area
7. Professor Lawrence Ezeanyika, Dean of Postgraduate Studies (an elective position into which he was initially appointed as Acting Dean and later ratified in a kangaroo election) - Greater Awka Area
8. Professor Obinna Onwujekwe, Director of Research - Greater Awka Area
9. Professor B. M. Anene, Director of TETFund - Greater Awka Area
10. Professor Bonaventure Echezona, Dean of School of General Studies (an appointive deanship) - Greater Awka Area
11. Engr. Professor Chigbo Mgbemena, Director of Environmental Management - Greater Awka Area
12. Professor (Mrs) K. Onyechi, Director of Institute of Education - Greater Awka Area
13. Professor F. N. Okeke, Director of the Centre for Climate Change - Greater Awka Area
14. Professor (Mrs) Stella Madueme, Director, CBN Centre for Financial Market Studies, Enugu - Greater Awka Area

Not done, the Anambra Consultative Forum (ACF) held a meeting on 19th April 2021 to discuss election of members of the University Senate into the Governing Council that holds on 12th April 2021, in which they resolved that, “In view of the fact that there is no indigene of Anambra state in the list of external members of the UNN Governing Council currently in circulation, it has become imperative that the only option left for us is to ensure that the three candidates we are presenting before the senate are elected.” What is actually more interesting is that this ACF that claims to incorporate all staff of Anambra eventually ended up selecting three professors who are all of the Greater Awka Area. Other eminently qualified aspiring professors of Anambra were rejected for the “sin” of not being native to the Greater Awka Area. But this makes sense if considered in the light of the fact that the so-called ACF is chaired by Professor Emmanuel Ezeani who also heads the Awka Area Association.

The AAA people, therefore, look forward to controlling not just the University Administration but also the University Council. To perpetuate their dynasty in the UNN, they always ensure that academic staff of that extraction get promoted to professorship even if clearly unqualified for the position. A typical example is the list of professors released just about two weeks to the election in question, which included persons of the Greater Awka Area who clearly don’t have the required publications to merit the position of professorship. Evidently, their major concern is to be in charge of the University and has nothing to do with any genuine interest for an equitable improvement of the institution.

This is the same way the Fulani operate in the larger Nigeria. If you wonder why the UNN is making no progress over the last couple of years, the answer is not far from the scenario I just painted to you.