Imo govt. takes over Okorocha’s varsity, scraps new institutions

By Jude Aguguo

The Imo State Government has taken over the Eastern Palm University, Ogboko and converted it to a campus of the Imo State University, Owerri.

Chairman of the Committee on the Review of the newly-established Tertiary Institutions in Imo State, Prof. Jude Njoku, said at a press briefing in Owerri on Wednesday that the committee established a prima facie that the institution was established with state funds.

The committee also recommended that both the Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Aboh/Okpala and the University of Science and Technology, Umuna should remain campuses of Imo State University while Aboh/Okpala will be the campus for agriculture and veterinary medicine, and Umuna will be for engineering as earlier conceived.

He added that a judicial commission of inquiry would be set up to determine the sources of funding and ownership structure of the university. He said that from the findings of the committee at the National Universities Commission (NUC), it was established that approval was given to EPU as the second University in Imo, 47th State University and 143 Nigerian university. In addition, Njoku said that it was discovered that the land was purchased and paid for by the state government.

The committee also scrapped all polytechnics established towards the end of the Rochas Okorocha administration.