Home Coming for first set of UNN graduates

By Emeka Ibemere                      

It was one sunny Saturday October 5, 2013, at the University auditorium.  He walked on solicited, clutching his certificate and reeling out his registration number; as the first student on the roll of 15 students that started the first indigenous autonomous university in Nigeria.

For Ninety-three years old Elder- Chief Christopher Nzekwe Eneasato, it was  returning to home- the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), where he started his quest for higher learning, after exactly 53 years of graduation.

Eneasato was the first of the pioneers invited by the Vice Chancellor of the UNN, Prof Bartho Okolo as the first Nigeria higher education institution, honoured the pioneers whose exploits and successes so far validated the idea of a wholly Nigerian university, an idea hitherto derided as fantasy.

Few weeks ago, UNN rolled out the drums and red carpets to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the graduation of the pathfinders as part of the annual Founder’s Day celebration and lecture of the institution.

The outstanding performance of the 1963, set at the competitive civil service examination gave the institution an enviable brand name and silenced derisive criticisms that trailed the establishment of the institution.

University of Nigeria opened its large sprawling gates to only 200 students on October 7, 1960, a few days after the declaration of Independence by Nigeria by 1963, 150 of those students graduated with degrees of the university.

Among the pioneers who reported for the 50^th Anniversary celebration were five professors including the best graduating student of the class of ’63, Professor Johnson Asiegbu.  Others were Prof Peter Esedebe, Prof Romanus Egudu, Prof Onigu Otite, and emeritus Professor, O.S.B. Omoregie. Also present were Retired Captain S.O. Ehiede, Chief S.I. Ayela-Uwangu, Chief M.I. Momoh, and Raphael Nwamefor.  The others included Mrs Comfort Ukwu (nee Akwah), Sir Sydney Onyegbuna, Mrs Maria Anyaegbunam, Chief Martin. O. Anih and a representative of Dr. Eleazu Ibeabuchi.

It was gathered that their feats are now part of the folklore of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Asiegbu for instance obtained a First Class in Political Science and went on to a bag Doctor of Philosophy after a programme at the University of Cambridge. According to the University’s reports, the first batch of graduates performed excellently in the Civil Service Examination ahead of their counterparts from other universities in Nigeria and abroad.

UNN Vice Chancellor Prof Bartho Okolo recalled in an address at the epochal event: “It is public knowledge that some pessimists doubted the need for the establishment of the University of Nigeria at the time of its founding. However, the first real test of the comparative abilities of our pioneer graduates, came in the form of an examination into the National Civil Service”, he stated.

“This distinguished generation of Lions and Lionesses excelled beyond anyone’s imagination. It was reported that their excellent performance at that examination was the beginning of the reputation of excellence that we all enjoy at the University of Nigeria today. Their achievements opened doors for subsequent graduates of the University of Nigeria. Some of these heroes may have fallen, but an event of this nature serves to express our respect, admiration and gratitude for being worthy pioneer students and graduates of this legacy institution. We salute them! We congratulate them! We salute them for the legacy of excellence which they bequeathed to us”.

The Pro- Chancellor of the University, Sir (Dr) Emeka Enejere, said the celebration was important to reinforce the past of the University in order for people to have a better grasp of its present state, and make projection into its future.

He chronicled the history of the University from its conception stage to the establishment of the Institution on October 7, 1960. He saluted the Zion- faith the pioneer graduates had in the University at a time when many people called to question the viability of a degree awarded by a Nigerian university.

“The role you played in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka cannot be forgotten, we cannot thank you enough for bearing the name, Lions and Lionesses with dignity and candour.  Your alma- mater is proud of you, and your names shall eternally be written in the book of records of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka”, he said.

One of the pioneer graduates and the best graduating student of the 1963 class, Prof. Johnson Asiegbu, recalled how critics derided and criticised them for being students of UNN, which many of the cynics called “Zik’s Secondary School”. He said their determination to succeed amidst daunting infrastructure challenges made them resilient and focused on their mandate.

“UNN gave us an assignment when we came here in 1960, an assignment to restore the dignity of man.  We came with enthusiasm from start to the finish.  However, within the environment of the university and outside the university, we had challenges of infrastructure and how people regarded our university and us. If that challenge had affected us, it would have been a different history. Nevertheless, we never lost faith because we knew we had a duty to do to ourselves and to our country”, he added.

“Even the Federal civil service examination that was organised in 1963, was meant to prove that Nsukka graduates  were not worthy of their certificates but the table fell on the critics as Nsukka graduates gave a good account of themselves by occupying all the top positions in the examination. I am happy that the University has sustained that tradition of excellence over the years,” he said.

Prof. Solomon Omoregie, a member of the set, said that the spirit of hard work, which they learnt during their undergraduate studies in UNN, was the bedrock of their successes in their postgraduate studies abroad.

He recalled how his classmates had to line up waiting for their turn to study a particular textbook recommended by their Professors.

“If you had the opportunity to read that book for 30 minutes, you would not see it again for the whole session. That was how we started”, he said.

The octogenarian, who has special interest in poetry, donated copies of his last book to Nnamdi Azikiwe Library as part of his social responsibilities to his alma- mater.  Pioneers, P. Olisanwuche Esedebe and J Okoro Ijomah, writing in University of Nigeria 1960-1985: An Experiment in Higher Education, recalled the ridicule initial students suffered from the media, the public and students at the University College, Ibadan over some of the courses introduced by UNN including the General Studies programme.

 “The idea of (B.A) Nsukka; instead of (B.A.) London; became a standing joke. ‘Can you imagine’, asked one newspaper editor, ‘a Nigerian university with (M.A.) Awo-Omama; (PhD) Onitsha; LL.B (Jankara) and (LL.M Oshogbo)’. He did not foresee that four years after the inception of the University, B.A.  (A.B.U); B.A. (Ife); B.A (Lagos) would be a reality and a little later B.A. (Benin); B.A. Port Harcourt); B.A. Jos; B.A. Sokoto., B.A. Kano, B.A. (Calabar) and so on. Undaunted by what proved to be misguided criticisms, the authorities at Nsukka wisely stuck to the General Studies programme,” Omoregie said.

Almost all universities in the country now have a General Studies component for broadening the knowledge of students across disciplines

The peak of the event was the presentation of pencil portraits of old and young images of the celebrants by the Pro-chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the University.  The school also launched a book in honour of the pioneers.      

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