By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt – The Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Prof. Owunari Georgewill, on Tuesday called for more collaboration with stakeholders to boost university education in the country.
Georgewill made the call when the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku led other executive directors to the university in Port Harcourt.
He said that UNIPORT, ranked fourth best university in the country, had made significant progress in the areas of infrastructure and research and learning.
According to him, the university was positioning itself to be ranked among the best universities in Africa but can only realise this dream with the support of NDDC and other stakeholders.
“We want UNIPORT to be renowned for its teaching, creativity and innovation, to compete favourably with other universities globally.
“To achieve this, we intend to create a more conducive learning environment by building an additional lecture auditorium; equip our laboratories with modern technologies and build accommodation for staff.
“We also want to rehabilitate internal roads on campus; construct a governing council auditorium and install solar powered street lights on campus among others,” he said.
Georgewill said although NDDC had built some projects on campus in the past, more assistance was needed to move UNIPORT up the university rankings on the continent.
“We believe the provision of these facilities will enable UNIPORT to receive prospective undergraduates and postgraduates students across West Africa.
“The NDDC Managing Director is an alumnus of UNIPORT; hence we pray that he extends his benevolence and goodwill to the university.
“NDDC was created to give a face lift to the South-South region, and UNIPORT situated in the region is optimistic of a favourable relationship with NDDC,” he added.
Earlier, Ogbuku said the commission was open to partnership with UNIPORT and other critical stakeholders, including state governments in the development of the Niger Delta.
He said that NDDC had prioritized the construction of legacy and key projects that would open the region to a more sustainable growth.
“But we can only carry out legacy projects with better finance. We have looked at our finances and it’s not too good hence our decision to adopt the public private partnership approach.
“We have instituted a committee that is currently in touch with companies as well as governments for us to partner to carry out sustainable development and regional infrastructures.
“UNIPORT is open to partner with us in any areas it wants our partnership with considering that we have made provision of such partnership in our budget,” Ogbuku said.
The managing director said the public private partnership approach would speed up development and significantly reduce financial and technical limitations.
Ogbuku promised to support UNIPORT in the area of research and development, among others, as well as rehabilitate key facilities at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ogbuku was accompanied by NDDC Executive Director, Finance and Administration, retired Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere and Executive Director, Projects, Charles Ogunmola, among other directors. (NAN)
