By Our Correspondent
In the just published biography of late elder statesman, Dr. Basil Nnanna Ukegbu, written by veteran journalist and award-winning author, Ethelbert Okere, a revelation was made of the intrigues that led to the abortion of his efforts to establish the first private university in Africa, the Imo Technical University. Dr. Ukegbu had, after losing at the 1979 general election, traveled to the United States of America where he spent a lot of time strategizing of what next to do.
As a matter of fact, the immediate reason he left the shores of Nigeria was that the victorious Governor Sam Mbakwe had, perhaps out of an intent to punish the man who gave him so much trouble during the electioneering campaigns, transferred Ukegbu out from the Owerri Grammar School (which Ukegbu had founded in 1958 though taken over by government after the Nigerian civil war) as Principal. Ukegbu promptly resigned from the Imo state schools system and headed for the United States where he spent over one year.
It was during that period that Ukegbu developed the idea of his Technological And Economic Development Mission (TEDEM) as a platform for achieving “inter-racial equality in socio economic term by the black world and other backward peoples”. He made written presentations to the presidents of two foremost black institutions: Rice University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Both invited him separately for further discussions, but he was able to convince them to rather work as a team. Ukegbu’s message to the heads of these foremost institutions in the United States was that so long as black Africa remains poor and backward, so long will black Americans be looked down on by their white counterparts; that is, that for Black Americans to avoid being ridiculed by their white brethren, the former have to help Africa to develop. He further pointed out that unlike China and Japan which were able to send thousands of their people to Europe and America to acquire technology education, African countries were fragmented and as such, would be unable to do the same thing like China and Japan; that is to ferry a bulk of their people to ‘steal’ technological knowledge from Europe and America.
Therefore, the only way out, Ukegbu told his potential partners, was for Black-owned universities in the white countries to come to Africa to team up with African-based universities and second teachers who will be paid in hard currencies under a consortium of Black universities. His proposal was accepted, with Rice University as the head of a consortium that included two other Black universities in the US – the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago and TusKegee Institute, Alabama. The agreement was to establish a university fashioned after the idea canvassed by Ukegbu. Dr. Ukegbu’s part in the bargain was to incorporate the institution in Nigeria and provide land.
A triumphant Ukegbu headed back to Nigeria and commenced work immediately. He had no difficulty with land since he already had over 79 hecters of land at Etioha, along the Owerri-Port Harcourt road; but the propsed university would take off on a temporary site in his home town, Amafor Imerienwe, where he had earlier acquired a large expanse of land close to his ancestral home. For incorporation, Ukegbu went to the Corporate Affairs Commission and registered TEDEM with a full board of Trustees and the stage was set.
On December 10, 1980, TEDEM was formerly launched by Dr. M.I. Okpara, premier of the defunct Eastern region, for the purpose of running a conglomerate of an educational institution including the Imo Technical University (ITU), the Imo Medical Academy and the School of Basic studies. There were also to be a secondary school wing. TEDEM College (For Boys) and Dorothy College (For Girls). With that, ITU was to be the first university in Africa that would be privately owned by a consortium of Black America Universities. Then trouble started.
A few weeks after the formal launching of TEDEM, the Imo state government under Governor Sam Mbakwe sued Dr. Basil Nnanna Ukegbu in a state high court for “working towards establishing a private university – the Imo Technical University”. The crux of the suit was that the university being established by Dr. Ukegbu was an illegal institution. The Imo State High Court, presided over by the then Chief Judge, Justice Sylvester Chukwudifu Oputa, granted the reliefs sought by the government. But before giving judgment, Justice Oputa was said to have sent an emissary to Ukegbu to inform the later that though the state government had no case, that his hands were tied because there was no way he would rule against the state government. Oputa was said to have advised Ukegbu to get Chief Frederick Rotimi Williams, one of the best lawyers in Nigeria then, to appeal the judgment and that he was certain that Williams was going to get him victory at the high court. Ukegbu heeded Oputa’s advice and brought in Williams who challenged the state high court’s ruling at the Court of Appeal. The Appeal Court, after reviewing the case, became of the opinion that “substantial questions of law were raised in the appeal before it” and referred the case to the Supreme Court.
In a landmark judgment on March 30, 1983, the Supreme Court, presided over by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Atanda Fatai-Williams, sitting with least four other Justices, ruled that “by virtue of section 36 (1) and 2 of the 1978 constitution, every citizen of Nigerian had a right to establish an institution for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinion, and for that purpose any individual or private agency may establish a university”.
Following that victory, Ukegbu returned to his partners in the United States of America to inform them that the coast was now clear. But it had become too late and overtaken by events. The atmosphere in Nigeria was no longer conducive to continue with the project because following the apex court’s ruling there was a cacophony of proclamations of private universities in the country, to the extent that within a space of three months, nearly thirty private universities had been established across the country. The matter got to a level that Nigerians generally got disgusted and began to call for a halt in the establishment and ownership of private universities. The National Universities Commission (NUC) issued a statement distancing itself from the development and stating that none of the promoters consulted it let alone sought for a legal licensing as stipulated by law.
It was under these circumstances that Major-General Muhammadu came to power in 31st December 1983 and one of the first things he did was to promulgate the Private University (Abolition And Prohibition) Decree No 19 of 1984. However, Ukegbu did not relent. He tried to see if ITU could be exempted from the ban. His argument was that ITU was not a private individual but owned by a consortium of world renowned universities in the United States of America. But his efforts were unsuccessful.
