Editorial Federal polytechnic Oko Anambra State surely is moving from strength to strength. And the institution has never had it so good as under the present administration led by Prof. Godwin Onu in terms of infrastructural and human capacity development. One of the innovations of this administration is the introduction of the Dr. Alex Ekwueme Annual lecture series as part of activities marking the convocation ceremonies of the polytechnic. Apart from infrastructural development, Onu has introduced many novel courses in line with the directive of the Education ministry to increase access. Among the courses are Mechatronics Engineering Technology, Industrial Maintenance and Safety Engineering Technology, Aeronautics Science Technology, Aviation and Transport Management, Marine Science Technology, Nano Science Technology, Fisheries Technology, Agricultural Science Technology, Solar Power Technology, Bio-Energy Technology, Forensic science Technology among others and this courses are awaiting resource inspection by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE). The rector has put in place an enabling environment for teaching and learning with the aesthetic environment he created which has distinguished him from the past leadership of the polytechnic and has as well digitalized the administration of the institution. This year’s convocation, which is the 19th convocation ceremony is unique because of some activities lined up as parts of the celebration. The first is the Alumni World Congress which will be followed by the first World Campus Cultural Carnival. The carnival is expected to showcase Nigeria’s unity in diversity with all the cultural heritage of the country being paraded. The fourth edition of Dr. Alex Ekwueme Annual Lecture will precede the 19th convocation ceremony with the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu delivering the lecture after the wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan had commissioned some projects in the Polytechnic. Among the projects to be commissioned by the first lady include the Modern medical complex, the Ultra Modern Mass Communication Department and the Science laboratory Technology department complexes which were built through financial discipline from the Internal Generated Revenue of the polytechnic. Many other projects at various stages of completion are currently on going at the polytechnic. Some of them are the construction of a two-storey Virtual Resource Centre building , the construction of 1500 capacity Lecture Theatre, Construction of two-storey Electrical Electronics Engineering complex and the construction of a two-storey Continuing Education Programme complex Others are the reconstruction of one-storey Stores department, a two-storey Exams and Records complex already completed, a two-storey office complex, a two-storey Mass Comm complex, two-storey building Confucius and another two-storey building Alex Ekwueme Resource Centre among others. The emphasis now is on high rising buildings around the polytechnic. The commissioning will be followed by the fourth edition of Dr. Alex Ekwueme Annual Lectures which will be delivered by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the lecture is aimed at immortalizing the founder of the Polytechnic, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme. Dr. Ekwueme was born on October 21, 1932 at Oko, Anambra State of Nigeria. He completed his secondary school education at King’s College, Lagos on a Government Scholarship and passed the Cambridge School Certificate Examination with Grade 1 in December 1949, scoring the first position in seven out of nine subjects he offered: English Literature, Latin, History, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. After secondary school, he worked as a Technical Assistant/Science/Mathematics Instructor at King’s College, Lagos, and his alma mater. During the period 1950 to 1951, he sat for and passed two separate examinations for the Cambridge Higher School Certificate as a private student, the first in December 1950 in English, Latin and History (the first two subjects at “scholarship” standard) and the second in December 1951 in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. In 1952, Alex taught physics at Hussey College Warri, before going to the United State as one of the four Nigerians to be awarded the Fulbright scholarship financed by the US State Department. He enrolled at the University of Washington Seattle for the degree of B.Arch in Architecture and City Planning which he earned in June 1959. While pursuing his undergraduate degree in Architecture, he also earned a B.A. in Sociology courses. Concurrently, in June 1955, he sat for the B.A degree examination of the University of London as an external candidate in History, Philosophy and Constitutional Law and passed them in the Second Division. In September 1956, he sat for and passed the University of London Intermediate LL.B examination. He received his M.A. degree in Urban Planning in March 1957 from the University of Washington. Alex returned to Nigeria in June 1957 to assume employment with Esso West Africa Inc., Lagos. On January 2, 1958 he registered the firm of Ekwueme Associates, Architects and town Planners, the first such Nigerian firm to be registered. The practice flourished and had 16 branch offices spread all over Nigeria until September 30, 1979, when it ceased to exist, preparatory to Alex’s entry into public life on October 1, 1979. In 1965, he was elected President of the Nigerian institute of Architects; in 1970 he was elected one of the five foundation Fellows of the Institute and in 1975 he was elected the President of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria. He is a Gold Medalist of the Nigerian Institute of Architects and is currently Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Trustees. In addition to Alex’s many public service roles at national, state and community levels, he established in 1965, the Ekwueme Memorial Trust, an Educational Trust Fund that was responsible for sponsoring the education of several hundred youths in Nigerian Universities and abroad. In October 1976, Alex a took a 2-year Sabbatical from his practice, and enrolled for a Ph.D degree in the School of Architecture, Building Science and Planning at the University Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. He completed the Ph.D work on Housing in a record time of two years, in October 1978. Concurrently with his Ph.D research work. Alex registered for and passed the LL.B (Honours) degree examination of the University of London in June 1978. In 1978, the military planned to relinquish power after almost 14 years in office. Alex returned to Nigeria in November and on January 23, 1979, he was selected as the National Party of Nigeria (N.P.N) Vice-Presidential candidate and running mate to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Alex was sworn in as the first Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on October 1, 1979, and after election in 1983, was again sworn in for a second term on October 1, 1983. On December 31, 1983, the Nigerian Military again staged a coup d’etat and sacked the civilian Federal and State Governments. Alex and other leaders of his Government including the President were detained by the military. They were put on trial before a military tribunal. The panel announced publicly that from all investigations, Dr. Ekwueme had left politics much poorer than he was when he entered it, and had also stated that to ask for more from him was to set a standard in public life which even saints could not meet. In October 1990, he enrolled at the Nigerian Law School. In July 1991, he passed the Bar Finals examination with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) winning the Sofolahan prize for the best student in the General Paper (Professional Ethics, Solicitor’s Accounts and Office Management) and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1991. In April 1994, Alex was elected, in absentia, by his local government area as a delegate to the 1994/1995 National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in Abuja. At the NCC, he served on the “Committee on the Structure and Framework of the Constitution.” His proposal at the NCC on just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria based on six geopolitical zones, although initially misunderstood by some, have come to be accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity which will command the loyalty of all Nigerians and generate in all a sense of belonging. It was also in the same spirit that he accepted to chair the All Politicians Summit, which took place on December 14, 1995. In April 1998, Alex led a group of eminent Nigerians now popularly referred to as the “G-34,” in addressing a Memorandum to the then Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, advising him not to succeed himself, a brave act indeed, at a time when most Nigerians chose to remain silent. The G-34 transformed into a broad-based political party, now called the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Dr Ekwueme lost the nomination of the PDP for President to President Obasanjo in February 1999 and January 2003. Alex served on the Board of Directors of the Ottawa, Canada-based Forum of Federations from 2000-2006: was the leader of the team assembled by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for pre-election monitoring for the parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe in 2000; was also the leader of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Observer team to the Tanzanian presidential and parliamentary elections in 2000, and Leader of the NDI/Carter Centre sponsored Observer team to the Liberian presidential run-off elections in 2005. He is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Elders and has served on a U.S. Council of Foreign Relations Task force on “Threats to Democracy” under the chairmanship of Dr. Madeline Albright. Dr Ekwueme was selected by his alma mater, University of Washington (Seattle) as one of a hundred alumni/alumnae that made significant impact on world events in the twentieth century. He has also been awarded honorary degrees by Abia State University (D.Litt), Federal University of Technology, Owerri (D.Tech), BabcockUniversiity (D.Sc), Nnmdi Azikiwe University (LL.D), Bayero University (D.Sc), Nigerian Defence Academy (D.Litt), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (LL.D) and Ebonyi State University (LL.D).
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 14:06:29 +0000
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