Former Abia State House of Assembly member, Jerry Uzosike, has urged Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and his colleagues to introduce a bill for the creation of a conventional university in Abia State. Uzosike, who represented Umuahia South constituency, emphasized that the state needs a university offering professional programs such as medicine, law, and engineering, rather than one focused solely on Nigerian languages.
Uzosike, who gave the advice on Monday in reaction to the recent bill before the Houses of Representatives for the establishment of Bola Ahmed Tinubu University of Nigerian Languages, said the Deputy Speaker has the capacity to attract a conventional university to Abia.
The former legislator who regretted that Abia is the only State without a conventional Federal University, recalled that Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike lost many departments a few years ago after many courses that were not agric-based in the school were scrapped.
“Furthermore, when General Ihejirika served as Chief of Army Staff, he established a military language school in Isuikwuato, unfortunately, a few years later, a military university was launched in the North and the new military university also offers languages.
“Had the language school at Isuikwuato been made a conventional military university encompassing a broader range of courses, it could have significantly advanced local development within Isuikwuato area and Abia at large”, the former lawmaker said.
