Fashola: Minister of Works, Power and Housing

The Vice Chancellor of Coal City University, Enugu, Prof. Malachy Okwueze, says, the institution will lead research aimed at solving problems in the power sector.

Ukwueze said that the university would leverage on the abundant coal deposits in Enugu State to develop a module on coal as alternative source of power supply.

The vice chancellor spoke on Saturday in Enugu during the maiden matriculation ceremony of the institution, which received approval in November 2016.

He said that the institution would want its graduates to be ambassadors of change in the country with a view to becoming relevant globally.

He said that entrepreneurial studies would be entrenched in all the courses offered in the institution and that the graduates would have no reason to fail the country.

“All our programmes are entrepreneurial oriented and our students are expected to spend between eight to 10 weeks in an identified enterprise during vacation,” he said.

Ukwueze said that the institution would help in the provision of quality and affordable education, adding that it was the first university in the state not owned by missionaries.

He called on the state government to provide the necessary support to the institution as an encouragement to the promoters.

“One of the greatest challenges of private universities is affordability but at N198,000 tuition fees; including hostel accommodation, we present to you the most affordable private university in the country,” he said.

The Pro-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said that the institution was established to be a centre of excellence.

Nebo, a former Minister of Power, urged the matriculating students to pursue education that was consistent with the Coal City.

Also, the Chancellor of the institution, Chief Chinedu Ani, said that the establishment of the institution had been a long and tortuous journey.

Ani said that the journey started in 2004 when the president of the institution, the late Prof. Stan Ani, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, applied for the licence.

He said that the late priest was a promoter of adopting critical research in finding solutions to the myriad of challenges facing Africa.

The chancellor said that the institution was modelled after the aspirations of the priest.

Ani announced the institution of a prize for the overall best regular student as a means of promoting scholarship in the institution.

He said that the best student with a Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate of not less than 4.5 at the end of the first session would be given full scholarship until graduation.

“This will be called the Chancellor Scholarship Award and I want you to seize this opportunity and aim at the best,” he said.

No fewer than 85 students participated in the matriculation ceremony.

(NAN)