News
Why I founded ASUTECH — Jim Nwobodo
Nwobodo said that the in addition to the establishment of the University, he ensured that bursary awards were given to the students to help them succeed in their studies.
He revealed that because of the bursary that he gave, the then Governor Sam Mbakwe of old Imo State, took it up as well to offer bursary to the Imo State students which catalyzed and blossomed tertiary education in the south east.
He said that he was happy today because the graduates of such educational establishments and support have become the leaders of Nigeria and have been coming to back to in appreciation for his focast, 43 years ago.
Nwobodo made the remarks, on Thursday, when the ASUTECH Family Forum presented an Award to him in his country home, Amechi Awkunanu Enugu, as “a visionary leader who established the first University of Technology in Nigeria, the Anambra State University of Technology (ASUTECH), on the 30th of July, 1980.”
Leader of the ASUTECH family delegation and former Managing Director of Enugu State Water Corporation, Engr. Martins Okwor, said that the Alumni considered it wise to remember the Man who made their youthful dreams come true.
Accompanied by another ASUTECH Alumni-turned Catholic priest, Rev Fr Simon Onyia, Okwor said the award on Nwobodo was a decision reached during their biannual reunion in 2022 at Awka Anambra state.
“This is because there is no time that we discuss about ASUTECH without mentioning you (Nwobodo) or having you in mind. So we said that we may not have much but we can show appreciation in our own little format. I and the late Engr Engr Dons Udeh were nominated to come and do the presentation to you but Udeh died and I had to contact the Reverend Father,” Okwor said.
Responding, the octogenarian, Nwobodo, said that everywhere he went, both within and outside Nigeria, the ASUTECH alumni always besieged him, citing a particular incident in the United States of America where such two Alumni hosted him and his wife.
He disclosed that he has received Four Honourary Doctorate Awards form the universities that emerges as offsprings of ASUTECH. Such Universities, he said, include the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), the Anambra state University, renamed Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU); the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).
Nwobodo said that he was pushed to establish the state universities because some students came to him and told him unpalatable stories in the process of their University studies.
“They told me that they were being profiled as Ndi Wawa, secondly they were not well dressed, thirdly they did not have money and I felt bad and said ok, fine! I decided that whoever that was from Anambra state, that is in a Nigeria University will receive Bursary. It was not much, just N300 per student and they assured me that with the money they can make noise in any University they are. They now had confidence and said they were no longer ashamed of taking part in the civil war because it’s was the war that brought about all these.
“When others now saw what has happened, the Imo student went and met Mbakwe and confronted him, telling him that all the Igbo were part of the war, why would they not receive the bursary as the Anambra people do. Mbakwe called and said, Jim! why did you send boys to come and insult me, and I told him no, that these are boys who some of their parents died during the war, they are not working and they are poor, how do you want them to manage?
“I told Mbakwe that he should just do the same thing as I have done and he agreed. That’s how the bursary went round the south east and it did not deplete government expenses,” Nwobodo narrated.
He went further to recall that the idea of making ASUTECH the first multi campus University in Nigeria came up during his meeting with late Prof Kenneth Dike who who was his Vice Chancellor as a student in the University of Ibadan.
Nwobodo said he consulted the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on making ASUTECH a multi campus University and Zik approved of it, adding that he wanted the students of the University to be proud graduates, adding that he was happy his dream came true.
He urged the ASUTECH Alumni to ensure that they participate in further development of their alma mater such as ESUT, EBSU, Unizik and COOU, disclosing that ESUT has slated November this year to host it’s first founders day celebration.
He asked the ASUTECH alumni to ensure that they participate actively in the Founders day ceremony where he will also be honoured. (Vanguard)
…Mbah: Enugu has a lot of success stories to tell in 3 years
Enugu State has shone brilliantly at the BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Investment Readiness Awards (SCIRA) 2025, carting home the Infrastructure Development Competitiveness Award and Outstanding Performance in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Award.
Governor Peter Mbah, represented by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Ben Okoh and the Executive Chairman, Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), Mr. Emmanuel Nnamani, received the awards on behalf of the state government in Abuja, Thursday night.
Presenting the awards, the Publisher/CEO of BusinessDay Media Limited, said Governor Mbah had impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics.
“In the last six months, I have had the opportunity of travelling to Enugu three times. The first time I visited in January, my taxi driver was eager to take me around. That caught my imagination. I began to ask questions and I began to look around.
“One thing I found especially quite interesting was that Governor Mbah did not set aside everything that he met, which could have been a waste of public resources. He looked at what is good and he rebuilt them; the ones that were not completed, he completed them.
“Two things that struck me because I had to ask a question, where does he get the money? I saw good roads, and I don’t mean good roads in the major highways, I mean good roads even in the communities that are far away from the prime areas of the state capital, Enugu.
“I thought that that is a very good example of a private sector person, who knows what to do with resources, because if you use resources well, you get more from little and that is what the governor has done. And for that, Governor Mbah is receiving this award. He has impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics,” he stated.
Speaking, Engr. Okoh thanked BusinessDay for recognising the Mbah Administration’s efforts at rewriting the narrative of the state, stressing that Enugu had a lot of success stories to tell in just three years.
He, however, described the awards as a motivation to do more, noting, “as the governor always says, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Okoh went on to reel out some of the achievements of the administration, saying that “Enugu State has witnessed an unprecedented infrastructural revolution, the type we have never seen since the advent of this present democracy in 1999.”
“Projects that were inherited even from governments that left office in 2007- for instance, the International Conference Centre, Mbah has completed it. Hotel Presidential, the flagship hotel of the old Eastern Region, and the Nigergas Company, which has remained moribund for over 30 years, have been revived.
“Being the commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the state, I can stand here confidently to say that no government since 1999 achieved what Governor Mbah has achieved in three years.
“I can say that in terms of road construction, in just three years, we have done far more than double what any other government did in eight years. No government in Enugu since 1999 did up to 600Km of roads in eight years.
“Under Governor Mbah, we have 267 smart schools across the state and 260 Primary Healthcare Centres to our credit.
“We are developing the New Enugu City, a world-class smart city. The present Enugu City is about 14,000 hectares, while the New City is approximately 10,000 hectares. To put this in perspective, the New Enugu City is almost the same size as Paris, Milan or Barcelona, making it one of the largest planned urban developments in Africa.
The New Enugu City is also larger than Manchester or the entire Phase One of the Federal Capital City, Abuja, which comprises the districts of Asokoro, Maitama, Maitama Extension, Wuse I (Zone 1 – 7), Wuse II, Garki I (Area 1 – 11), Garki II, the Central Business District, Three Arms Zone, Guzape I, and Guzape II.
This is the first time a state in Nigeria would be undertaking an integrated infrastructure development, which is what we have in the FCT where all the facilities in the modern city are underground, and telecommunications lines- the fibre optics, the electrical cables, water pipes, everything is underground. It is not just a vision; the projects are already ongoing.
“There is no particular sector that Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has not touched, be it tourism, security, agriculture, education or even transport sector where the administration floated Enugu Air, built five ultramodern transport terminals and launched over 150 CNG buses,” he said.
It is also recalled that the Mbah Administration has disrupted the state’s IGR space, where he used reforms and technology to grow the state’s IGR exponentially from N26.8bn in 2022 to N37.4bn in 2023, N180.5bn in 2024, and N406.7bn in 2025, with tax revenue accounting for just N51.5bn or 12.6 per cent of the 2025 IGR proceeds.
Meanwhile, BusinessDay is Nigeria’s leading business newspaper and the SCIA recognises and celebrates states that have demonstrated exceptional performance in governance, economic development, infrastructure delivery, investment promotion, and the creation of an enabling environment for businesses and citizens to thrive.
A legal practitioner, Barrister Chinedu Ifeanyi Iloeje, has publicly declared that a man previously believed to be his son is not biologically related to him, following the outcome of a DNA test.
In a public notice published in a newspaper, Iloeje stated that he was allegedly misled by the man’s mother into believing that the individual, identified as Chinedu Francis Iloeje, was his biological son.
According to the notice, DNA testing conducted on the matter established “beyond any doubt” that the man is not his son.
The lawyer further clarified that he never legally adopted the individual, despite the latter bearing the name Chinedu Francis Iloeje.
Disclaimer
Barrister Iloeje explained that the man’s original name is Chinedu Francis Onwualu and stressed that he has no legal or biological relationship with him.
The notice also informed members of the public, the Greater Iloeje Family, the Umuodu Village Union, Uwani Amokwe Town Union, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church Amokwe, Udi Local Government Council, and other stakeholders of his declaration.
He stated that the disclaimer was made in good faith and while of sound mind, urging the public to take note of the clarification.
The publication has sparked discussions on paternity disputes and the increasing reliance on DNA testing to resolve questions of biological parentage.
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has donated N10 million to assist in the renovation of the burnt Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu State.
The former Anambra State governor handed over the cheque for the donation to the hospital management team when he visited the hospital yesterday.
The hospital belongs to the Reverend Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of the Catholic Church.
Mr Peter Obi inspecting the burnt hospital
Addressing the hospital management team after inspecting parts of the burnt hospital, the NDC presidential candidate commended them for their efforts in contributing to healthcare delivery services.
Telling them that even though they might feel that they were not being appreciated for what they were doing, Obi, however, described healthcare delivery services and education as among the “most critical needs of society” and urged them not to relent in what they were doing.
Accompanied during the visit by his Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Housing, as well as Special Adviser on Media when he was Anambra State governor, Prof. Stella Okunna, Prof. Patrick Obi, and Dr. Valentine Obienyem respectively, Obi assured the hospital management team that he would continue to support them.
Part of the hospital gutted by the inferno and inspected by Obi was the Children’s Ward.
Expressing gratitude on behalf of the hospital management, the Chief Medical Director of Immaculate Heart Hospital, Nkpor, Anambra State, Rev. Sister Dr. Maria Nkiruka Okafor, eulogised Obi for his sacrifices and selfless contributions to humanity.
Disclosing that Obi had already credited the hospital’s accountant with the N10 million donation and that he was even the person who called her to inform her that he had received the sad news of the inferno and promised to donate towards the renovation, Rev. Sister Okafor described him as a rare politician.
She prayed that God would grant him his ambition to become President of the country and enable him to achieve his desire to transform it.
-
News3 days agoLondon court acquits Alison-Madueke of all corruption charges
-
International3 days ago
$300bn reconstruction aid, sanctions lift’ – US-Iran MoU details emerge
-
News23 hours ago
Retired Generals raise alarm over insecurity, say govt must be proactive
-
News21 hours ago
Obi donates N10 million to burnt hospital in Enugu
-
News3 days ago
My name has been cleared, says Alison-Madueke after London Jury acquits her of corruption charges
-
News23 hours ago
FG, Enugu State target direct China-Enugu Cargo flights by December – Keyamo
-
News2 days ago
Shocking! Vandals excavate, steal 3km of Port Harcourt–Kaduna Pipeline after spending months in South-East forest
-
News1 day ago
IPoB reshuffles leadership as Nnamdi Kanu dissolves DoS
