By Emmanuel Nduka
Chairman of the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) Mr Moses Siloko Siasia has commended the CEO of Access Bank, Dr Herbert Wigwe on his proposed plans to build a world-class University in Isiokpo Community, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.
In a statement issued over the weekend in Abuja, the NYPF Chief lauded Dr. Herbert’s decision to set up a University in his hometown. He affirmed that the feat is a very uncommon decision taken by one those who are the big wigs from the oil-rich Niger Delta Region.
Mr Siasia commended the Access Bank CEO for choosing to invest in the education sector which he said, will improve the human and educational capacity of those from the region and Nigeria at large.
While he urged other elites from the region to emulate the initiative, Siasia noted that “education is the best investment that anyone can have in life”. “If others are doing the same thing, the region would have been more advanced than what it is today,” he added.
According to Siaisia, the proposed University will further help in reducing the activities of youth restiveness, oil theft, militancy, and other social vices that the region’s youths engage in.
“One cannot dispute the enormous economic activity that educational investment will bring to the ancient community of Isokpo,” Mr Siasia stated.
Heritage Times HT reports that the Access Bank Chief recently informed that the inaugural academic session of the University will begin in September 2024. He also noted that once the institution is fully operational, residents around the University and its environs will enjoy uninterrupted electricity supply.
Dr Herbert’s investment in the education sector comes amidst a longstanding face-off between the Nigerian Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has kept students at home for over six months.
While the children of majority of political officers in Nigeria school abroad, ASUU has embarked on 16 strikes in the last 23 years.
