Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State says he does not believe that president Muhammadu Buhari has an agenda to shortchange or marginalise the South East region.
He also stated that Nigeria is better together and should not be balkanized.
Umahi disclosed this during a visit to the Nigerian University Commission on Tuesday where the David Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences, Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of the State was approved as the 197th University in the country.
The governor thanked the Nigeria Universities Commission for speedily approving the request of the State Government to ensure that the University commences academic activities in earnest.
While throwing light on the composition of the University, Governor Umahi said the Institution has enough facilities to ensure that all the students and staff live within the campus to guarantee effective teaching and learning.
He said the Institution would among other things have provisions for a kidney transplant, cancer treatment and production of Dialyzers as a way of ending Medical tourism in Nigeria.
“The lecturers will live within the campus, and all the students of the University will live within the campus, nobody will live outside the campus and I welcome ideas and assistance whereby within the next one year, we can turn this University into a private sector driven University so that this University will serve the purpose in which we set it in our State.
“The fees in this University will be a bit higher but we will be looking for the best of the best as the Lecturers for the University and that’s why I want it to be a private university so that I am not caught in the web of paying the salaries of the Lecturers, I want to pay them like what is paid in overseas, and I want them to offer services the way it is offered in overseas so that we can also cut off our people that are going to overseas to study Medicine and all these Basic Sciences.
“I want this to be the best of the best that should compete with any of the Medical Universities in the World, it is possible, we are not dull in our place, it is all about the will and passion to do it for each one of us to know that we are here for a purpose and we are just here to render services that God has asked us to render and if we fail to do that, we will still pass by, this is just a journey that is momentary and money doesn’t serve everything but at the end of the day your legacies and the judgment of God.”
Governor Umahi while commending President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister for Education for the assistance to the State in the establishment of the Cancer Centre, underscored his belief in one united Nigeria.
“I have always maintained that we are far better with a united Nigeria, we are far better being our brothers, our sisters in this country and I have never had any reason to think otherwise. What are we looking for? So, Prof, I believe so much in one Nigeria, but I don’t believe that Mr. President or anybody else has any agenda to shortchange South East or to marginalize the South East, I don’t believe that and I don’t have any apologies for saying that, you can criticize me, you can curse me as usual but it doesn’t matter, what matters is the truth to be said and as Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum, I have always told our people, if there are issues, let us put the issues down because in this country, there is no region that is not talking about one problem or the other but we can always come together and discuss.”
