2011: Akunyili adds Azikiwe to Jonathan's name

Uwakwe Abugu


Information and Communications Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, recently took the on-going campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan to the South-East when she constantly emphasised two middle Igbo names of the President during a convocation lecture she delivered at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.

She called the full names of Mr. President as Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, a development that stirred murmuring from the huge crowd at the Princess Alexandria Auditorium, venue of the lecture.

She went on to deliver the lecture on re-branding the Nigerian universities and was later made to come back to the reaction of the audience on Jonathan's name.

She had to take on the audience, saying she knew they would be surprised that she used those Igbo names. Then, she went on to explain to the audience that those were the names given to Jonathan by his grand parents.

In fact, what caused the seeming stir among the crowd was the introduction of Azikiwe, the name of the late first President of the country, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, to Jonathan's name but she defended it, saying it is not a new name but one of the names given to him by his grand parents.

Side talks, of course, trailed the drama, as some members of the audience saw the development as a ploy to make the President assume a closer affinity with the Igbo in the South-East as the controversy over the zoning of the presidency rages across the country.

She declared: I want to assure you that President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is very passionate about making life comfortable for all Nigerians and he needs your support to achieve this goal.

In her lecture, Prof. Akunyili lamented the decay in the nation's university system occasioned by corruption, sexual harassment and cheating in examinations, a situation that has led to loss of confidence in the system.

The minister regretted that the situation has become so bad for the nation's universities that brain drain both on the part of the lecturers and the students has become a permanent feature of the system as some lecturers and certain wealthy individuals have been sending their children and wards to universities in Europe, the United States and neighbouring Ghana.

She spoke passionately about the need to preserve the culture of merit and excellence in the nation's ivory towers and expressed worries that the ills plaguing the larger society have since crept into the system and eroded these ennobling virtues.

Corruption, she further stated, has, for instance, continued to rear its head in teaching and learning, in the process of admission of students into the universities, and that, regrettably, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors now appear dependent where the candidates for the post come from and not the qualities of the individuals involved in the contest.

She dwelt at length on the ills of sexual harassment perpetrated against female students but went to give certain graphic details and examples of how sometimes, some of the victims have also contributed to its prevalence.