Okpara university admits 5,615 fresh students at 24th matriculation

Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia state has admitted 5, 615 fresh students at its 24th matriculation ceremony with a call on the students by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Francis Otunta to focus on their studies.

Although Otunta said about 18, 994 students are qualified for admission according to Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the National Universities Commission (NUC) only allowed the institution a quota of 4,300 candidates and an attrition of 10 percent totaling 5,615 in line with its senate

He congratulated the new students on their success while assuring that the university is employing all known techniques to ensure it becomes a world-class institution.

“You are not just here to be prepared as employable citizens after graduation but for the inculcation of fundamental values which makes for good citizenship.

According to the VC, the institution has no stringent rules that are difficult to observe but mainly academic regulations and rules of residence.

The vice chancellor also mandated the students to be law abiding and cooperate with the constituted authority.
A Professor of Material and Corrosion Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara state, Makanjuola Oki has warned that continuous interaction of man with gaseous industrial wastes could accelerate ageing process and fast track early death.

Oki, while delivering the third in the series of Inaugural lectures of the institution said unless mopping up devices are promptly devised and applied for use, man’s extinction on earth may be imminent.

The university don in his lecture titled ‘The Tripodal Connection-Man, Material and Environment: Agricultural Inputs in Corrosion’, said Nigerian scientists should not relegate themselves from playing prominent role in the development of the theories and applications in the nation’s air space.

He said, “the environment can be defined as the air we breathe in and out as well as the various gases pumped into the atmosphere from diverse industrial processes and the interaction among man, material, plants, animals and water. Thus, interaction between rain water and industrial wastes gaseous components in the atmosphere will lead to acid rains which are common in industrial areas. Such acids are injurious to plant, man and the materials he created for his convenience. Such interactions among the components of the environment accelerate aging processes in man and materials.”

Oki who is from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, canvassed dutiful use of some agricultural produce for industrial gains and not used for exclusive consumption purposes, just as he recommended the extracts from the bark of plants, leaves, roots, fruits and seeds for corrosion protection.