Prof. Otunta: An Honour to a Titan of Academic Excellence

By Kalu Okoronkwo

“The renown that riches or beauty confers is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession” Sallust

The greatest tragedy in life is not death but life without purpose. To be counted, life must happen to us all positively hence what accounts in life is not the mere fact that we lived but the legacies bequeathed to the coming generation through which our existence could be measured.

The indelible marks of Professor Francis Ogbonnaya Otunta, as he prepares to bow out as Vice Chancellor of the now highly prestigious Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUA), is one that will be on the sands of time, generations after generations.

Without sounding immodest, Prof. Otunta in his four year reign at the helm of affairs at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUA) Umudike, Abia State has brought about good tidings, high rating of the school in terms of infrastructure and human capital development.

Since it was established in 1992 as Federal University of Agriculture and later changed to Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUA) Umudike with a vision of producing highly rated graduates in agriculture, science and technology, the university has grown in leaps and bounds staying true to its core values of educational excellence, agricultural transformation and sustainable food production.

Successive Vice Chancellors had put in their best to advance the physical and academic growth of the university. But it is the present administration of Prof. Francis Ogbonnya Otunta that has transformed the university to a world class citadel of learning.

As a professor of mathematics, Prof. Otunta brought about mathematical precision in the administration of the university leading to explosion in terms of infrastructural facilities on campus and better teaching and research environment.

Posterity will however be kind on him for enabling the university take giant strides in positive and purposeful directions even as his tenure ends in the coming weeks.

Prior to his appointment as 5th Vice-Chancellor of the university, Otunta was previously a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Benin and also former Rector of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, Ebonyi State, a post he held from 2006–2014.

These are beside various other academic positions he had held as his career life has been successfully entrenched in the academic sector since inception.

It was therefore not a surprise to many how he hit the ground running and turning things around positively immediately he took the mantle of leadership as the Vice-Chancellor from Prof Hillary Edeoga officially on 1 March 2016.

Otunta who recently turned 55 years old is said to be one of the experienced university technocrats Nigeria has produced in recent times given his experience in the academic sector and exposure as a young man with growing optimism.

In his inaugural speech when he took over the mantle of leadership in 2016, Otunta told his listeners that “his administration’s intention was to exceed the horizon of existing academic programmes.” The challenge he believed, was thrown up by the ever skyrocketing demand for the acquisition of tertiary education.

He also expressed optimism that the nation’s recent focus on agro business as an alternative revenue base of the economy would receive a boost during his stay assuring that the students’ population was bound to explode during his administration.

Under Otunta’s administration the staff strength of the institution increased geometrically from the diminutive core members of staff that lent immense support to the then Vice Chancellor in his pioneering efforts of laying a formidable foundation for the Institution.

Currently, the University now has staff strength of three thousand and eighty-two (3,082). When he took over affairs of the institution they were made up of two thousand, one hundred and eighty-four (2,184) non-teaching staff and a teaching staff of about eighty (80) professors.

Otunta hails from Amangwu Nkpoghoro Village in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is married to Bertha Otunta with whom they have six children.

It is indeed plausible that Prof. Otunta is leaving the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUA) Umudike better than he met it in 2016. He will be remembered as a man who did his best for the advancement of the great citadel of learning.

His name will go down in history as a man, whose leadership left behind enduring legacies that will pose as a challenge to successive administrations.

He ensured peace on campus, prioritized staff and student matters, improved physical facilities on campuses, peaceful coexistence with host communities as well as gradual movement into the campus.

Otunta’s administration witnessed a leap in international and local recognition of the school, ranking 13 out of 100 best universities in Nigeria as at December 2020. The school currently boasts of eleven colleges and school of general studies with fifty seven departments duly accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

In response to the increasing preference for MOUA, coupled with improved facilities and introduction of new academic programmes, the NUC has increased the total admission quota for the University from what was obtainable before.

Otunta’s relationship with students and the Students Union was most robust. He maintained an open door policy with the Students Union officials and remained accessible to students generally.

As history judges him fairly for enthroning sanity in the affairs of the university leaving it better than he met it, the onus in now on the incoming vice chancellor Professor Maduebisi Ofo Iwe to borrow a leaf from the outgoing VC for sustainable development based on the giant strides already put in place by his predecessor.

Congratulations, more fruitful years ahead.