A Nigerian man has petitioned the Abia House of Assembly over poor management of Government College Umuahia (GCU) in the state.
The man, Chukwudi Onwudinanti, claimed in the petition that the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA), which currently manages the college, was running the institution contrary to its original purpose.
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The petition, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, was addressed to the Speaker of the House, Emmanuel Emeruwa.
Dated 17 February 2025, the petition was read at the assembly chambers in Umuahia on Tuesday.
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It was signed by Ugochukwu Zik, a lawyer, on behalf of the petitioner, Mr Onwudinanti.
Handover of the college
Mr Onwudinanti, a former student of the college, recalled in the petition that the Abia State Government handed over the college to the GCUOBA in July 2014 after signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.
He noted that the college is located in Ibeku land that originally belonged to several Ibeku communities in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State.
The petitioner hails from Emede Community within the Ibeku Area of the state.
‘Education now inaccessible at GCU after handover’
Mr Onwudinanti claimed that after a few years, the GCUOBA started running the school contrary to the purpose for which it was handed over to them by the state government.
He alleged that the education offered at the college had become inaccessible for the majority of people from the area, contrary to the original intention, which is to provide a level playing field for all to acquire quality education irrespective of economic and social status.
“As we speak, GCU’s annual school fee is above N1 million. The current controllers of the school have shut out brilliant children within Ibeku and Umuahia East State Constituency from quality education.
“We reiterate that the Umuahia East State Constituency and Ibeku communities are landlords to GCU, and the school represents one of the noblest identities by which the Ibeku and Umuahia East State Constituency are respectively known,” he said.
Mr Onwudinanti claimed the school’s managers have turned it into a “private enterprise” like a bourgeois school, which average families of brilliant children cannot access within his constituency.
“What is more disheartening is that folks who have set up this new socio-economically ex-communicating structure would not have been able to attend GCU in their days based on the respective economic status of their families at the time if the original owners of the school had set up the present bourgeois system as is presently constituted,” he said.
‘Destroying arcane, archival history, monuments and traditions’
Mr Onwudinanti also alleged that the current college managers were “speedily destroying the arcane and archival history, monuments and traditions as well as the sentimental values” of the GCU.
He gave examples, saying the conservative school uniform, pink and brown, had been changed while some iconic school blocks, such as the AD block, had been left in total decay and ruin.
“The speedy vandalisation of these archival assets runs contrary to the charge given by the Abia State Government to the old boys to upgrade the school and not to destroy it,” he said.
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Mr Onyebuchi said he had repeatedly approached the college managers to reverse the situation, but his efforts had not yielded positive results.
He appealed to the assembly “to invoke and exercise your oversight functions over the activities happening in GCU, and ensure that the purpose is not derided because of sheer incompetence, personal interest or any other reason.”
Assembly begins investigation
The Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, Austin Okezie, who read the petition on Tuesday, said the House should investigate it.
Mr Okezie, who represents Umuahia East State Constituency, where the college is located, said he had been inundated with calls from his constituents lamenting over the situation at the college.
“The standard of running the Government College Umuahia should be returned to what it used to be. It is more or less elitist now, which was not what it used to be during our time (as students),” the deputy speaker said in a video clip obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, confirmed in a post on his X handle on Tuesday evening that the House had begun action on the petition.
“The petition was sent to a joint committee (Education and Public Petitions) to investigate the matter and report back in three weeks,” he wrote.
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