One of Nigeria’s leading universities, Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Benin, Edo State is set to honour the Honourable Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy Agba, OFR with an Honourary Doctorate Degree.
This was disclosed when a delegation from the University, led by the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Sam Guobadia paid a courtesy call on the Minister in his office in Abuja on Tuesday, February 15th.
The VC explained that the Minister was chosen having met the stringent conditions set up by the University for an award of an Honourary Doctorate Degree.
According to him, “We have been watching you because we have stringent conditions on who to contact, meet and honour.
As contained in our earlier letter to you and signed by the Chancellor of the University, Most Rev. Margaret E. Benson – Idahosa, we have taken notice of your personality even outside public office and observed your commitment to excellence and the fact that you are concerned about the upliftment and empowerment of the common man. This tallies with the aspiration of the founding Archbishop and Chancellor, Archbishop Benson Idahosa. We must state at this point that you are a pride to South-South.
“It is with great pleasure that we will like to communicate to you that you have been nominated for the award of an Honourary Doctorate Degree during our next convocation”.
Speaking about the challenges facing the University, Prof. Guobadia noted that “we are always creativite driven especially with the introduction of more private Universities and the problem of top teaching staff as well as infrastructural development, when we meet people like you, we crave for partnership.
As a University, we play a critical role in training man power across different sectors of the economy. So, we want people like you to partner with us to help improve on these areas”.
Responding, the Minister said that he was excited that his contribution to society was appreciated by a renowned University like BIU.
While promising to look into the university’s area of needs to explore possibilities of partnership, he added that “I’m very interested in human capital development and when you were talking, I heard you mentioned Law. My wife is a Lawyer and I also have a son who is a Lawyer. So, law is also of interest to me.
“My Ministry through the Rural Electrification Agency is running a programme called Energizing Education which is aimed at lightening up university as well as providing basic infrastructures for the training of students in solar energy technology. I would like us to work closely to conceptualize things like this to see what we can do together”.
BIU, a privately owned university is the only university in Nigeria and Africa with international membership with the United States National Academy of Inventors.
