Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo
Red carpet, drums and blasts for Soludo at alma mater
By IKENNA EMEWU, Saturday, October 16, 2004
Occasions as that witnessed at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka last Saturday is one of the rare events a citadel of learning could celebrate. On this eventful day, UNN celebrated its own and conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo the distinguished alumnus award. The event was a double celebration for UNN that moulded the head of CBN, Soludo and his Deputy, Mr. Tunde Lemo, both First Class graduates in the same year 1984. While Soludo grabbed a first class in Economics, Lemo achieved the same feat in Accountancy.
Soludo’s day of glory
The Margaret Ekpo Refectory at UNN was filled to the brim and overflowing on this great day, October 9, 2004 when the drums were rolled out for the CBN chief who is both a product and former lecturer of the university. Many of the participants were bankers, former students of the university and members of the UNN community. It was carnival and pomp as the CBN boss stood for minutes for his lengthy citation to be reeled out by the University orator. Soludo stormed the gathering with his amiable wife, Nonye and an intimidating team from the CBN who came in a convoy of cars and jeeps. The university spoke glowingly of this great product who has traversed many fields in economics, universities, other institutions and international economic agencies, including the World Bank and USAID. Soludo was eulogised as the pride of the institution, and he responded in like appreciation.
His response
The economic guru started by acknowledging that “this is the day the Lord has made and I am grateful for this great gathering”. Most prominent in his response was the time he took to throw light on his Deputy, Mr. Lemo. He stated that “there is a man here whom I entered UNN the same year with and we graduated the same year also. While I bagged a First Class in Economics, he did the same in Accountancy. Today, he is one of the four Deputy Governors of CBN. I would want Mr. Tunde Lemo to please stand up.’ At this point, Lemo stood up in response to an endless cheer. He waved endlessly too, and the entire hall went agog on the realisation that a single university gave the nation the CBN governor and the Deputy. Soludo also said that “I can’t wait to come back to UNN to continue with my work”.
Would all First Class Graduates stand up
The event also featured the extension of awards and recognition of all First Class products of UNN since inception. The celebration of this class of UNN graduates is part of the e-Learning project of the institution where it plans to establish a Hall of Fame for such graduates. After the investiture on Soludo, a call was made by the UNN VC, Prof. Chinedu Nebo that all First Class graduates who were invited to the occasion stand up for recognition. The response drew applause. At the formal launch and fund raising for the e-learning project, the First Class graduates received certificates for being outstanding alumni of the university at the Princess Alexandria Auditorium. The organisers nearly cut the joy of some of the First Class products short after travelling long distances to UNN only to be told that their certificates had not been signed. The problem is that all those affected by this miscalculation, including this reporter sent their entries on the internet as advertised, but the managers of the website or e-mail boxes never cared to access the contents or send same to UNN registry. But we got a firm assurance from the VC, Prof Nebo that the certificates would be mailed to us as we dropped our contact addresses.
Zinox rains money on UNN
Prominent among the personalities that graced the occasion was the Chairman of Zinox Computers, Chief Leo-Stan Ekeh who pledged to give the university N35m worth of equipment and consultancy for the actualisation of the project. Many others joined in donating to the project including the Standard Trust Bank (STB) whose donations, which would run into millions of naira could not easily be quantified in monetary terms. The keynote lecture at the e-Learning launch was delivered by the STB MD, Mr. Tony Elumelu. He pledged that STB would be a partner of UNN in the Hall of Fame project, provide the university with an IT Resource Centre through a Local Area Network (LAN), a management quarters, electronic ID Card system and also open a branch of its bank in UNN. Zinox also promised to establish an award for the best graduating female student every year who would be entitled to a Zinox laptop computer. The award is named after Soludo’s wife, Frances Nonye Soludo. First Bank supported the project with a N5m donation. The Ebonyi State government was one of the big donors with N1 million while Anambra State government gave N500,000. Oceanic, ACB International, GTB banks were also part of the project, as Soludo announced that CBN had already invested N37m in the UNN IT project. The total donations in cash and kind would not be less than N75m.
An annual event
Prof. Soludo in his speech reminded participants that the establishment of UNN was a “protest of colonialism and to abolish the rise of matter over mind”. He challenged UNN to make sure the event becomes an annual homecoming of all great Lions and Lionesses and a forum for all UNN stakeholders to brainstorm and move the institution forward. The VC used the same event to extend distinguished awards to some key products of the university. Those in this list of awardees include Chief Festus Odimegwu, MD, Nigeria Breweries Plc., Prof. Pat Utomi, Dr. Dora Akunyili, Chief O’Tega Emerhor, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu among others. Yours sincerely also grabbed his award as a First Class graduate and feels great that his name is in the UNN Hall of Fame.
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