The Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark at the weekend celebrated the ranking of his university, Edwin Clark University in Kiagbodo, Delta State.
The university was ranked 25th of about 200 universities in Nigeria.
The 97 years old former national commissioner expressed surprise at the development of the institution within a short period of eight years.
He commended the management for the turn around of thw institution which was ranked 32nd among Nigerian Universities and 22nd among private universities in 2022.
He said the institution remains a legacy he is leaving behind.
He said, “And I said, I have been a teacher all my life. I have been a lawyer, I have been in government. I was responsible for the opening of University of Benin. I was then commissioner of education under Brigadier General Ogbomudia, we opened that school. Today, the faculty of management sciences in the university is named after me.
“I have an honorary degree of LLD from university of Benin since 1990. I was also pro chancellor of the federal university of technology Minna.
“So with all these past experiences and knowledge, the best thing is to join in opening a private university where we bring children from all over the country to my village to live together.”
He recalled that the university started in 2015 the university got its licence.
“That is the legacy. Whether I’m gone, my children gone, grandchildren gone, the university remains.
According to him, he started in 2015, I offered 100 scholarships to the first come. And so that year, we admitted 200 hundred students.
“Then I wanted the faculty of law, the NUC said no. All private universities can only operate a faculty of law after five years.
“They gave me a special exception. We established the faculty of law, second year in the university. We have now graduated two sets of law students from the law school.”
He said the university is free from cultism and has the lowest fess and also free from cultism and all vices.
“We started with two faculties, today, we have two faculties, 18 departments.
We have a good university in Kiagbodo. “We are very grateful to NUC that out of 40 universities, enlisted by them, we are one of them. Recently, about 14 of the departments were accredited by NUC. We have every reason to be happy
“But today, the NUC has now issued another list, where they listed 40 universities. Of all of them Covenant university took first and had good ranking among the universities of the world. Edwin Clark University was number 25 of about 200 universities in Nigeria. We are just about eight years old.
