Today, Buhari leaves office, and the CBCN gave him a poor rating for battling insecurity. While criticising Buhari, His Grace, Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese and President of the Catholic Bishops, praised him for infrastructure development, particularly the approval given to the recently established Lux Mundi University in Umuahia, Abia State. Responding to questions from the press, Dr. Ugorji also praised the departing president for finishing the Second Niger Bridge.
He said in response to inquiries about the security situation under Buhari, “Buhari did not achieve much in the fight against insecurity in our region and other parts of the country being terrorised at the moment by bandits and other criminal elements.
“When he first took office, he pledged to fight insecurity. At the time, Boko Haram was the only threat facing the North East. However, as he leaves office today, banditry has also emerged. We have Fulani herdsmen.
“We also have the unidentified gunmen terrorising many communities across the nation, especially in the South East.” Due to the Fulani herdsmen’s activities, many people are unable to visit their farms anymore. He has succeeded in some areas, but I don’t believe he has been successful in protecting Nigerians’ lives and property.
The impact of the newly approved 36 universities, among which is Lux Mundi, on the country’s educational development cannot be overstated because they will go a long way toward accommodating the thousands of applicants for university admission who have been annually turned away due to the few openings in the existing institutions.
He asserted that “President Buhari deserves the praise of all Nigerians for taking this step to expand the reach of tertiary education in the nation.
“Lux Mundi is not only the first university in Umuahia, where I spent more than three decades serving as Bishop, but it also has a unique curriculum. With the expansion, our children now have easier access to higher education in this brand-new citadel, whose overarching goal is to graduate globally competent and employable graduates to halt the nation’s worsening unemployment crisis.
” You will agree with me that so many graduates today are not employable. Our intention as the Chancellor of this new university is to match training, and skills with the existing opportunities in the dynamic world of work. It means developing a curriculum that is in sync with the realities in the job market so that our students are equipped in a manner that makes it difficult for them to be left behind by the future of work.”
The Catholic Bishop also eulogised President Buhari for giving attention to the decadent infrastructure in the South East zone, noting that he initiated and completed the Second Niger Bridge as one of his legacy projects.
Among other things, we are pleased with how the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway project is developing. Well, the president has said he is satisfied with his performance. He has made a lot of accomplishments, but we also can’t forget that he finished the Second Niger Bridge, which was just recently opened. We see some federal roads being built.
