Six years after it was founded, Evangel University Akaeze, Ebonyi State, has continued to wax strong despite challenges which threatened to kill it at infancy. The institution survived a leadership crisis which rocked its proprietor, the Assemblies of God Church, as the church led by General Superintendent Rev Chidi Okoroafor was locked in a leadership court battle with sacked General Superintendent Rev Paul Emeka.
The tussle spilled into the school as it was shut down for some months and later re-opened following Dr Okoroafor’s recognition by the courts as the authentic General Superintendent of the Church.
Those challenges notwithstanding, Evangel is still waxing stronger, churning out well-bred graduates. This is in spite of the fact that it charges arguably the cheapest fees among private universities in the country,
Indeed students of the institution attest to the fact that it not only offers quality mentorship, but also seeks to improve the spiritual lives of its students and staff alike.
Recently it held its sixth matriculation ceremony at its temporary sight in Okpoto, Ishielu local government area with a pledge to continue raising God-fearing future leaders of the country. Its second graduation is expected to hold later in the year.
The revered former General Superintendent of the church Rev Charles Osueke had set up the school to provide an alternative to the moral decay in the country’s universities where offering money for marks, sexual harassment and cultism were the order of the day.
Six years on and despite the baton changes in the leadership of the church and the school, the university has not deviated from the vision and principles of its founding fathers.
Instead, it has improved on them as the institution led by the vice chancellor Prof Iche Ukpai Kalu has concluded arrangements to float the College of Health Sciences next year.
The new college shall take off with; Nursing Science, Physiotherapy, Radiography and Radiology, Public Health and Medical Laboratory Science.
Prof Kalu said the institution is in a hurry to catch up and beat competition from its peer group and also to be at par with the nation’s first generation universities within a short time.
Shedding more light on why the Assemblies of God Church founded the institution, The VC said the university is not an accident.
“It is a well thought out measure to arrest those pristine values that are fast vanishing from contemporary human interactions. Satan, bent on taking the shine from God, has since unleashed untold warfare on humanity by deploying every scheme to steer especially young people from good”.
“And the world was meant to be the worse for it, unless something was done urgently to check the menace. The entirety of man had to be re-educated on the right path. So, Evangel University is a tactical strategy to counter the long-running plunder of God’s estate by his opponent”, he said.
Prof Kalu noted that though the then General Superintendent of the Church, Ogbonnaya Osueke and other founding fathers had a lot of challenges, they trusted God to see them through in their expansive mission to redeem humanity from palpable doom.
“So since 2012, this university has consistently partnered with God and government in its task of educating the total man. And we are to say indeed, that both God and government have been pleased with our conduct and result; as we have time and again been rated as one of the few top-of-the-range institutions in the country that have maintained their original missions and visions”.
The VC also said the institution was conceived as a spiritual/moral foundry where the hearts of its products would be hammered from that of stone to that of flesh- through the unfailing anvils of God’s word, academic discipline and mentorship.
He said the school’s primary guidepost is the ethos of its motto ‘education for the total man’, which he noted aims at winning the battle against sin and ignorance by refining our products’ minds and spirit through inculcation of godly values as requisite tools for professional and ,oral excellence in public and private lives.
“So, we do not make pretenses here. We are discipline-prone and so do not tolerate even the slightest modicum of indiscipline, regardless of who is involved; member of management, lecturer, administrative staff, or student”.
The Vice Chancellor said despite the high academic, spiritual and moral standards of the institution, it is one of the cheapest private universities in the country.
“For us at Evangel University, quest for untainted, uncompromised teaching and learning has since the past five years, become our comparative advantage in the cut throat competitions among Nigerian Universities. It is for this that we tend to be preferred to our peers. Our emerging high academic standards therefore, stems from our habit of uncompromised attention to details-no matter how minute”, he said.
The VC said despite these high standard the school’s school fees have remained N250,000 which includes lodging thanks to the Visitor/Chancellor of the school and General Superintendent of the Church, Rev Chidi Okoroafor.
He said Rev Okoroafor and the Church’s determination to not increase the school fees is to make it affordable and within reach of every parent/guardian.
214 students were officially admitted into the 21 departments in four faculties of the institution at the event.
One of the new students, Miss Nnenna Idika Ukpai admitted that the school so far has lived up to the hype that inspired her preference for the school. She urged students seeking higher education to apply for the school.
She said: “I chose the University because unlike other universities, it is secure to a very large extent. Immorality and vice are not tolerated here. It’s a school that builds the students both spiritually and academically. It doesn’t just build you on one side.
“They don’t do sorting here. And they have a good environment that motivates you to study. There are no distractions here. So, if you’re distracted, it’s entirely your fault. If you want to concentrate and make it, it all depends on you.
“I heard about the university before I came and I have also experienced its good sides”.