Community Leader Calls for Establishment of Federal University in Asaba

The Iyase of Asaba, Obi Patrick Onyeobi, has called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of necessity, establish a Federal University in Asaba, Delta State.

He contended that the establishment of a Federal University in Asaba was long overdue, pointing out that Asaba appeared to be the only State Capital in the country without a Federal University.

Onyeobi spoke in a chat with our correspondent in Asaba.

He lamented the non-existence of a Federal University in the capital city of oil-rich Delta State, saying that if not for any other thing, the Federal Government should establish a Federal University in the town as part of compensation for Asaba massacre of October 7, 1967 during the civil war.

“We are wondering what crime we have committed again. Education is the major industry of our people and we value education very much. In the colonial era, many of the clerks and chief clerks you find in government offices across the country came from Asaba and until after the civil war, the major occupation of our people was to work in the civil service,” he noted.

Describing the Asaba massacre as a tragedy beyond human proportion and the darkest day in the history of Asaba, the traditional Prime Minister of Asaba and former Head of Service/Secretary to the defunct Bendel State Government, said “We are calling on the Federal Government to pay compensation and establish a Federal University in Asaba.”