The 17th Matriculation Ceremony of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike as reported in earlier editions of MOUAU UPDATE, took place on March 27, 2010.
In this edition, readers are served the full text of the Vice Chancellor’s address on the historic occasion. Please read on:

I am delighted to welcome you to the 17th Matriculation Ceremony of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. I welcome most especially our fresh students whom we have converged here this morning to formally admit into the University. It must be a special day for you and your families and we share in your joys on this day.

However, it must be clearly stated that Matriculation is just a gateway, marking the beginning of an academic journey that has building a career as its destination. It is not a warranty for graduation, rather it is a fitting occasion to remind you that for your journey through the university to be successful, hard work, determination, dedication and discipline are required of you. The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike is not a playground or picnic venue. It is a community of busy minds and hardworking people who are committed to excellence and the generation of knowledge and innovation, aimed at creating a highly skilled and qualified work force for the nation and the global community.

The Matriculation Oath which will be administered on you at the end of this address will confer on you the rights, privileges and responsibilities of studentship in this University. It also binds you to a commitment to abide by the rules and regulations governing studentship on this campus. Deviation from any of the articles of the oath will attract sanctions. I therefore enjoin you to be law-abiding while you are here to avoid running into trouble with the authorities.

The education and training you shall receive here is aimed at equipping you adequately for life outside the campus, and for the challenges of the society. Our curricula for the different programmes are structured to make you become creators of jobs and wealth on the successful completion of your studies in this University, rather than job seekers. It therefore behooves on you to spend your time on this campus productively, as you lay foundations for your careers and lifetime engagements.

This brings me to the twin issues of discipline and character moulding. We can see for ourselves what the Nigerian society has become today and how as a nation, we are practically under-performing in every area of nationhood and development. At the base of this problem as I have said before, is the presence of an educated elite that has no character, people with no sense of values, who have no ideals to live for, who have never been motivated by a sense of patriotism, whose outlook of life has been jaundiced and driven by narrow mindedness and selfish motivation. We cannot make progress if we do not address these character flaws, if we do not embrace a values system that places the nation and our fellow human beings above the individual This University has taken a stand in this matter. We in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, are in the vanguard for a better Nigeria and a better tomorrow as we insist that our graduates must be found worthy indeed in character as well as in learning. We insist on a moral tone that projects and protects the greatest good for the greatest number, a way of life that places others before self, a code of conduct that makes for an orderly, decent society and promotes hard work, excellence and merit, training that imbues self-worth yet emphasizing selflessness.

It is therefore important to stress that anti-social behavior is not tolerated here on this campus. The University Senate is resolute in confronting all forms of anti-social behavior here. The zero tolerance stance of Senate and the University Management for cultism, examination malpractice, indecent dressing, extortion, violent behavior of any description, sexual harassment, prostitution and other manifestations of anti-social behavior has long been established and is being pursued relentlessly.

I, therefore, urge you to resist overtures to join groups that operate clandestinely and whose code of behavior promotes violence, and other vices that break down societies and communities. These groups cannot be good for you nor are they promoters of any valuable attributes, or role models for you. They must be avoided.