The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has outlined his contributions to the development of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) and the Rivers State University, as well as to the legal profession.

Mr Wike outlined the contributions in Port Harcourt on Saturday, during UNIPORT’s 35th combined convocation and 50th anniversary.

He said UNIPORT availed him with the rich and concrete intellectual foundation upon which his socio-economic and political ascendancy has been fittingly predicated.

Mr Wike stated that he was educated in character and learning at the university and called on all alumni to give back to the university as a mark of gratitude.

“Throughout my duty tours, I have paid back to this great university sacrificially and to the best of my ability.

“I have done so, not out of convenience but as a deliberate pursuit of commitment to gratitude for a university that gave me so much,” he added.

Mr. Wike said that, as Minister of State for Education, he established the Faculty of Law at UNIPORT and constructed a befitting building for both the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Sciences.

He said the university’s management approached him while he was the governor of Rivers, saying that “the institution does not have a befitting convocation arena.”

The minister said a similar gesture was extended to the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, where he studied law. He said he built the post-graduate hostel when he was the chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

He stated that, as a Minister of State for Education, he secured N500 million through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund for the university’s development.

“As governor, I completed the construction of infrastructural facilities for the Faculties of Environmental and Management Sciences.

“I also completed the Faculty of Law building; built the College of Medical/Mechanical Sciences building, new Senate building, and National Union of Rivers State Students’ building,” he said.

The former governor added that he also built the Etche, Emuoha, and Ahoada Campuses, as well as constructed and furnished the facilities of the university’s Basic Clinical and Clinical Sciences building.

Also built were the university’s clinical students’ hostel buildings and the Pathology building in the university’s teaching hospital.

Mr Wike said he had contributed immensely to the legal profession by establishing the Rivers branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

“In Rivers, I introduced a robust judicial welfare scheme by insisting that every judge must own a house upon retirement.

“All judges also had brand new Sport Utility Vehicles to ease their mobility, and enhance their comfort and service delivery,” he said.

He added that he also constructed the Body of Benchers building in Abuja, and the body named a hall after Rivers.

He stated that, with the approval of the director-general of the Law School, he constructed hostels and a grand auditorium for the Law School in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, as well as a law school campus in Port Harcourt.

“Currently, as Minister of the FCT, I am building an annexe for the Body of Benchers and have almost completed the construction of 10 bungalows for the Nigeria Law School in Bwari, FCT, and have almost completed a new Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.

“In addition, we are building 10 residential houses for the judges of the Court of Appeal, 10 for the Federal High Court, and 20 for the FCT High Court,” the minister said.

“Those who come after us must be encouraged and inspired by our robust examples to keep this tradition of service and development of our alma mater.”

(NAN)