AAU Shakes Off ‘Troubled Past’ with Major Overhaul

Ambrose Alli University (AAU) in Ekpoma, Edo State is set to shed its notorious reputation for blackouts and administrative chaos with a major intervention to guarantee 24-hour power, the Vice-Chancellor has announced.

In an address on Thursday, Professor Sunday Olowo Samuel declared the institution is finally turning a corner, revealing that Governor Monday Okpebholo has approved a dedicated 1.5-megawatt power plant. This is to be bolstered by a new TETFUND-funded solar plant, aiming to banish the unreliable electricity that has long plagued learning and research.

The power project headlines a dramatic list of fixes enacted under Samuel’s administration, which has moved to resolve issues that have dogged the university for years.

“For the first time in its history, the University has resolved the issue of missing results,” the VC stated, announcing that students can now access their grades on time—a previously unheard-of luxury.

The financial paralysis that defined previous eras is also being tackled head-on. The administration, buoyed by an increased N500m subvention, has cleared a crippling backlog, ensuring prompt payment of salaries and the new N70,000 minimum wage, and reinstating staff allegedly sacked for political reasons.

In a major win for graduates, a years-long logjam that blocked thousands from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to bureaucratic errors has been “fully resolved,” freeing affected alumni to finally serve.

The overhaul has also borne fruit internationally, with a new student exchange MoU signed with China’s Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology, and crucially, the lifting of a damaging TETFund ban that had starved academics of vital research grants.

Declaring he has “keyed into the vision of the institution’s founding fathers,” Prof. Samuel presented a new AAU: powered, peaceful, and finally paying its way.