Okonkwo urges FG to make entrepreneurship compulsory in university curriculum

…says universities must produce job creators, not just job seekers

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has called on the Federal Government to make entrepreneurship education a compulsory component of the curriculum in Nigerian universities, irrespective of students’ fields of study.

Okonkwo, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Abuja Business School, said entrepreneurship should not be restricted to students specialising in business-related disciplines but integrated into all academic programmes to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to establish businesses, commercialise innovations and create employment.

He made the call at the 15th Convocation Ceremony of Veritas University, Abuja, during the weekend where he received an honorary Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree in recognition of his contributions to education, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and national development.

According to him, students studying medicine, law, engineering and other disciplines should graduate with entrepreneurial knowledge that would enable them to translate their professional expertise and innovative ideas into viable businesses.

“Entrepreneurship should not just be a by-product discipline. It should be a core subject that must be made available to all students in every department,” he said.

The professor argued that Nigerian universities must move beyond producing graduates whose primary ambition was to secure paid employment, stressing the need to prepare young people to become employers and contributors to economic development.

He also challenged universities to reposition their innovation centres to focus not only on developing new technologies but also on transforming research findings and innovations into commercially viable products capable of attracting investors.

Okonkwo disclosed that his proposal for integrating entrepreneurship education into university curricula had received attention from the National Universities Commission (NUC), which had accepted his convocation paper as a policy document and constituted a committee to examine its implementation across Nigerian universities.

He described entrepreneurship as a critical component of his career development, disclosing that he established his business while still in school and had never worked as an employee since graduation.

The airline chief executive said his experience had reinforced his conviction that students needed practical exposure to business operations before completing their university education.

He also advocated structured internship programmes that would enable students to acquire industry experience, improve their academic knowledge and enhance their employment prospects.

Drawing from his experience in the aviation industry, Okonkwo disclosed that United Nigeria Airlines had partnered with Obafemi Awolowo University and Afe Babalola University to provide internship opportunities for engineering students, particularly those studying mechanical engineering and aircraft maintenance.

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He said the airline provided training, financial support and transportation for participating students, adding that outstanding interns could be considered for automatic employment.

He commended Veritas University’s emphasis on entrepreneurship, practical skills acquisition and character development, pledging to identify areas of collaboration with the institution to support its academic programmes and development.

The university had earlier conferred honorary doctorate degrees on Okonkwo and renowned industrialist, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, in recognition of their contributions to society.

Meanwhile, the Visitor to Veritas University and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, called on the Federal Government to extend greater support to private universities, arguing that they had contributed significantly to expanding access to higher education in the country.

Ndagoso said government support should come through fair and inclusive policies, infrastructural development and an enabling environment that would allow private institutions to compete globally.

The Vice-Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, disclosed that the university graduated 1,510 students, comprising 1,178 undergraduates and 332 postgraduate students.

Of the undergraduate graduands, 100 obtained First Class degrees, 526 earned Second Class Upper Division, while 101 graduated with Third Class degrees. Thirty-seven graduates also obtained doctoral degrees.

A female graduand, Olivia Nneka Anigbogu, emerged as the overall best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.98.

Ichoku disclosed that the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria had increased the university’s admission quota for Pharmacy from 60 to 100 students.

He added that the institution had introduced new undergraduate programmes in Artificial Intelligence, Information Systems, Data Science, Cyber Security and Theatre Arts for the 2026/2027 academic session.

The Vice-Chancellor also announced the completion of a 600-bed male hostel valued at N1.3 billion and a 700-bed female hostel, while construction was ongoing on an Engineering and Innovation Centre and a new Faculty of Health Sciences building.

He said the university was also working towards generating two megawatts of solar energy to provide 24-hour electricity on campus through its Earth Our Common Home (ECHO) Project.