UNN Convocation Lecture by Very Rev. Msgr. Prof. Obiora Ike

On the 23^rd of March 2023, the founder and director of the Catholic Institute for Development, Justice and Peace (CIDJAP), Very Rev. Monsignor Prof. Obiora Ike delivered this year’s University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) convocation lectures which is titled, “Purpose-driven and Values-driven Higher Education”.

Here, Prof. Obiora Ike aptly opined that the creation or coming into existence of “Homo Sapiens” is not without a purpose. He equally chronicled the great and wonderful inventions these human beings have been able to make at the course of time as a way of conquering the world. But then, as he vividly captured, Prof. stated that “reality teaches that much more needs to be done and the achieved milestones are not comparable to the many needs and challenges ahead”.

It is therefore here that questions arise on the purpose and meaning of it all. In order to answer this question, Education comes into play. He stated that education is at the centre of every human settlement, which helps learning on how to be truly and fully human in freedom, and balanced with responsibility.

And as such, education helps us rediscover our ultimate goals and destiny as humans. Such education is one guided by moral values whose principal aims are to contribute positively in the lives of others.

The lecture was one of a kind that pushed all those present into sober reflection on how our educational system can be modelled towards the attainment of these wonderful ideas posited by Msgr. Prof. Obiora Ike.