An exclusive interview with His Grace, Most Rev. Valerian Maduka Okeke, the proprietor of Shanahan University, Onitsha,excerpts.
What inspired the establishment of Shanahan University, and the unique value proposition does it offer to students?
Thank you for this basic question. What inspired the establishment of Shanahan University could be addressed from different perspectives. First, Education is very pivotal to the holistic human development. To effect rapid civilization of the human person and the society in general, education is a necessary tool. My predecessors did marvelously well in establishing formidable primary and secondary schools which are of world class today. However, the intellectual and moral formation do not stop with the basic institutions of learning like Nursery, Primary, and Secondary Schools. This is why we decided to establish a university to help take care of the holistic civilization and moral formation of those we started forming from childhood to the university level.
Secondly, from historical perspective: Onitsha hosts the biggest market in West Africa. It is also the commercial capital of the southeastern Nigeria. Onitsha has produced many eminent personalities that championed the development of other cities in Nigeria. Unfortunately, a city with such rich history has no single university located in it. For this reason, we decided to have one in the city.
Thirdly, from ecclesiastical perspective: Bishop Shanahan is to us what St. Benedict is to Europe. As St. Benedict is rightly the father of civilization of Europe, Bishop Shanahan is arguably the father of civilization to the South-East, South-South, and part of Middle-Belt regions of the country. He was the first bishop of Onitsha. He crisscrossed the entire regions establishing schools which served dual purposes: churches and schools. In order to further his effort in education and morals, we felt that naming the first university after his name in a place he spent his life is worth it.
Finally, from the perspective of need and continuity. Our society is growing and becoming more sophisticated. To take control of this human sophistication, we need a sophisticated institution of higher learning that would be able to positively sharpen people’s minds and channel them towards the common good. At this point, I would like to remind that one of my predecessors by name Archbishop Charles Heerey wanted to establish a university but could not be secure a license then. For this noble heritage to be continued and achieve that dream, and given the necessity of a university in the ancient and commercial city of Onitsha, we followed it up to what we have today as the SHANAHAN UNIVERSITY ONITSHA.
When did this whole process begin, and how long did it take to get to the Matriculation Day?
I would say that it all began right from when I was consecrated the Co-Adjutor Archbishop of Onitsha in the year 2002. I started thinking on the best way to engage our teaming youths. The first thing that came into my mind was to engage them through education and catechesis. To this end, I sought and got some hectares of land in Onitsha. But the process did not begin immediately. It was around the year 2021 that the actual activities really kickstarted. However, the official application where we expressed interest to have a university was in the year 2022. So, it took a period of two years from the time of our official expression of interest to the date of the maiden matriculation which took place on 1st March 2025.
What are some strategic preparations that were put in place to ensure that the University operates as a truly Catholic Institution?
To ensure that the University operates as a truly Catholic Institution, we were very meticulous in the selection of the members of staff. This is because apart from the physical structures, what mostly defines an institution is the quality of staff they have. Therefore, in our recruitment process, we considered the academic, moral, and emotional state of the person seeking to be recruited. We engaged the services of experts in our recruitment process to ensure both moral and academic excellence were guaranteed. We arranged for one week orientation course for only the recruited staff members where, among other things, we gave them our code of conduct. This is to avoid the anomalies usually experienced in some institutions of higher learning in the country today. In the students’ hostels, we have well trained and educated porters who work in both male and female hostels for 24 hours. These porters help the students where need be, and monitor their activities as well.
On the moral and spiritual welfare of the students, we created a chaplaincy from inception with two priests whose moral standings were never in question. These priests celebrate daily masses at both the male and female hostels. On Sundays, the entire students gather in one chapel for the Eucharistic celebration. These chaplains organise periodic recollections where priests who are well groomed in catechesis are invited to speak to the students.
With over 23 courses offered, what are the most popular programs among students, and how do they align with industry needs?
With many courses being offered at the Shanahan University, I would say from our statistics that the most popular courses are Medicine, Nursing, Law, Radiography, Medical Laboratory Science, Anatomy, and International Relations. A critical look at the mentioned courses reveals that they properly align with the current need in the labour market. In a country where our young graduates vacate in numbers, it is only ideal that Institutions of higher learning produce more of those experts in order to fill the gap caused by migration and other factors. To make these students more resourceful, we employed experts that would be able to drill them on how to be the best they could after graduation.
What infrastructure and facilities are in place to support teaching, learning, and research at the University?
To help the students get properly equipped to be resource persons, and enhance teaching, learning and research, we made sure that the following facilities were in place before the commencement of academic activities which officially began on October 14, 2024. The facilities provided are well-equipped Chemistry, Physics/Electronics, Biology, Chemical Pathology, Histopathology, Hematology & Blood Bank, Pharmacology, Human Physiology, Gross Anatomy, Histology, Biochemistry, and Medical Microbiology Laboratories. We equally have very standard Animal house, Cadaver Preserving Room, a modern Anatomy House, Computer Laboratory with many Computers, ICT/Digital Library with many computers, well equipped Entrepreneurial Centre as recommended by the NUC, and a Moot Court for Law students. Others include General University and departmental libraries, Medical library, Law library, CBT Centre with over 300 laptops, WiFi covering the entire students’ hostels including the University environment, especially the designated study areas. In our digital library, we have more than enough books in all the programs and these research materials are freely available to our students.
What strategies are in place to ensure academic excellence, quality assurance, and accreditation of programs?
For any institution to maintain academic excellence and be sure of the accreditation of the various programs, some basic factors must be in place. There must be quality and qualified lecturers, and discipline is non-negotiable. This discipline is not only on the part of the students but more on the part of the lecturers because nobody gives what he does not have (nemo dat quod non habet). Bearing the above factors in mind, we took time to meticulously select those whom we recruited as our lecturers. As our people always say that good soup is made possible by adequate fund, thus, we also made sure that those whom we employed are paid well. Otherwise, all the good and highly qualified lecturers will abandon your institution and go to places where their qualities are valued more in terms of their monthly take home.
To maintain our standard and constantly remind the staff of the unique nature of the university, we organise periodic seminars and serious orientations for new ones. Indeed, to say that every of our staff member is aware of our code of conduct is to labour the obvious. So, these are some of the measures we put in place in order to ensure that Shanahan University maintains academic excellence, quality assurance, and seamless accreditation of our various programs.
With just about 500 students currently, how are you coping with the cost of running the Institution?
Presently, students at the Shanahan University are little above 500. Even if the number is much higher, the cost of running a university is something else. If the entire cost is thrown back to the students to bear through their school fees, then our aim of having both the rich and the poor in the university would be defeated. Hence, to run the university in such a way that the cost won’t be out of reach of some parents/guardians, we went out of our way to source funds both within and outside the country. Bearing in mind the hardship in the country, we try as much as possible not to levy people. Most of the donations we receive are freewill and God has been so wonderful to us.
So far, all our pioneer students are enjoying 50% scholarship. For example, the total annual fee of students of Software Engineering, Medical Lab, and Nursing are N400,000, N600,000 and N700,000 respectively. But they are required to pay only half of the above-mentioned sum. Hence, instead of paying the above sum, they rather pay N200,000, N300,000 and N350,000 respectively which represent half of what they are supposed to pay. This is the cheapest anybody could get among the private universities. Hence, we have been sustaining the University through internally generated funds, and people’s goodwill.
What are the University’s plans for expansion, growth, and development in the next 5-10 years?
For expansion and growth, we took some measures ab initio. For example, we have 18 hectares of land at the permanent site of the university at Trans-Nkisi Layout G.R.A. Onitsha. If we erect bungalows just to cut cost, it will militate against having more structures. We therefore sort some counsel from the appropriate agencies and they advised us to go ‘vertical’ instead of ‘horizontal.’ Vertical here means high rising building. This gives room for more buildings, growth, and expansion because a big vertical building would be able to accommodate many programs.
Apart from the effective management of the present permanent site, we have equally acquired another 100 hectares of land at Ojoto in Idemili South LGA of Anambra State. To help accommodate our teaming students in Onitsha, we have agreed with some landlords whose buildings are around the university for lease. We are optimistic that in the next 5 – 10 years, more progress would have been made.
What message would you like to convey to prospective students, parents, and the wider community about Shanahan University?
In the Shanahan University, we build the Culture of Excellence through building the human person. Building the human person is the highest asset we could bequeath to our society. I will therefore encourage the students to take the advantage of the holistic formation we give at the Shanahan University and be useful to themselves, their families and the society at large. Parents and the people of goodwill should key into the qualitative academic and moral formation by always following up with their children and wards especially when they are at home. Once we take advantage of this culture of excellence inherent at the Shanahan University, our society would be a better place.
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