BY: EMMANUEL CHUKWUMA, ENUGU.

Renowned educationist, founder and spiritual Animator of Azione Verde University, Amaigbo in the Nwangele council area of Imo State, Dr. Boniface Duru, has canvased for a university with a strong emphasis on moral formation to strengthen the nation’s education system.

According to him, university education, being the highest level in the education process, is supposed to be the culminating point in the development of the human person.

Dr. Duru, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, stated this at the inauguration ceremony of the institution located at the Ulo—ato community.

Dr. Duru emphasized that education is a strong career of development, as it gives vent to the human mind to see beyond the ordinary and to make a difference through logic and reasoning.

“When a human mind is developed, things become less complex, and hidden things of nature are revealed.”

The priest who identified the five strongest careers of education as sea ports, airports, school-universities, railways, and markets argued that they easily create communities where human interaction becomes the order of the day.

He said, ‘’They move the economy because they make exodus a 360-degree process and they create exchange of both economy, social interaction, and of ideas since they are always points of human contact’’

Reverend Father Duru disclosed that he was moved to think of a holistic centre of education in Amaigbo as a result of the crash of the Sosoliso aircraft in the late 2000s that left nearly 100 school children dead.

‘’Those children would have been men today and most probably would have been useful to our society, one way or the other and because of it, I was determined to save more children for humanity. I know what an Igbo parent spends to send their children to school. The distance we cover looking for good schools, the finances we waste on transportation and other logistics, and the risks involved are enormous”.

Dr. Duru paid glowing tributes to the late catholic Bishop of the Orlu Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Gregory Ochiagha who he said laid the foundation stone of the project and equally challenged him to go ahead and demonstrate what his idea of bringing development to Amaigbo would be.

In the same vein, he hailed the incumbent Bishop of the Diocese Most Rev.Dr. Augustine Ukwuoma and the Papal Nuncio in Ethiopia, who is an indigene of Amaigbo, His Grace Brian Unigwe for their support.

“It is a long story, it is a story whose tale spans more than 20 years. It is a dream that gradually became a reality. My dream, my mission, project, and vision. My mission on that 29th day of September, 2025, His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Gregory Ochiagha of blessed memory, laid the foundation stone for this project and challenged me to go ahead and demonstrate what my idea of bringing development to Amaigbo would be. I went to work, I started to build, to labour, and to sacrifice. In God’s name, we built the hospital first because health is a priority in our program. Then, the school structures and the rest.

He, however, appealed to the people of Amaigbo and the towns around to support the project to make it the best place for the growth of the children.