economics and management programmes be introduced in the country to enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness, adding that even leading scientific institutions like NASA need excellent managers to remain well-run and business leaders need a basic knowledge of global economics to do well.
Nnaji, winner of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), the nation’s highest honour for academic and artistic achievement, also called on the authorities of Bigard Memorial Seminary to consider upgrading the 100-year-old institution’s academic status beyond preparing its students for Bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and theology.
“Eight years of full-time and intensive studies should earn the candidates at least the licentiate or master’s degree”, he observed, asking them to borrow a leaf from the International School of Theology at Atakwu in Enugu South Local Government Area where the candidates for the Catholic priesthood graduate with a master’s degree from Duquesne University in Philadelphia, United States, after four years of studies in philosophy followed by a four-year theological programme.
He advised the institution’s leaders to affiliate the proposed postgraduate studies at Bigard Seminary with a Nigerian or foreign university, just like the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, whose postgraduate programmes are affiliated with the University of Calabar in Cross River State.
“Alternatively, Bigard can apply to the National Universities Commission (NUC) to become a full-fledged university, after 100 years of existence”, Nnaji remarked to wide applause from the audience that included Reverend Father Albert Ikpenwa, a theology professor and rector of the seminary.
Previous speakers at the centenary included Francis Cardinal Arinze, former Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacrament at the Vatican, who is also an alumnus of the seminary.
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