Background
 

Akwa Ibom State, one of the 36 States of the Federation, was excised from the Cross River State in 1987. Prior to its emergence as a State, Uyo, the Capital of Akwa Ibom State hosted the main campus of the University of Cross River State. This University ceased to exist in 1992, when the Federal Government established in its place, the Federal University of Uyo. In this regard, it is on record that almost all the newly-created States in Nigeria had either been operating, or had made plans for the establishment of their own Universities. There are 31 State Universities in Nigeria, with Akwa Ibom State seriously challenged by the unenviable status of a wealthy latecomer. 

It will be recalled too that prior to the emergence of institutions for higher education in Nigeria, the people of Akwa Ibom State had pioneered the movement for the creation of States in Nigeria  and had also established a secondary school, the Ibibio State College, in 1946. Furthermore, Akwa Ibom people were the first indigenous group in Nigeria and in the whole world to sponsor their students for higher education overseas, when they awarded scholarships in 1938, for studies in the United Kingdom and the United States America, in various fields including agriculture, education, medicine and law. Indeed the people of Akwa Ibom State have been noted, from the earliest beginnings of the nation, for their unrelenting quest and unquenchable thirst for quality education at all levels, hence the present strong desire to establish one of the leading centres of excellence in Nigeria.

 HISTORICAL BRIEFS ON THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY (2000-2007)

 It is with these considerations in mind that the Committee for the Establishment of the Akwa Ibom State University of Technology, which was inaugurated by the Executive Governor of the State on 18th October 2000, addressed its assignment as embodied in the Terms of Reference presented to it on the occasion. The Committee had as its Chairman, Professor Ephraim E. Okon, OFR, a professor of engineering analysis of the University of Lagos and a retired permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Abuja. The Terms included the following:

 
i

To undertake the feasibility study for the establishment of the Akwa Ibom State University of    Technology;

 
ii To propose a permanent site for the University;  
iii To prepare a relevant Science and Technology curriculum for the University;  
iv

To identify on Faculty basis, the required resources, plant, machinery, equipment and other physical facilities for the smooth take-off of the University;

 
v To identify the sources and conditions for attracting the best practicing professional Science and Technology staff namely, scientists, technologists, educationists, engineers and administrators to the University;  
vi

To determine the relationship and linkages between the proposed University and the existing tertiary educational institutions in the State.

 
 

Furthermore, the Committee was to address in the course of its work, what may be considered to be the major socio-economic problem of the State which is its transformation from a "Civil Service State", in which over 90% of people in paid employment are employees in the State Civil Service, to an "Industrialized Society", especially given the prevailing situation of a near absence of an industrial sector and an associated culture of organized private enterprises.

     

An appraisal of the trend in the development of higher education in Nigeria reveals that generally the major focus of the vision and mission of the Universities has been the development of high-level manpower with the expectation that the products of these institutions would be adequately equipped to effectively contribute to the socio-economic advancement of the nation. click here for more