By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Legacy University, Okija, in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, has secured fresh approvals and licences enabling the institution to commence postgraduate studies up to the Doctorate level, as well as expanding its programmes in Medicine, Nursing, Telecommunications, Intelligence and Security Studies.
The approvals, coming with effect from the 2026/2027 academic session, were formally announced and celebrated by the university on Wednesday during a special thanksgiving Mass held at its permanent campus in Okija.
The new approvals include the National Universities Commission (NUC) licence for the commencement of Postgraduate Diploma, Master’s and Doctorate degrees; as well as approval for the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme, B.Sc. Telecommunications Services and B.Sc. Intelligence and Security Studies.
Also presented during the event was the approval granted to the University by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) for the full take-off of its Nursing programme.
Speaking while unveiling the letters during the thanksgiving Mass, the Proprietor and Pro-Chancellor of the Legacy University, Dr. Leonard Nkameme, described the development as another outcome of years of sacrifice, persistence and investment, stressing the achievement had been driven more by his desire to create opportunities for people than by the pursuit of profit.
Nkameme said the thanksgiving was organised not only to celebrate the receipt of the approval letters and licences, but also to formally commit them to God, whom he credited with seeing the institution through the difficult stages of its establishment.
He recalled that his attempt to establish the university was fraught with setbacks, including spending N11 million on a consultant in 2008 and another N5.7 million on a different consultant in the course of trying to meet the requirements for establishing the institution.
According to him, he eventually took personal charge of the process and approached the NUC directly in pursuit of the university’s approval.
He also recalled how, on June 3, 2012, a fatal plane crash nearly brought his dream of establishing the University to an end, as members of a NUC assessment team sent to the University died in the crash.
The experience, he said, was followed by a period when the university’s premises became overgrown and difficult to access, forcing him to spend about N2 million to clear parts of the compound.
However, rather than abandon the project, he said, they continued with the vision.
Today, the NUC officially lists Legacy University, Okija as one of eight private universities whose establishment was approved by the Federal Executive Council in November 2016.
Nkameme said the institution began with only 37 students, fewer than 30 of whom were financially capable of paying their fees at the time, but gradually grew through the commitment of its management and staff. He particularly acknowledged workers who stayed with the institution and continued to support it during the period when the university was struggling to establish itself.
According to him, four years later, by 2020, the institution had fulfilled the requirements for full university operation, and its programmes had undergone accreditation processes.
The latest development comes just a few months after the university announced another major academic expansion at its 10th matriculation ceremony, where it unveiled some new programmes including Medicine and Surgery, Artificial Intelligence, Telecommunications Science and Intelligence and Security Studies, while also announcing preparations for postgraduate education, which has nke finally arrived.
Nkameme said the expansion was not an indication that the university had reached a point of relaxation, insisting that every new academic approval brought additional responsibilities.
According to him, the university intensified the preparation for the postgraduate school given the concerns raised by its graduates of the University who wanted to also pursue their Master’s or Doctorate degrees there within the same university. He said the latest approval had now made it possible, allowing a student to potentially remain at Legacy from first degree through PhD level.
He disclosed that the university was already planning classrooms, offices, vehicles and other facilities for the postgraduate school, as well as buses for medical and nursing students who would require transportation for clinical activities.
He also revealed that the university was constructing additional hostel accommodation, including about 240 rooms for male and female students, with some sections of the projects already approaching the roofing stage.
The Pro-Chancellor revealed how heavily he had spent on the institution within the past year and the current year, adding that he is still investing heavily therein, both in academic and physical infrastructure.
He said the institution currently runs more than 25 undergraduate programmes covering critical areas, including Public Health, Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, Medicine and Surgery, Anatomy, Physiology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence, among others.
Nkameme, who later addressed newsmen, further disclosed that the university was working towards strengthening its academic manpower, with an assessment process currently underway, which he said could lead to the appointment or elevation of no fewer than 16 professors within the next month.
He also said the university had invested heavily in the equipment required for its medical and nursing programmes, stressing that the facilities were purchased rather than hired or borrowed.
According to him, the institution is also embracing electronic teaching and has already commenced online undergraduate programmes, with assurance that arrangements will be made for similar opportunities in postgraduate education.
On why he had continued to invest heavily in the university despite the financial demands, Nkameme said his priority was to make education accessible to people who might otherwise be unable to afford private university education.
He said he deliberately kept the institution’s undergraduate fees relatively low because he wanted to disprove the perception that private universities were meant only for wealthy families.
He maintained that his objective was not simply to make money but to develop people and create opportunities for young Nigerians.
According to him, the greatest satisfaction for him is seeing students come into the university, acquire knowledge and leave to make meaningful contributions in different sectors of society.
Nkameme also said he had made significant personal sacrifices for the institution, recalling that he stopped a personal practice of buying a new car every year in order to channel more resources into the university. He described the university as a legacy that belongs not only to him but to its students, staff, the community and generations yet unborn.
“We are still investing. We are not going to the cruising level,” he said, stressing that the latest approvals had created more work rather than an opportunity for complacency. He further noted that more attention will not be given to the aesthetics and environmental facelift of the institution.
He also attributed the institution’s financial survival and growth to commitment and prudent management, saying he had sometimes sold private properties and sacrificed personal comfort to ensure that the university’s projects continued.
He said keeping fees affordable remained important because increasing the financial burden on students would defeat the original purpose of establishing the university.
The Pro-Chancellor, however, identified poor road infrastructure as one of major challenges affecting the institution, saying the condition of roads in the area had discouraged some prospective students and families from travelling from places such as Lagos and Abuja.
He appealed to the government to intervene in the major roads around the university, saying improved access would help the institution attract more students and make movement easier for its academic community.
Nkameme said the challenges had not changed his determination to continue developing the university.
“Why should I relax?” he asked, while pointing to the need for additional infrastructure, vehicles, hostels and facilities to support the growing student population.
‘God chose Nkameme for the project’ — Fr. Ezike
Earlier in his homily at the thanksgiving Mass, the Spiritual Director to the Pro-Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Jude Ezike, described the establishment and growth of Legacy University as a project that had survived enormous challenges through faith, perseverance and commitment.
Ezike said Nkameme was originally a businessman and marketer of Confidence Oil rather than an academic, but that he believed God had chosen him to undertake what initially appeared to be an unlikely project.
Drawing lessons from Psalm 118 and Exodus 19 and 20, the priest likened Nkameme’s journey to the Biblical account of God’s choice of the Israelites and their transformation into the people He wanted them to become.
He recalled the plane crash that affected the university’s accreditation journey, noting that the incident could have ended the dream of establishing the institution.
According to him, the subsequent growth of Legacy University showed that the project had survived the challenges that confronted it at the beginning.
He urged the Pro-Chancellor to continue committing the university to God through prayers, thanksgiving and acts of philanthropy, while praying that he would live to enjoy the fruits of his efforts and that future generations would also benefit from the institution.
Ezike described Legacy as a university founded on God and said its purpose should go beyond academic certificates to include moral formation, excellence and preparation for the future.
He encouraged prospective students seeking higher education and character formation to consider the institution, saying its postgraduate expansion would help prepare people not only for present opportunities but also for future challenges.
VC, University Management hail development
Speaking in an interview with journalists, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ezekiel Ihionu, also welcomed the approvals, saying the institution would continue consolidating the programmes already introduced while preparing for the next phase of its development.
He said the university had students across Medicine and other areas of computer science and information technology, adding that the new approvals would further strengthen its academic base.
He disclosed that the institution would conduct admission exercises for the new programmes and continue with the regulatory processes required for their sustained operation.
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the University Board, Chief Festus Onyima, traced the project to its early years and described the latest development as another stage in a journey that had progressed from the initial licence to permanent university status and now to postgraduate and expanded professional programmes.
Onyima said the university had continued to move forward despite the difficulties encountered along the way, attributing the progress to God’s grace and the commitment of those involved in the project.
On her own part, the Dean of Students Affairs, Dr. Mrs. Chinyere Rosemary Ibe, described the postgraduate approval as a source of fulfilment, saying the development had taken the university to another academic level.
Students react
In their separate reactions, students of the institution, including Favour Amadi, Akachukwu Daniel, Chinenyenwa John, and others expressed excitement over the development, particularly the opportunity to pursue higher degrees without entirely or immediately leaving the university after their first degree. They said the Legacy University had continued to shape the lives of its students and described it as an institution where young people could acquire the knowledge needed for their academic and professional journeys.
While, describing the university environment as calm and conducive to learning, the students, who described the approval as another major addition to the university, commended the Pro-Chancellor for his vision and dream towards the university, even as they also expressed interest in continuing with postgraduate studies at Legacy after completing their first degree.
With the latest approvals, Legacy University is entering a new stage in its development, with the challenge now shifting from securing the programmes to providing the academic manpower, facilities, clinical arrangements and other resources required to sustain them.
========================
Brief History of Legacy University:
The story of Legacy University, Okija, is rooted in a vision that began several years before the institution formally became a university. The university’s founder and Proprietor, Dr. Leonard Nkameme, began pursuing the project in 2008, driven by his conviction that access to quality education was essential to Nigeria’s development. The process proved considerably more demanding than initially anticipated, with Nkameme later recalling the stringent requirements of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the financial and logistical challenges involved in meeting them. His account of the journey also featured prominently during the university’s early matriculation ceremonies, where he described the decision to establish a private university as a major personal and financial risk. Contemporary reports further show that the licensing process for the eight private universities approved in 2016 took between two and 14 years in some cases, with the NUC specifically recalling the death of members of its assessment team in the 2012 Dana Air crash while assessing some of the institutions.
After years of regulatory processes and preparations, the Federal Executive Council, at its meeting of November 2, 2016, approved the establishment of Legacy University, Okija, alongside seven other private universities. The NUC subsequently listed Legacy University among the eight institutions approved by the Federal Government in 2016, officially placing it within Nigeria’s private university system. NUC records and other institutional listings consistently give 2016 as the university’s establishment year. Located in Okija, in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, the university was established to provide higher education with emphasis on learning, research and character formation. The institution began academic operations on a relatively modest scale, but its early growth was followed by successive matriculation ceremonies as it expanded its programmes, student population, academic staff and physical infrastructure.
One of the significant early milestones in the university’s development was its rapid progression through the regulatory and accreditation requirements of the NUC. By the time of its fourth matriculation ceremony for the 2019/2020 academic session, the institution had reported that it had obtained its statutory licence and secured full accreditation for its programmes following the 2019 accreditation exercise. Nkameme, at the time, said the university had remained committed despite the demanding standards imposed by the regulatory authorities. The NUC’s own accreditation records from 2020 also document the university’s approved programmes and subsequent accreditation timelines, providing official evidence of its progression within the Nigerian university system. By 2023, the institution had reached its seventh matriculation ceremony, while its 10th matriculation in 2026 marked another phase of expansion, including the unveiling of programmes such as Medicine and Surgery, Artificial Intelligence, Telecommunications Science and Intelligence and Security Studies.
From its modest beginnings, Legacy University has consequently evolved into an expanding private university with programmes spanning the arts, social and management sciences, natural and applied sciences, computing and emerging professional fields. Its development has been accompanied by continued NUC accreditation exercises, academic expansion and investment in infrastructure and human resources. NUC records from 2024, for instance, show full accreditation for programmes including Business Administration and Political Science, although the Commission’s records also demonstrate that accreditation remains an ongoing regulatory process for individual programmes. The university’s latest approval for postgraduate education, Nursing, Medicine and other programmes therefore represents another stage in a journey that began with an ambitious private-sector education project in 2008, received formal federal approval in 2016, and has continued to expand into a broader institution offering opportunities from undergraduate education towards postgraduate study.
More photos from the event:
