The author
By Samuel Ejime Okoh
Saturday, May 7th, 2022 was, indeed, a special day for Veritas University, Abuja. Catholic Bishops in West Africa who had their 4th General Assembly meeting in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, visited the university to see the school. While on it, they also celebrated Holy Mass at the university Chapel which has its own distinctive symbolism for that community.
Graduating students across universities presented their certificates with the statement that they merited the certificate not only in learning but also in character. Barack Obama also said in one of his bytes that ‘’education is not about the certificate that is awarded but about the good character, humility and respect by the awardee in relating with others”. There is no other institution such tenets of education apply more than a university as Veritas University, Abuja, a faith based institution owned by the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria. Hence, the more and more significant the visit of the Catholic Bishops of West Africa under the umbrella – Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (R.E.C.O.W.A.)
Veritas University, Abuja Vice-Chancellor, Prof Hyecinth Ichoku on one of the ‘low’ tables, (there were no high tables) at the Multi-Purpose Hall where the Bishops congregated
The Bishops from another angle at the Multi-Purpose Hall last Saturday
In Marketing scholarship, what RECOWA did by visiting Veritas University is known as endorsement, which also translates to recommending Veritas University Abuja to all West African countries, the Bishops being religious and opinion leaders in their own right and in the region.
This visit can be used to position the university as the number one Catholic university in West Africa. This can be best done by reaching out to each of these Bishops to help market the institution in their respective countries through their priests and church members. Advertisement slots of the university in RECOWA publications will also go a long way to present the university as a catholic institution of first choice in West Africa.
A line-up of the Bishops @ the meeting which brought them to Nigeria in the first case
The campus @ night
There is no doubt that there is a link between RECOWA and the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS). ECOWAS Headquarters is situated in Abuja, Nigeria with staff from almost all the countries that make up the regional body. The staff are high caliber workers who are in a position to appreciate quality education as well as afford to have their wards study at a Veritas University, particularly after the visit of the Bishops.
Veritas University, Abuja can reach out to ECOWAS by advertising in the West African regional body’s Newsletter or regular as well as irregular publications, seek to be part of the organization’s events like the anniversary. With a Centre for Peace and Development, one can imagine so much that Veritas University can do with an ECOWAS which has a thriving Early Warning component, to cite one such conflict management conceptual toolkit. There are other realms in conflict management that both can explore such as the problematic inflow of light weapons into the region.
At the national level, this high profile visit should be followed up with scheduled photo news exposures in selected and relevant publications, media platforms for days in order to help stretch publicity for the event around the visit. Organisations use events like this one for marketing and good image projection. It was, indeed, a great symbolic event!
The author lectures in the Department of Mass Communications, Veritas University, Abuja.
