The group FUTO online Community turns 5. This is a celebration of consistency and focuses to create an online community to celebrate FUTO graduates and friends of FUTO graduates. This group has also gone further to celebrate all that FUTO was meant to achieve which is technology and growth. So members of FUTO graduates, friends of FUTO graduates and people who break grouds of achievements are referred by the group as FUTO friends. This group consolidates the efforts of the FUTO Alumni Association to create visibility for the University and the graduates.
How this journey began
I visited the FUTO community for the first time in 2001 when I tried to gain admission into the Chemical Engineering Department. Though it became a failed attempt I discovered a new career path when I strolled to the School of Management Technology (SMAT). There I discovered that Project Management Technology was what God had predestined for me. When I bought my JAMB form, I chose PMT as my 1st and 2nd choices.
In 2002 when I needed to travel to FUTO to process my admission, I boarded a night bus at Mazamaza Park in Lagos. It was a mini luxury bus. While we were waiting for the bus to get filled up with passengers, one businessman came and paid for the remaining seats from the middle to the end which they used in loading compressors for fridges. After so many arguments, the bus driver finally embarked on this risky journey.
We got to Ihiala in Anambra State at about 6 am. It was as if every passenger on that bus was asleep at that time except me. As the driver tried to dodge a pothole on the road, he lost balance due to the weight of the load on the bus. I stood up immediately and shouted “JESUS!!!” The bus then tumbled into the drainage, and the four wheels were now facing the sky.
It all went silent
For a moment, there was absolute silence as if everyone was dead. I seemed to be the only one who was awake before and after the accident. Then I began to climb to the top where the door was until I came out unhurt. As I stood by the bus, the road was empty and quiet except for the forests around. It was as if I was in the spirit world. I thought I was dead until I felt a slight pain in my right leg. I then pulled my trouser up and I saw little blood on the scratched surface. It was then I knew I was still alive.
Later I saw the passengers coming out of the bus one after the other. I had to go back on the bus twice to get my travelling bag and one of my leather slippers. Then other buses began to arrive at the scene of the accident. So I crossed to the other side of the road and boarded a 14-14 luxury bus to Owerri. Aluta Continua! Victoria Aceta!
I got to FUTO but I didn’t make the merit list. I had to go through the rigours of purchasing a supplementary form. I still chose PMT as my 1st and 2nd choices. While we were waiting for the supplementary list, ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike that lasted for 9 months. FUTO had to call off its strike while other schools were still on strike. This was in January or February 2003. It was my friend, Kenneth Jonathan, who made the merit list of the Civil Engineering Department that came back to Lagos from FUTO with the good news. Thank God, I was admitted into the PMT Department.
I got the Admission
On October 12, 2016, while I was chilling in my room one evening. My phone beeped. It was a notification from Facebook: “Create a group for Federal University of Technology, Owerri.” Then I clicked on create. That was how I created this platform. I began to add all my FUTO friends to this group. On November 2, 2016, I changed the group name to FUTO Friends Forever. The few Futoites in the group then were not interested in the group. So I abandoned the group for several months and came back to see if things had changed in 2017. I became discouraged by the indifference of the group members that I thought of shutting down the group until Emenike Samuel reminded me that Rome was not built in a day.
It was in January 2018 that I began to think of things I would do that would get Futoites interested in the group. I began to search for graduates, undergraduates, academic and non-academic staff of the FUTO community on Facebook. Members of the group began to show interest in the group, and they began to add their FUTO friends to the group. This group began to grow in lips and bounds until tragedy struck in June 2020 when my main account was hacked and later shut down by Facebook after a series of reports were made. I lost access to the admin tools, and the Moderators in the Admin with me couldn’t rescue the situation because I was the sole Admin. So I learnt a new lesson about group administration.
The Community restarted better
In July 2020, I had to create another group with the group name ‘FUTO Online Community’ which I later changed to FUTO Online Group. When Facebook saw that this old group was having technical issues because I was no more in the Admin, in other to rescue the group, Facebook then made Amadi Uche Prosper the Admin of the group. He tried to pull himself out of the Admin but he couldn’t until I noticed it because I was always monitoring the group. So I reached out to him via inbox and then told him what to do to bring me back to the Admin. That was how I returned to the Admin.
In November 2020, I changed the group name from FUTO Friends Forever to FUTO Online Community. I also turned all the Moderators to Admins having learnt from what happened.
Acknowledgments
I want to specially acknowledge the presence of some dignitaries who have been with us in this group for a while now:
- – Prof. Njoku Jude Ejikeme (Former VC of FUTO).
- – Prof. Nnenna N Oti (Current VC of FUTO).
- -Prof. Martin Nwufo (Former DVC Administration of FUTO).
- -Prof. Chinyere Ada Osuji Madu (Member, FUTO Governing Council).
- – Prof. Linus Akujuobi (Former HOD of FMT Department).
- -Prof. Nzotta Samuel (Professor of Finance in SMAT).
- -Prof. Uchenna Benedicta Dike (Director of FUTO Press).
- -Prof. Innocent Madufor (Professor of Polymer & Textile Engineering).
- -Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe (IPAD & IPhone genius).
- -Engr. Dr. Mrs. Uche Nwakanma Moneke (Former SA to the Ex Governor of Imo State).
- -Sir Christian Chuks Uzoho (Deputy Registrar of FUTO).
- -Senator Smart Adeyemi (Senator in the National Assembly),
- -Hon Julius Pondi (House of Reps Member), and many more. The list is endless.
Not forgetting my fellow Admin Members: Uchechi Madonna Orji-Njemanze, Chiamaka Christopher Chinedumuije, Chimezie Abraham Akachukwu, and WisTab Uzoma. Thanks for sharing the burden of administration with me.
Today, all of us in this group are collectively building a community for FUTO. Let’s continue to strengthen this vision by inviting all our FUTO friends to this group and by sharing this post. Gracias!
One Love! One Community!
Keep reading the online magazine of the Alumni Association for more details.
