The Commissioner in charge of the Imo State Ministry of Education, Prof. Bernard Thompson O. Ikegwuoha has charged the Tertiary Institutions in the State to be innovative, creative and critical thinkers.
Prof. Ikegwuoha gave the charge in his office when he had interactive meetings with the Managements of the College of Health and Management Sciences, Amaigbo and the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Okporo, Orlu.
The Education Commissioner revealed that the essence of the meetings was to know their problems, the nominal roll of their staff and their ratio, the staff strength vis-a-vis full, part time and adjunct status, students enrolment, welfare of staff and students.
The Commissioner stated that his area of great emphasis was the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of these institutions in respect of how much they generate and what could be done to generate money beyond the tuition fees as the administration of Governor Hope Uzodinma has emphasized that the era of solely dependent on Government’s subvention is gone.
The Commissioner stated that there was also the need for the government to know the last time the recruitment of staff took place and to present any waiver or authority to that effect by government for such staff recruitment exercise and the issue of accreditation as regards to the programmes so that he could look at what could be done in these directions.
Prof. Ikegwuoha used the opportunity to announce the setting up of a Committee to review the academic qualifications of the academic and non academic staff of the institutions so as to ascertain their relevance, competence and suitability. The Commissioner insisted that the presentation of appointment letters and the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) is required from the entire staff of the institutions for the Committee to function properly.
The Commissioner directed them to write to the Governor through him in respect of the low tuition fees being paid by the Students, comparing it with other similar institutions, both in Imo and beyond. He sensitized the Management of the College of Health and Management Sciences, Amaigbo on the need to change the name of the Institution to College of Health Technology as to give it impetus to run HND programmes as well as secure affiliation with the Federal University of Technology, Owerri for degree programmes.
Similarly, Prof. Ikegwuoha directed the Management of the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Okporo, Orlu to come up with proposals on the renovation of the hostels and the fumigation of the premises as well as write letters to the lmo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) Umuna and the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owerri through him, for the reduction of fees paid by their Students for their practicals.
In his speech, the Provost of the College of Health and Management Sciences, Amaigbo, Dr. Ethelbert Obiasogu disclosed that the new Management came in July 2019 and started paying into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in September 2019.He said that the last recruitment was during Rochas Okorocha’s administration. Dr. Obiasogu stressed on the imperative of the institution to be affiliated to a University and the need to change its name to College of Health Technology, for it run HND programmes.
The Provost of the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Okporo, Orlu, Mrs. Ngozi Duru informed the Hon Commissioner for Education that the most pressing problems of the College remain the renovation of the Students hostels and the fumigation of the premises. She stated that the College had no MBTE accreditation as a result of the problem stated and further indicated that there was need for government to attract the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) intervention. Mrs Duru revealed that the institution had been given the approval to run Licensed Community Nursing and General Nursing by the MBTE.
