By Jeff Ejiofor
It was Brad Henry who said that no other investment yields as great a return as the investment in education. He went ahead to opine that an educated workforce is the foundation of every community and the future of every economy. Drawing inspiration from the above philosophical statements, the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has taken bold steps to give education topmost priority in his administration. He has greatly changed the face of education in Enugu State by investing heavily in it since the inception of his regime which has led to several laurels by the state in local and international education based competitions. His touch in the education sector cuts across all categories of learning, primary, secondary and tertiary education with equal attention. However, for the purpose of this essay, focus would be on his efforts to reposition tertiary education in Enugu State and the progress made so far.
Gov. Ugwuanyi as a soundly educated man, understands the importance of education and its indispensable role in the development of any society. At the inception of his administration, he took time to study the situation on ground in the state with a view to addressing the agelong decay inherent in the sector. At that time, some of the state owned institutions were still battling with accreditation of courses. Imagine a school like Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, Enugu still had many courses unaccreditated. Enugu State Polytechni, Iwollo and Enugu State College of Education (Technical), ENSCET had serious issue as well not minding that ENSCET was founded 14 years ago in affiliation with Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. It is disheartening that before the intervention of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, ENSCET had been graduating students without certificates. As a matter of fact, it is quite appalling to subject people to such academic rigours without tangible evidence to show at the end of the process.
Apparently, Gov. Ifeanyichukwu Ugwuanyi’s emergence as the Governor of the state in 2015 changed the entire narratives. He quickly swung into action on assumption of office and changed the situation. He first upgraded IMT to a degree awarding institution through the amendment of the extant laws of the Institute. Inspite of the persistent economic recession in the country and the globe, he released the sum of 100 million naira to the school to enable it meet the accreditation needs of its courses, afterwhich he embarked on aggressive infrastructural provision to ensure condusive learning environment. Renovation of dilapidated buildings/facilities and other logistics needed to improve the quality of learning in the school was also done. He did not stop there, but went ahead to approve the first convocation for the school in 10 years. These efforts are now yielding results as the Institute is gradually reclaiming its lost glory as evidenced in its students’ innovative breakthroughs in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic where they invented authomated hand washers and sanitizers.
Furthermore, the administration through its efforts and interventions has been able to achieve accreditation for other state owned tertiary institutions such as Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwolo and the Enugu State College of Education (Technical). At inception, the administration put in place machinery and funds to ensure that Iwolo Polythechnic scale through the hurdles of accreditation of their new courses by the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, to be formally listed as a polytechnic. It also provided the necessary funds and condusive learning environment that facilitated the accreditation for ENSCET to start the issuance of certificates which had eluded them for thirteen years.
To underscore these achievements, the chairman of ENSCET Governing Council, Amb. Fidelia Njeze during the Council’s thank you visit to the Governor, expressed immense gratitude to him for his passion, commitment and numerous interventions towards the growth of the college. She narrated how the intervention of the Governor ended over a decade of non accreditation of courses which resulted in non-issuance of certificates to the college graduants. She averred that the problem consequently threatened the existence of the school as a tertiary institution prior to 2015 when this regime came into being. She further revealed that Gov. Ugwuanyi gave the College financial support when the institution sought the assistance of government in order to meet the requirments of the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE and National University Commission, NUC to receive accreditation. In the same vein, the provost of the school, Dr. Osondu Eze while expressing his joy, declared that the era of no certificate is gone for good, as the school currently has about 10000 certificates awaiting collection.
In continuation of his administration’s quest for quality education and even distribution of infrastructure across the state, the Governor approved the upgrade of the Enugu State College of Education (Techinical), to Enugu State University of Education status to specialize in training of teachers in sciences, technology, vocational subjects, arts and social sciences. He graciously approved the sum of N200 million for relocation of the institution to Ihe in Awgu Local Government Area to provide enough space for expansion and also open up the council area for socio-economic development.
Also worthy to mention is the reconstitution of ESUT Governing Council with Prof. Godfrey Igwebuike Onah as the chairman and pro chancellor which has proven to be the best thing that has happened to education in Enugu State. Giving such a vibrant and God fearing man assignment to serve in such a capacity has brought a lot of innovative changes in the education sector particularly as it affects Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT. The quality of education in the institution has improved dramatically with unprecedented peace and harmony in the system. Another remarkable milestone was the decentralization of the school campuses to accomodate its original policy of promoting intellectual revolution in the rural areas. Apart from the rural intellectual reach of the policy, it will also engender even distribution of social amenities across the three senatorial zones of the state with its attendant socio-economic development.
Under this administration, many brilliant and indigent students of Enugu State have benefited in various scholarship programmes both at the local and international levels. In 2018 alone, Ugwuanyi granted sholarship worth 100 million to 680 indigent students of Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, Enugu and Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo. The scholarship was given on the basis of 340 students each school, while every of the 17 local government areas that make up the state got 40 beneficiaries each. Oversea scholarships have also been carried out by the administration in various forms. Last year, 25 Enugu State indigenes were sent to India for IT training. Many other international scholarship schemes have been bankrolled by the state government since Barr. Levi Ebonyi, a young vibrant man, assumed office as the Executive Secretary, Enugu State Scholarship Board.
In conclusion, the numerous giant strides of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in the education sector is unquantifiable and cannot be captured in this little space. Irrespective of what his traducers may say, his knack for human capital development is unprecedented in the history of Enugu State. His administration’s investment in education and other human empowerment shemes is unequalled in the annals of history. The positive effect of what he is doing today will be felt in no distant future and by then the society will hold him in a high esteem as a visionary leader. Although It takes articulate and informed minds to recognize and appreciate such latent feat in a society of largely uninformed populace whose only understanding of development is construction of roads and flyovers in the city, posterity will certainly be kind to him and in the fullness of time, Enugu people will thank God for the gift of his kind.
Enugu is in the hands of God.
