Ugwuanyi inaugurates multiple projects in IMT Enugu
Some of the landmark projects inaugurated by Gov. Ugwuanyi
were block of 15 ultra-modern classrooms on two suspended floors with seating
capacity of 1,224 students; block of ultra-modern offices for Registry Division
(Exams and Records) with accommodation for a minimum of 75 staff; block of
fully furnished ultra-modern Academic Staff Office complex comprising 60
offices with intercom facility; and a world-class Medical Centre with all necessary
appurtenances for provision of quality medical services to staff and students
of IMT Enugu.
Inaugurating the projects, Gov. Ugwuanyi disclosed that the
intervention became imperative to provide the needed infrastructural
transformation in IMT as well as save the institute from total collapse and
full withdrawal of its accreditation.
The governor, who directed the Commissioner for Works and
Infrastructure, Engr. Greg Nnaji to summon the contractor handling the
rehabilitation of internal roads in the Institute to return to site immediately
to complete the project, said: “Our administration has supported the Institute
to achieve full accreditation of all academic programmes including the
institution’s accreditation while continuing the improvement in the overall
infrastructural health of the Institute”.
He lauded the Council and Management of IMT for providing
the leadership that enabled the clinical delivery of the vision, strategy, plan
and projects, urging the staff and students to put the newly inaugurated
infrastructure to judicious use.
In her welcome address, the Chairman of IMT Governing
Council, Chief Ifeoma Nwobodo, on behalf of the entire community of the
Institute, thanked Gov. Ugwuanyi for “the wholesome support we have received
from the state government”.
Mrs. Nwobodo revealed that “apart from the initial buildings
erected in 1973 when the Institute commenced, no other administration has made
this type of impact or investment in IMT”, saying: “So, I make bold to say that
it is a day of fulfillment! A day of showing forth a vision turned into
reality.”
The Council Chairman added that Gov. Ugwuanyi has brought
his visionary leadership to bear on the governance of Enugu State in general
and IMT in particular, disclosing that IMT which ranked 27th position in the
national ranking of Polytechnics when the present Council was reconstituted,
today, through the governor’s excellent support now ranks No. 7 in the country
and the 2nd best state-owned Polytechnic, after the Polytechnic, Ibadan.
She stressed that the inauguration of the legacy projects,
“otherwise called IMT Citadel Projects” was an eloquent testimony to the
governor’s quality leadership “that has not just impacted and reformed IMT, but
has stood the Institute out particularly in infrastructure amongst Polytechnics
in Nigeria”.
Mrs. Nwobodo who stated that the Council and Management of
IMT have kept faith with mandates given to them by Gov. Ugwuanyi, when the
Governing Council was reconstituted, to raise the standard of teaching and
learning in the Institute and restore it to its original premium position
amongst the comity of Nigerian Polytechnics, etc, disclosed that “at the point
the Council was inaugurated, IMT had less than six decent buildings, and most
of them were funded by Tetfund.
“The rest were decayed and decaying old buildings that had
sorely come under the vagaries of weather and neglect over so many years.
“Today, Your Excellency (Ugwuanyi) will be commissioning the
following projects (listed earlier) as envisioned in the Council’s Blueprint
Document and made possible by a State Chief Executive whose love for education
is unparalleled, and whose support for infrastructural reformation in IMT has
not so far been equaled.
“The mandate to make IMT a degree-awarding Institute also
got a lot of mileage. Today, the Institute is in affiliation with the premier
University in the country – University of Nigeria – and we are offering degree
programmes in eight courses”.
In his opening remarks, the Rector of IMT, Prof. Austin
Nweze, who recounted the numerous intervention projects of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s
administration in the Institute, stated that the governor has been releasing
the monthly subventions of the school which translates to about 75 percent of
the monthly wage bills.
Prof. Nweze further stated that the governor on some
occasions releases special grants to the Institute for the purpose of meeting
up with its personnel costs, adding that “In 2017 and 2021, His Excellency,
with the approval of the State Executive Council, magnanimously approved and
released large sums of money with which we successfully embarked on NBTE
re-accreditation Visitations”.
Nweze added: “Permit us to note that the two exercises were
quite successful as 18 programmes plus Institutional Accreditation were carried
out in 2017 and 40 programmes were done in 2021. These were landmark
achievements”.
The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Edward Ubosi, the Chairman House of Assembly Committee on Education, James Akadu, the member representing Igbo-Eze North II Constituency, Innocent Ugwu, Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, the Chaplain, St. Augustine Chaplaincy, IMT, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ani and Chief Evarest Nnaji, were among the dignitaries at the event.
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