Education

ASCETA: Why Egesi, cabal are after Provost

Published

2 years ago

December 27, 2022

csunews

PERSPECTIVE.

By Uche Okoroafor

It is a settled matter in law that he who has the power to hire also has the power to fire, the circumstances notwithstanding. It is also settled matter in nature that you cannot give what you don’t have. But what is not settled is when a lecturer at the nadir of his career suddenly wants to become the head of the institution with only greed,envy and hatred as his main qualifications. What is also not settled is when that lowly rated lecturer, converted from an ordinary clerk hides under unionism to cast aspersions on the Governor of the state and management of the college all in a bid realise his Lilliputian ambition.

If Kelvin Egesi, the disgraced former staff of Abia State College of Education, Technical, Arochukwu (ASCETA),had any modicum of reputation before he was sacked, he finally shed it in a write up where he blatantly accused Gov Okezie Victor Ikpeazu of not knowing his job through the appointment of Dr Phillips Nto as the Provost of ASCETA in 2016. He said Nto who obtained a PhD in 2010 and had been a lecturer at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike,was not qualified because he didn’t have any qualification in education. Egesi cheekily declared that he is more qualified to be the Provost because he has a diploma from NTI.

Unfortunately, Egesi being an academic dwarf and mentally lazy forgot that the Edict establishing ASCETA never mentioned such. He also forgot that when he was converted to academic staff that he didn’t have any certificate in education. But more fundamentally,how is it possible that a man who had been a lecturer in a university for years, graduating those who teach in a college of education, cannot head that same institution?

Be that as it may, the achievements of Nto as Provost of ASCETA in the last six years have given a lie to such idiotic postulations. ASCETA was a glorified secondary school when Nto took over. It was overgrown with weeds and reptiles. It was not even connected to national grid. The NCCE had withdrawn accreditation from most of the courses in the college. TETFUND had blacklisted the institution. Despondency pervaded everywhere. Nto , through the intervention of His Excellency, Gov Okezie Victor Ikpeazu ,has reversed all that. Those in doubt should take a trip to the college to behold the tremendous transformation wrought there in the last six years.

But Egesi and the cabal are not happy with Nto. He killed the goose laying corrupt and maggot infested eggs for them. Dr Phillips Nto in accordance with NCCE guidelines stopped the bazaar they called study centres through which non students were masquerading as graduates of ASCETA after coughing out thousands of Naira to Kelvin Egesi and his cohorts. Dr Phillips Nto thought he was on the right mission to restore the dignity of ASCETA certificates. But no, he greatly offended Egesi and the cabal . So when you hear of ASCETA having thousands of students before Nto assumed office, they were actually traders who sought to buy certificates from ASCETA.

Funny enough, the certificates were not even given to anyone including the genuine student graduates. It took the coming of Dr Phillips Nto as Provost for graduates of ASCETA to know what their certificates look like. For more than two decades, all former Provosts did not fetch those certificates from NCCE. It was only the man without any certificate in education that got them.

It was also only Dr Phillips Nto as Provost that reversed the blacklisting of ASCETA by TETFUND, another matter that Kelvin Egesi holds against him. He would rather that Nto left the situation obtuse so that no progress will be recorded. It is on record that since ASCETA started accessing TETFUND that the physical infrastructure in the college has improved. No fewer than 10 solid buildings comprising lecture halls, auditorium,world class library, offices for staff and others have been erected,thus changing positively the landscape of the institution. To Kelvin Egesi, that is a mortal sin . The money he made through conferences and teaching practice from TETFUND also ought to be a sin. Before now,no lecturer from ASCETA had such a privilege. The college has up to One billion Naira for further studies in tetfund, but the lecturers are not coming up with brilliant academic proposals to access them. Some like Kelvin Egesi would rather romance with opposition politicians like they did in 2019 when they boasted openly that Gov Okezie Victor Ikpeazu would not be reelected. To their shame, he is about serving out his second tenure and move to Abuja as a Senator.

Egesi lied against the governor and the management when he claimed that he was sacked because he complained over the death of a staff for non payment of salaries. First and foremost,it is wicked and insensitive to use the death of a staff as a campaign weapon for the opposition whom Kelvin Egesi works for. If non payment of salaries is the sole killer of staff of ASCETA, I don’t know how many that would have been affected. It’s the same Egesi and his groups who practically called the governor a murderer because there was no oxygen in Arochukwu general hospital where the said staff died. Yes ASCETA staff are owed. But not 32 months. The governor last December paid 12 months salaries to staff ,yet we are still hearing 32 months. Even this year, salaries were paid before Christmas. Dr Phillips Nto has leveraged on his excellent working relationship with the state government to ensure that the welfare of staff is addressed. Unfortunately, while he is busy doing that, Egesi and the cabal would be demanding his removal.

Finally,he has come out openly to demand the sack of Dr Phillips Nto as Provost. Unfortunately he lacks locus to make such a senile demand because he is no longer a staff of ASCETA. It is also ironic that it is to the same Governor whom he accused of not knowing his job that he is running to. However,in his foolery, he has refused to accept that he can never be Provost of ASCETA. Long after Dr Phillips Nto would have gloriously ended his second tenure, Kelvin Egesi would still remain his frustrated self dreaming of the impossibly. That , again,is a settled fact.

Okoroafor writes from Atani, Arochukwu.

Education

TETFUND: gov. Otti vows to reclaim unclaimed funds for ABSU, others

Published

2 months ago

November 29, 2024

csunews

Stephanie Clems, Umuahia

Following the revelation by the house of representatives committee on TETFUND that Abia state was one of the states in the country with unclaimed TETFUND, Abia State Governor Alex Otti has vowed to reclaim all accumulated funds.

He says his administration will do everything possible to claim the unclaimed funds earmarked for the state owned institutions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Governor Otti who recently had a delegation of house of Representatives on a working visit in his country home in Nvosi, said with the enormous work needed to be done in the education sector in the state, it is perfect timing to access such intervention funds now.

He decried the level of dilapidation in public schools in the State and the level of ruins its structures were subjected to, noting however that he would take immediate action to salvage the situation as bemoaning a problem alone does not solve it.

“There is no way we can make progress without these funds. So, whatever it takes, I’m going to do it. I will outsource my Commissioner for Tertiary Education to you so that we can get the unclaimed funds and use it. If you get to our schools and see the level of dilapidation, you will understand the level of ruins and how much we need this funds; In fact, sometime you will be wondering how people actually manage to graduate from these schools

“One thing that we know is that the problem doesn’t get solved by bemoaning the problem. We don’t believe in that. We take actions, we believe that actions solved problems,” he said.

The governor thanked the committee for bringing the state’s attention to the development saying,

“Thank you for calling our attention to this. For us, it is a wake up call for a state that has declared a state of emergency on Education, a state that dedicated 20% of her budget allocation to education, and has recently declared free and compulsory education from primary to junior secondary school.”

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on TETFUND and other services, Hon. Miriam Odinakachukwu Onuoha said that the committee was in the state as part of its oversight functions having discovered that Abia is among the states with an accumulation of unclaimed TETFUND to find out the cause and impediment as well proffer solutions.

Hon. Onuoha disclosed that the House had created a separate Standing Committee on TETFUND to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the funds released for TETFUND.

She said that the House has relaxed some of the stringent conditions causing the delay, providing an opportunity for the committee to speak with beneficiaries, stakeholders on areas of challenges as well assist them in ensuring that the backlogs are cleared.

“Hitherto, years back, before now, the House had ran a committee on territory institutions and TETFUND but upon realizing that there is a need for better oversight to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the amounts released for TETFUND, the leadership thought it wise to create this house committee on TETFUND particularly and specially dedicated and saddled with the issues on TETFUND and education tax collection, remittances and utilization.

“The committee paid a courtesy call and oversight visit to TETFUND on the 30/5/2024 and discovered that the funds yet to be utilized was over 500 billion that had been allocated to beneficiary Tertiary institutions and we probed further and found out that there were divergent reasons for this stalemate and accumulation of funds. The committee rose from a meeting with a resolution of the house to set up this technical committee comprising members of the committee, members of TETFUND itself, consultants to come to the affected states and institutions and find out the reason for the accumulation, the impediments and look for a way to proffer solutions and cure it on the spot,” she said.

She noted that her committee will work with Abia State government and the Tertiary institutions in the State to ensure that the state got their right share of the TETFUND intervention.

“Your Excellency, we want to pledge our commitment and our resolve as a committee of the house, a standing committee to work with your government and tertiary institutions in Abia State to ensure that they get their right slice of the TETFUND intervention. So, being your sister and one of your very close supporters and admirers and seeing how you have set Abia on the part of growth and development in such a short time, this committee will work with you and your heads of institutions to ensure that the essence and internment of the tertiary intervention will be attained with you as Governor of this state.”

The visitors later entered into a technical session with the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Prof. Uche Eme Uche, SA on Education, Kenechukwu Nwosu and
the Heads of Tertiary institutions in the State including ABSU VC, Rector, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic Aba and Provost, College of Education Technical Arochukwu, among others.

Some other members of the delegation are Hon. Okwara Osonwa, member representing Arochukwu Ohafia federal Constituency, Chief Alex Ikwechegh, member for Aba North and South Federal Constituency and others.

Education

AMADEUS University births in Abia

Published

7 months ago

July 1, 2024

csunews

Stephanie Clems, Umuahia

A privately owned University known as AMADEUS UNIVERSITY, has announced plans to commence the 2024/2025 academic session in September 2024.

The institution in a statement said it will take off with four faculties hosting 19 academic programmes.

Located at a serene and calm host community of Amizi Oloko in Ikwuano Local Government Area of the state, this institution of higher learning promises to provide functional education through the state-of-the-art teaching/learning facilities, 24 hours internet access and a secured learning environment.

A tour of the university by some journalists on Monday, was an eye opener wherein they had a first hand touch and sight of the facilities ranging from the Medical and surgical nursing demo room, well equipped ICT Centres, Administrative building 500 bed male and female hostels and a guest house for visitors to the University.

Some faculties and departments in the University for the take off are as follow:

Faculty OF Science and Computing

B.Sc Information Technology
B.Sc Software Engineer
B.Sc Cyber Security
B.Sc Data Security
B.Sc Microbiology
B.Sc Forensic
B.Sc Computer Science
B.Sc Biotechnology

Faculty OF Social and Management Science

B.Sc Accounting
B.Sc Entrepreneurship
B.Sc Business Administration
B.Sc Economics
B.Sc Mass Communication

Faculty OF Allied Health Sciences
B.NSc Nursing Science
BMLS Medical Laboratory Science
B.Sc Public Health
D.Pt Physiotherapy

Faculty OF Engineering
B.Eng. Electrical and Electronics Engineering
B.Eng. Computer Engineering

Education

CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS: BLOGGERS, SOCIAL MEDIA USERS TASKED ON RESPONSIBLE POSTS

Published

9 months ago

April 24, 2024

csunews

Stephanie Clems, Umuahia.

The Nigerian army on Tuesday organised a one day seminar for online active users on the need to be sensitive to the security of the nation in the posts and comments they make online.

The event which took place at the GIA event centre in Aba had journalists , bloggers, content creators, online influencers and vendors as participants.

The general commander 82 division, Hassan Taiwo Dada in his remarks said the army as the arm of the military charged with the responsibility of protecting the land borders of the nation also wants the cooperation of the civilians in securing the territories.

He noted the power of social media as a veritable tool for information dissemination though often abused by some users and advised participants to utilise the opportunity provided by the training to make reasonable posts going forward.

For his part, the representative of the chief civil – military affairs, Brdg Gen. Bola Stephen Keji said the army needs a symbiotic collaboration with civilians in order for the later to understand the importance of security.

He urged for conscionable posts that put the security of the nation into consideration.

A resource person, Dr. Ehiz Odigie in her presentation recounted how social media users often in a bid to trend and break news, post sensitive materials and unverified information capable of inflicting harm on a person, family or even country.

Other speakers at the event emphasised the need to put the interest of the nation first before making a post just to trend.

There was the interactive session where participants were given opportunity to ask questions and answers were provided.

The theme was“Enhancing national security through responsible use of social media.”