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Recently, social media platforms were awash with some serialized snippets of what may at best be called figment of the imaginations and fabrications of some hired social media hirelings peddling false and unsubstantiated allegations against the immediate past government of Enugu State, council, management and lecturers of my great alma mater, Institute of Management and Technology, (IMT).
Initially, I was very unperturbed and dismissive of it, considering that social media platforms are synonymous with fake and unverified stories because of their poor regulatory framework. I became more upset and worried, when I recently read in one of the respected national dailies of August 6, 2023, a story titled “Extortion Galore In IMT, Enugu, Education Mess Deepens” anchored by the Regional Editor of the national daily.
To ascertain the veracity of the allegations as published in the national daily, I embarked on investigations that include visiting the school, seeing things on ground and speaking to students, academic and non academic staff without letting them know my mission.
My findings as enumerated below are verifiable, factual, tangible, and evidential. I discovered that the appointment of staff into the institute has never been and will never be done without the express approval of the Governor through the Governing Council. It is on record that since the inception of this current Management and Council, no formal approval for employment was given by the government as such the institute has not made any employment.
The appointment of staff already employed in Headship positions is by the Council based on seniority and merit. The composition of Council of the Institute follows geo-political spread, and as a result, no Council member will sit and watch his zone marginalised.
However, following the State Government recent demand from MDAs for submissions to enable governments look at the state of affairs, IMT made a submission showing the number of staff in the Institute and indicated the ratio per each local council of the state.
The Academic Board (AB) of the Institute has met three times this session, the last being that of July 26, 2023. The Business Committee (BC) is a long Standing Committee of the AB with no approval powers. AB meetings are statutory and cannot be circumvented for any reason.
It was discovered that the Academic Board has a procedure for dealing with all reported cases of missing scripts. The procedure has been applied by the (AB) in dealing with cases in the past and even currently. Staff who have been found culpable in the past were given appropriate punishment. There is evidence to that effect.
It is established that all those who accepted part-time appointment in the Institute know through their letters of appointment what their remunerations are and that does not in any form justify any untoward behaviour. Council has, on different occasions, sacked those erring staff with proven cases of misconduct, extortion, and sexual harassment.
Meanwhile, the majority of the staff on part-time appointments are those who are on full-time appointments elsewhere such as ESUT, UNN, and other institutions around Enugu.
The allegation of NYSC call-up racketeering against the management is nebulous and unfounded because Call Up Letters are printed online by prospective corps members themselves. This procedure has been the case for so many years now and is not peculiar to IMT.
On proceeds from the sale of land belonging to the Institute in Abuja, it was disclosed that the funds have been utilized by the Institute following Council’s approval to provide infrastructure for use for both staff and students. The most recent was the handover of an academic complex constructed courtesy of the said proceeds to the Institute by the Consultant and the Contractor.
The Council recommended naming the building after a woman in whose honour that land was given to IMT and not to any other person.
On the issue of the appointment of Deputy Rector, it was revealed that the Extant Law is that the Academic Board shall elect fit and proper persons provided that person is a member of the Academic Board.
The recommendation of the Academic Board and the subsequent appointment of the current Deputy Rector did not offend any known law. The Deputy Rector emerged from a keenly contested election of the Academic Board, which was ratified by Council. Therefore, beyond Chief Lecturers, anybody who is a member of the Academic Board, irrespective of rank, is qualified. The current Deputy Rector was a member of the Academic before his appointment.
On the issue of dragging the name of the former Governor, Rt. Hon Dr. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi into the false story, investigations revealed that IMT enjoyed the best of times under former Governor IUgwuanyi’s administration. The list of projects and interventions by his administration are too numerous to mention.
However, for the sake of history, I will take a little space to itemize what he did for the Institute, which has made it stand out amongst the league of polytechnics in Nigeria.
These include, but are not limited to, the following, roofing and repainting of the Administrative Block, remodelling of the Old Mass Communication Block, construction of Sound Proof TV Control rooms in the department of Mass Communication, remodelling of the Medical Centre, construction of a Block of Class Rooms, 2-Storey Building (3 Floors) construction of a Block of Staff Offices, 2-Storey Building (3 Floors) construction of a Block of Medical Centre (Bungalow)
Renovation of the Civil Engineering Block, renovation of the Achike Udenwa Block of Offices,
renovation of the Female Hostel Blocks, construction of a storey Building Block of Registry Offices (2 Floors) and procurement of Furniture for the Medical Centre.
Others are procurement of Furniture for the Blocks of Class Rooms and staff offices,
re-roofing of Plant House in Campus III and reconstruction of Roof of Modelling Laboratory in the Department of Civil Engineering, reconstruction of roof and Installation of electrical services in the main structure of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, reconstruction (asphalting) of the school’s network of roads with drainages and others.
Mrs. Edemba, alumni of IMT, Enugu, writes from Agbani Road, Enugu State
Further to this, the former Governor released the sum of 150 million for the first phase of the re-accreditation of 18 programmes and 285 million for the second phase of re-accreditation of 38 programmes in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Today, it is on record that IMT has no accreditation challenge even for the degree programmes that came on board four years ago. Within the same period, IMT had 32nd -42nd Consolidate Convocation Ceremony. When the former Governor Rt. Hon Dr. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi came to commission these projects in February 2022, he further released One Hundred Million naira for the completion of the internal network of roads and ordered the State Ministry of Works to go back to site and complete the network of roads in the Institute. It is on record that under the watch of the former Governor, Rt. Hon Dr. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, IMT, Enugu, got affiliated with the University of Nigeria to offer degree programmes in eight departments, namely, Accountancy, Business Administration, Public Administration, Banking and Finance Marketing, Mass Communication, Computer science and Statistics.
The school is wearing a new look courtesy of Rt. Hon Dr. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. It was also discovered that the Institute has paid staff salary up to July 2023 and the administration of His Excellence, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mba has equally been prompt in releasing monthly subventions to IMT.
It was alleged that a particular staff member of the Institute, who has been queried for various offenses including his failure to retire over N55 million cash advances taken from the school for over ten years now has been on rampage sponsoring all sorts of things and allegations against the school, especially after losing a suit he personally filed in Industrial Court to stop IMT from investigating his inability to retire these funds.
Mrs. Edemba, alumni of IMT, Enugu, writes from Agbani Road, Enugu State
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