History was made again in College of Education, Afaha Nsit on Monday
June 9, 2014 as all Provosts of Colleges of Education in Nigeria join
avalanche of progressive thinkers, men of goodwill, relevant
stakeholders in the education sector who visited the College in recent
times to witness the -the-art infrastructure dotting the landscape of
the institution, courtesy of an administration in action.
The hosting of all Provosts of Colleges of Education in Nigeria in the College of Education, Afaha Nsit for the first time, since the establishment of the College is a clear confirmation that Dr. Patrick Uko, the current Provost of the institution is on course in the struggle to reposition the College and place it on the global map of reckoning.
He is not only paddling the ship of the College to its desired destination, but he is not leaving anything to chance nor leaving any stone unturned to walk his talk of leaving the College better than he met it.
Dr. Uko whose appointment as the provost of the institution a year ago was described by many as a turning point in the history of the College that was losing so much of its public goodwill due to its inability to meet expectations in the release of certificates and results, is relentlessly, tirelessly and religiously pursuing the lofty dreams of the founding fathers of the institution who envisaged a College of national repute.
In furtherance of this laudable drive, Dr. Uko had decided to go a little revolutionary by rewriting both the vision and mission of the college in order to realign the mindset of the people about the College. This, he has achieved by evolving a six-point agenda to serve as his guiding beacon. The six-point agenda include: absolute cleanliness and beautification of the College; prompt release of students’ results and certification, provision of necessary infrastructure; promotion of sound academic culture; discipline and security as well as staff welfare.
The College, under the careful watch of Dr. Patrick Uko, an ebullient administrator with unbending determination to give the institution a facelift is steadily earning a national attention as more stakeholders in the education sector, leaders of professional organizations and unions fall over themselves to visit the College in order to appreciate a visionary and result-oriented administrator who is apparently in a hurry to transform the only state-owned teacher-training institution in Akwa Ibom State and also savour the breeze of transformation cutting across all sectors of the institution.
At the risk of sounding sycophantic, Patrick Joseph Uko who was recently honoured as the Best Provost of Colleges of Education in Nigeria, South-South, in the area of Infrastructural Development is the long awaited messiah the once fractured College was waiting for to pull it from the jaw and shackle of underdevelopment, ethnic trappings to the path of progress, advancement and a sure future.
Let me attempt to dig deep into some of the six points agenda of Dr. Patrick Uko led administration in the College.
Prompt Release of Examination Results/Certificates
Before his assumption of office as Acting Provost, the College had earned a wounding image of a place where certificates were never sighted. Various batches of students had graduated and engaged, yet they paraded statement of results many years after graduation. And release of semester result was a tug of war between the Management and students. Today, these ugly scenario had been consigned to the dust bin of history.
Dr. Uko has entrenched a culture of prompt release of results and it is a punishable agency for a Lectures not to release his/her results, three weeks after examination. This he has achieved, not neglecting the cleanliness of the premises to provide the needed ambience and aesthetic outlook.
Cleanliness
If one had had an occasion of visiting the college prior to the present administration under Dr. Uko, one would have been shocked at the unkempt-nature of the place. The story is different now. Dr. Uko believes that sound minds exist in the sound body and sound body must dwell in a clean environment. Today, the entire premises exude a serene and enticing air of transformation brought about by well-cut grass and aesthetically arranged exotic flowers.
Infrastructural Development
Though the College has had the history of perennial infrastructural deficit occasioned by paucity of funds, Dr. Uko administration has frontally tackled the problem of power and water supply to boost teaching and learning. He has facilitated the replacement of a broken down transformer while ensuring that there is constant provision of diesel to service the central power plant to provide electricity to all sectors of the College. And water supply has been given a boost as broken or blocked metallic water pipes have been deblocked or replaced.
It may also interest you to know that the hitherto unattractive and distasteful outlook of the Provost’s office is now a sight to behold while the information unit has been upgraded to full-fledged directorate to manage and sustain a good image for the College with its publics.
Before now, there was no presence of any bank in the College; Dr. Uko’s administration has caused Ecobank to install an ATM in the College to boost economic activities.
While the college has taken delivery of the vehicle for the state government, two vehicles of the College involves accidents have been repaired and put back to use.
These excellent steps taken by Dr. Uko administration to provide infrastructural development.
Infrastructural development
There has been a remarkable improvement in the infrastructural sector of the College.
Power and water which are two very essential facilities have been very adequately addressed and the supply is now very satisfactory. To further enhance the availability of power, Management embarked on the renovation of the generator house as the first step towards the installation of the 500 KVA Plant donated by NDDC. Meanwhile a 60KV A sound-proof generator has been purchased as back-up to service Provost’s Office and other offices within the cluster.
The Provost’s Office, the Registrar’s Office, the Academic Affairs block and the conference room have been renovated and better equipped. Additionally, an extension has been attached to the office of the Provost.
Three (3) old and abandoned vehicles have been refurbished and put back to effective use.
The college Mini Theatre and the Auditorium have also been given a facelift.
A 300 capacity grand-stand has been constructed at the convocation ground/mini stadium. .
The first phase of the first-ever shopping mall has also been completed and allocated to interested members of the college community and the public.
Furthermore, 6 storey buildings funded by TETFUND have been completed and delivered consequent upon our strict supervision and pressure on the contractors.
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