Gov. Umo Eno
By Etim Etim
In 1982, Gov. Clement Isong changed the-then College of Education, Uyo, to University of Cross River State. It is now known as University of Uyo. Over 40 years later, Gov. Umo Eno is turning College of Education, Afaha Nsit to Akwa Ibom State University of Education. There are key lessons to draw from what Gov. Isong did, one of which is staffing challenges. The lecturers at the COE, Uyo were given five years to acquire Ph.Ds to enable them qualify to teach in a university. There was uproar in the campus as many protested and some even opted out of the system. I can remember one man then who took the matter as a personal affront and swore that he would never acquire a higher degree. He blamed Gov. Isong for ‘’starting what he would not finish’’. Eventually, he joined those who opted out of the system when it was clear to him that an organization is always bigger than one man.
But some others embraced the change and went on to acquire higher degrees in different universities across the country. They returned to UniCross, as it was then known, and went on to become professors; Heads of Department and Deans of Faculties. If you embrace change, it will work for you. The same requirement will also apply to the teachers at Afaha Nsit, and I hope that they are ready to embrace the challenge that comes with the new status of their school. NUC requires that all university lecturers should possess a Ph.D or are in the process of acquiring one.
In 1982, University of Calabar did not provide adequate admissions to Cross River people. In fact, it was an inconvenient truth that more persons from other parts of the country were admitted into UNICAL than Cross Riverians, and Isong, a Harvard-trained economist, was eager to address this problem. Cross River was then classified among what was then known as ‘’educationally disadvantaged states’’ – states whose indigenes were not taking up their admission quotas in federal universities. But there was another problem known as ‘’catchment area’’ – the practice of federal universities admitting students mostly from the neighbouring states. You had to be exceptionally brilliant in your UTME scores to break the catchment area barrier. Isong understood the problem and reckoned that our kids would be better served if the state established its own university that would give priority to our people. Cross River then became one of the few states to establish its own university and our people took advantage of it to acquire university education.
Gov. Umo Eno is trying to address a different kind of problem. Establishing a university of education will enable the state to produce enough and competent educators to teach our children in secondary and primary schools. Right now, most of our primary schools, especially those in the rural areas, do not have enough teachers. Some have two or three teachers only. Some secondary schools are also poorly staffed. In this knowledge economy, good education is the best heritage we can hand down to Akwa Ibom children. They need good foundational and basic education to thrive in this unfair federation.
There are very few universities of education in the country, and all of them are owned and funded by the federal government. Akwa Ibom State government has therefore taken the right decision to set up its own University of Education, but I should advise that a good university is known for having a strong reputation for academic excellence, faculty expertise and good facilities and amenities. The transformation from COE to UOE should be well managed by experienced university administrators. This is not an opportunity for ethnic jingoists to start jostling for positions, and start talking about ‘’Ibibio turn’’ or ‘’Annang turn’’. We need professors from all over the country in the new university to train our people to become outstanding educators. Well done, Pastor Eno.
Etim is a Journalist and Political Analyst based in Abuja.
