IKEDI OHAKIM AND IMO STATE UNIVERSITY TUITION FEE INCREMENT There is no gainsaying that the prestige of a family is determined by the number of educated persons it has produced. According to Nelson mandela, Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. 2007 - 2011 was a period in which the global economic meltdown and militancy in Niger Delta tasked our resilience as a nation. It was also a period that marked a turnaround for our nation as the militants began their rehabilitation programme to usher in peace in the Niger Delta region. To this end, states barely pay salaries to workers due to drastic reduction in the allocations of various states. Imo state university under leadership of prof. Chuka Okonkwo as the vice chancellor was seriously agitating for increase in subvention of the university by the state government. Chief Sir Ikedi Ohakim who was the visitor to the university at the last convocation asked the governing council of imo state university to forward detailed analysis on the internal generated revenue (IGR), current total number of students in the university, total number of students admitted in the last session and among other things to him. It was shocking and disappointing that the governing council was unable to give satisfactory and concise detailed analysis of the above information as requested by Governor Ikedi Ohakim. Chief Sir ikedi Ohakim set up a visitation panel to look into the activities of imo state university from the year 2005 -2010. The visitation panel was led by the first vice chancellor of the university in the person of prof. Ndubusi. At the end the panel’s visitation, recommendations were forwarded to Chief Sir Ikedi Ohakim for implementation. One of the recommendations of the panel was to increase in the tuition fee as viz: Regular students 55,000, ICEP 70,000 and Post graduate students 90,000 respectively. However the students’ union government constitutes part of the visitation panel. What informed the panel’s decision to increase the tuition was based on the fact that in all the state universities in Nigeria, it is ONLY IMO STATE UNIVERSITY that pays tuition feel that was less than 30,000. In keeping with Charles Dawn’s position of change which he opines that it is not the strongest specie that survives or the most intelligent but specie that is responsive to change. Having looked at the panel’s recommendations, Chief Sir Ikedi Ohakim has key in Charles Dawn’s position of change to reduce the fee to 30,000 for regular students, ICEP 55,000 and post graduate students 70,000 respectively. Considering the fact that imo state political atmosphere at this period was highly charged and over heated, Ohakim’s opponents took the advantage of the situation. In their unquenchable quest to nail Okakim’s reelection bid hurriedly picked-up their big trumpets and moved to all the nooks and crannies of imo state begin to blow the situation out of proportion that Ohakim increase imo university tuition fee to 55,000, 85,000 and 120,000 respectively. In the midst of all these political intrigues, Owelle Rochas Okorocha declared his long awaited intention to offer free education to imolites of which appears to be a sign of relief to innocent imo citizens. Little do we know that the declaration was set out to not only to rob peter but also to rob Paul and pay poor quality education and hoodwinked imolites evidenced below? -Okorocha increased tuition fee for regular students to 100,000 with 80,000 discounts for imo indigenes - Okorocha increased tuition fee for regular students to 100,000 with 50% discount for non imo indigenes - Okorocha increased tuition fee for ICEP to 100,000 - Okorocha increase tuition fee for post graduate students to 150,000 Also note that acceptance fee was 32,000 and transcript fee for local students was 5,000 and international students was 10,000 respectively during ohakim’s regime but in the name of free education okorocha increased acceptance fee to 75,000 and transcript for local students to 15,000 and international students to 30,000 respectively. As 2015 is at the corner, together we can say never again will a political dribbler turn our state into a football and literally crush our bone in order to score cheap political points. The distinctive creative gap between a carpenter and furniture are the defining LINES of what each brings to the table of professional expression. Beyond politics and its intrigues that goes with it, the business of governance in imo state demands more than SHOWMANSHIP and grandstanding and marks the difference between a visionary leader and routine resource manager. God bless imo state God bless Nigeria. Tasie Chinedu.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:28:43 +0000
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