As the nation steadily marches towards food sufficiency, some institutions in the education sector are playing key roles in this direction. RAPHAEL EDE examines the contributions of one of such institutions, the College of Education, Ishiagu, in Enugu state
The expectation that agriculture can transform and become the next mainstay of the nation’s economy, perhaps surpassing the oil industry is not in doubt. It is on record that the government of the defunct eastern region, under late Michael Iheonukara Okpara gingered the region’s economy to become one of the best rising economies in the world with exploits in agriculture. The success was through establishment of palm plantations and farm settlements across the nooks and crannies of the region.
As it stands successive governments of the states that make-up the defunct Eastern region have not shown much interest in exploiting the great potentials of agriculture that abound in the zone.
The setting up of farm settlements and equipping colleges of agriculture with necessary human resources that will form the bedrock of reinventing agriculture as the mainstay of the nation’s economy is still a great challenge to both the federal and state governments.
The case of Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu is notable among the 14 federal colleges of Agriculture in the country which were primarily established to Reduce Poverty & Hunger, Ensure Sustainable agricultural Production in various sectors. Despite the fact that the college is the only federal college of agriculture serving the whole south-south and south-east region, it has been completely neglected; in short the college can best be described as a ‘glorified secondary school’ because when compared infrastructural wise to what obtains at nearby federal government college Enugu and other places, the gap is so wide .
Poor funding by the federal government has dashed the fulfillment of its mandate to train future agriculturist in the whole southern Nigerian that will ginger the nation’s agricultural revolution.
Blueprint correspondent who visited the college recently, a journey of over 70 km from Enugu state capital, a short distance off Enugu to Port-Harcourt express road, showed a school possessing the required potentials to make meaningful contribution in the nation’s quest to become an agro based nation by the year 2020 country, lagging behind in all ramification
It is glaring from the entrance into the College which is about ten poles away to the secretary to the state government, SGF; Anyim Pius Anyim’s home that there’s a complete neglect. For instance from the gate down to different parts of the compound, the college lacks usual hustling and bustling that characterize contemporary tertiary institutions.
However, the general ambiences of the institution including its “look and feel,” speak volumes of the absence of care it has endured over the 20 years it was relocated from Umudike in Abia state to Ishiagu now in Ebonyi state.
Established in 1955, it has the mandate of promoting the advancement of agricultural training, production and research in the country among others. The college, which is the only institution with such mandate in the South-South and South East geo-political zones of the country, depicts a clear case of the levity with which the government, more often than not, treat academic issues within the country.
The school’s other mandate includes developing and organizing high quality practical-oriented training, with dynamic curricula to produce self-reliant technicians and technologists at National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) levels in the nation.
The college began as the Agricultural Research and Training Station of the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Umuahia, Abia state before it was relocated to its present location in August 1994, having been taken over by the Federal Government.
It was at this juncture that the name of the school was changed to Federal College of Agriculture, by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). This was also after series of accreditation of its programmes in 1989 and 1993.
The giant power generating set, which supplies light to the entire school, including the hostels is switched on at 7.00pm and shut down at 11.00pm. It comes alive again at 6.00 am before being put off at 8.00am. Offices in the school are powered with small power generating sets.
The college is also plagued by acute shortage of water and so relies on water supplied by tankers from Okigwe in Imo State, a distance of about 30 kilometers. The school water tanker does between four to five trips daily to service the water needs of school and whenever it has a mechanical fault, the staff and students of the college go through untold hardship meeting up with their water needs.
Students, however, have to visit Ivo River to fetch water anytime the water tanker fails to operate. Only recently, the new management of the school decided to lay pipes to pump untreated water from the river to the hostels.
Several efforts made in the past to source water from locally dug well had proved abortive due to the nature of Ishiagu soil. There are no banks or automated teller machines (ATM’s) in Ishiagu to cater for the financial needs of staff and students. So, they have to go to Okigwe or Abakaliki, several kilometers to pay their fees and do other transactions. Sometimes some students are often robbed, while some involve in auto crash in the cause of moving to and fro Okigwe to make payments or withdrawals from bank.
The running battle between the immediate past Provost and staff over style of leadership our correspondent reports compounded the deplorable situation of the school as he didn’t prioritize projects to grow the institution. For instance, students’ enrollment in the college remained as low as 300 until a year ago. The result was the constant crisis that came as a result of low workers morale that bedeviled the college.
In 2012, the college could not access her allocation from the Federal Government due to the crisis. However, the incumbent administration of the school, under the leadership of acting Provost, Dr. Felix Anuebunwa, who came on board in 2013, has demonstrated that it is one that has a vision and the will to address the sorry situation in the school.
Within the last one-year, certain policies introduced by the administration have come with a ray of hope. For instance, students’ enrollment, which remained perennially low due to lack of amenities, has been increased. From 300 students in 2013 when he assumed office to, student enrollment increased to 1000. And by March this year, the student population had risen to 2222.
Dr. Anuebunwa style of leadership in the last one year no doubt has earned him the admirations by the students. Notable among the reasons for this show of support and acceptance is that the Students’ Union Government in the college which was hitherto proscribed due to myriads of problems before his appointment has been restored. Dr. Anuebunwa equally pursued and got the accreditation of courses in the college which was delayed for over three years.
According to him, “we paid the NBTE fine for the three year delay before it agreed to come in July 2013 for the accreditation; barely three months after I came on board.”
Upon these developments, the college is now working in absolute harmony with the leadership of the Ishiagu community having regular interactive meetings to ensure peaceful coexistence. Since taking over, he said, he has achieved peace in the college, which has restored the confidence of both staff and students.
The new confidence created by Dr. Anuebunwa has attracted the positive attention and goodwill of several agencies and government bodies which include – Senate constituency projects, House of Reps education committee visitation, NCC donation of lap tops and internet cloud, IGP approval of police post.
However, this new vista of development in the college was not without some attendant challenges, some of which are the hang-over of the crisis which consumed the immediate past provost.
Anuebunwa said the little effort by his administration so far has been recognized by students within the two geo-political zones of the country and consequently, “Within the last one-year, students in Zone B have found us worthy and gave me an award as the Most Outstanding Provost in the South-south and South-east.”
