…tasks Management on creation of ICT resource centre for accurate records keeping
From Kehinde Adewole
The Alumni Association of the Ekiti State University (EKSU, Alumni) has pleaded with the state governor and chairman of Nigeria’s Governors’Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to provide special funds to properly manage the institution’s College of Medicine. The association also tasked the Prof. Edward Olanipekun led Management of EKSU to urgently address issues regarding delayed collection of academic transcripts and other vital documents by creating an lCT powered Resource Centre as against its current analogue/paper based system of academic records keeping which usually delay collection of transcripts by Alumni members and other documents and which has frustrated many graduates of the institution over the time.
Top members of the EKSU Alumni made the foregoing calls at the weekend during the annual Congress of the Ekiti State chapter of the association which held at the Dave hotel, along Iworoko Road, Adebayo area of Ado-Ekiti, state capital.
Addressing the Congress, National President of the association, Dr. Dotun Adetunberu, who reiterated the call for special funding for EKSU College of Medicine on behalf of the Alumni, said: “We appreciate EKSU management because the Alumni association has been given land by them. We made effort to allow government to realize that the disengagement of some staff last year December did not follow due process, we even wrote a protest letter and some people were recalled. We are hoping that others would also soon be recalled.
We asked for a separate funding for EKSU college of medicine. We want to appeal to our amiable governor to provide separate funding for the college of medicine.
” I urge you to support the current state chapter. We have branches in Nigeria and overseas. As Alumni members, we don’t belong to any party. My party is Alumni party. Whoever that picks our product, we have a duty to fully support the candidate,” he said.
Speaking about the performance of the current state chairman Mr. Adedeji Osho, he said: “Osho has added value to the Ekiti State chapter of our association. He has revived the chapter in the state. You can see that three past national presidents of the association have attended this meeting. We now have a very dynamic chapter in the star and I congratulate him.”
Tasking the institution’s Management on the need for a viable, ICT powered Resource Centre which will erase issues associated with delayed collection of academic transcripts and other vital documents by members of Alumni association, other top members of the Alumni, including Dr. Kayode Arogundade, EKSU local chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), former national president, Alumni and current Dr. Registrar of Bayelsa Polythenic, Dr. Babatola Taiwo Jadesola and Hon. Adeniyi Aribasoye, member , Ekiti State House of Assembly, among others decried an ackward situation where Alumni members are forced to wait for three to four months before getting their certificates or academic transcripts and other documents. They lamented the fact that the situation has frustrated many Alumni members and made them have some hatred for the school.
While Dr. Babatola urged members to think of having more impact in the state and the country at large, adding that if members of the university Alumni have become a State’ Secretary to Givernment, member of state House of Assembly, and so on, they can also become Governor of the state as well as the VC of university.
Hon. Aribasoye who lauded Osho for his sincerity of purpose, describing the state chapter’s leader as a purpose driven leader:” full of energy and readiness for greater change,”
IHe identified three challenges of the association as identity challenge, lack of motivation, and others, saying: “we must work on a definite identity for ourselves which will stay forever. Many of our members do not want to identify with us because we haven’t celebrated them enough and haven’t gotten ourselves a definite identity.
” Lecturers are making students to want to severe their relationship from the institution. Lecturers should be more caring to students, identify their challenges and assist them to solve them. They must see their students as friends. I think the university enjoys sone level of autonomy. Concerned sacked staff have written to the House and we are considering it. We will do the proper thing. Necessary action will be taken, the office of the Auditor General still looking into it and we await their report. I urge our members to give Osho’s Excos necessary support.”
Giving a report of his stewardship, Osho said his team was determined to take the chapter to greater heights. He briefed them about the seven Committees the team has set up, adding that they were ready to defend their reports before the national body. He made particular mention of their plan to build EKSU Alumni Secretariat, which will help eight million Naira (N8M) , urging them to rally round his team in this task.
