DR. Nelson Ejakpovi, a Pharmacist, is the Chairman, Governing Council, Delta State School of Health Technology, Ofuoma-Ughelli. He recently granted an interview to our Government House Chief of Bureau, FIDELIS EGUGBO where he talked about the progress made by the institution since inception and scored Governor Ifeanyi Okowa high in the transformation witnessed in the school in the past three years. Happy reading:
Q: May we have a peep into the School of Health Technology?
A: The Delta State School of Health Technology, Ofuoma was established in 1992 by the first Executive Governor of Delta State, Olorogun Felix Ibru and it took off temporarily from the General Hospital, Ughelli. It was more or less, a quasi-school and we must give kudos to the Principal who became the first Provost of the school, Barr. Paul Nomuoja. When the school was established by Olorogun Ibru, Barr. Paul Nomuoja saw the vision and ran with it passionately, but, the school witnessed a tremendous growth after the emergence of Chief James Ibori as the second Executive Governor of Delta State. Then, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was the Commissioner for Health and I as the first Chairman, Governing Council of the School working with Governor Okowa facilitated the development of the school at its permanent site, Ofuoma. It was during my time as the Chairman of the Governing Council in 2003 that one would say, the school started its growth. In 2003, I recall that after my appointment as Chairman of the Governing Council, I was unhappy when I got to the permanent site at Ofuoma, it was all rubber plantation with just a building of three classrooms and the students were receiving lectures in the adjoining secondary school. I didn’t see what I was to manage and I went back to Governor Okowa as my Commissioner then, to complain, but he said it was a challenge for us to build the school and he took all the proposals we made and with the magnanimity of the then Governor, Chief James Obanefe Ibori, there was a state of emergency to ensure that the school was established. What you see there today started at that time and where we drove it to in 2007 was where I met it when we came back in 2016. The good thing we have now is that Dr Okowa who was a passionate Commissioner for Health who took the pains for the school to be properly established through the enactment of relevant laws is now the Governor of Delta State. I will say that we have not deviated from that dream we had, members of the Governing Council, Dr Chris Oharisi, Hon. Sunny Tatabuzogwu, including the Provost, Dr Agnes Olojoba and I are working closely with the Governor with the same passion we had in 2003 to make the school one of the best in Africa. If you go to the school today, you will see that since 2016 that I am back as Chairman of the Council and Dr Okowa is back as Governor, we have taken the school to a new level. Dr Okowa has a passion for developing different spheres of the state and I can confidently tell you that the school of health is getting a deserved quota.
Q: Since 2016 that you re-emerged as the Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, what can you say has happened that was different from what you met on ground?
A: I was the pioneer Chairman in 2003. Then, it was existing as a school but, there were no enabling laws, but the passion which was also driven by the present Governor who was the Commissioner for Health, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and the leadership which was provided by then Governor James Onanefe Ibori actually made it possible for the school to have enabling laws through laws made by the Delta State House of Assembly and signed by Chief Ibori. That was when the school actually took a different turn for the better, from one building of three classrooms built by the community at inception to all that we have today. We have been able to capture all the areas that the school covers. Recall that I left the school in 2007 unceremoniously when I was shot during a political campaign and was flown out of the country where I stayed for 6 months which actually terminated my appointment. A new administration had came up before I came back from my medical trip. But, when I was there, we had a population of about 4, 000 students. Then, Dr Okowa was discussing with me on how to change the nomenclature of the school to a College, the same status with a Polytechnic because, we want to drive the school to where it can enjoy federal government patronages like the TETFUND and other sponsorship programmes for it not to rely solely on the state government for fund. The vision is to open it to have values where more courses could be taught. I was shocked when we came back in 2016 to see that most of what we did had gone down, the population of the students was below 1, 500, infrastructural development were in a state of challenge. I will say this is a second re-engineering of the school. When you go back to the school now, most of the structures have been renovated and equipped in line with modern day learning environment. As I speak with you, the Governor has said that instead of having many classrooms that there should be a 2, 000 capacity auditorium which will the first of its kind in the school. We are committed to bringing the school to the standard it should be and I am sure that before the 8-year tenure of Governor Okowa will end, we should have more than one auditorium in the school. We are also opening up to private sector participation in the school, we need very good hostels and we can’t just look up to government for everything. We are looking at areas where private sector operators can invest in, where they will build, operate and hand-over to the school. The Governor has also said that the perimeter wall fencing will be completed to check encroachment by farmers. We are also looking at developing a proper sporting complex. At the moment, we are already rebuilding because, it is a health institution for the development of middle-man power. Yes, we send our students to health institutions for them to have practical training but, we need to have a well equipped, functional clinic where the students can have first-hand training before they go out. The construction of such is about to commence. We want to have a full-fledged school and a lot of organizations have indicated interests to partner with us, especially in developing a laboratory that will not only serve the immediate environment but, beyond the state. His Excellency has also given us a state-of-the-art ambulance. When you look at the ambulance, it is the first of its kind, it is a classroom of its own for students of Paramedics. Looking at what we have done in the past two years, we will thank Governor Okowa for his commitment to the development of the school, his interests in what goes on in the school has made it possible for us to renovate a 120-capacity hostel that is well furnished with modern beds. When you say, a tertiary education, you must encourage students to engage in research, you must encourage students to read, we saw a pattern where there was sales of hand-outs. To those of us in the Governing Council, such encourages laziness and a lot of vices like taking advantage of female students, so, we abolished the sales of hand-outs and a replacement to that was the setting up of an e-library that is functional with 45 computer spaces for students. We are aware that no matter the hand-out or lecture notes that you are going to give to students, it will not be up-to-date as getting into the internet and source for information that are very current. We have also renovated all the dilapidated buildings we met on ground and brought them to modern status to create comfort for the students. As I speak with you, the Governor has also paid Sapele Technical College to produce 2, 000 modern school benches and desks for students. Any moment from now, that supply will be made. We have also made the lecturers and students to think differently because, we are not only producing these students for the Nigerian market, we don’t know where they will find themselves tomorrow. The health industry is very dynamic, so, we are challenging the students to have that attitude to be positioned for the future and compete favourably with the best in any part of the world.
Q: On a last note, what is your assessment of Governor Okowa’s administration?
A: The Governor has achieved a lot in all sectors. If you look at what he has done in the School of Health Technology alone, check what he has done in other tertiary institutions in the state, you can call him an achiever. Don’t forget that in these areas, most of the achievements are in the area of rendering services – the Health Insurance Scheme, entrepreneurial programmes are impacting on the lives of Deltans positively. In the area of physical infrastructure which are visible and can easily be commended by the people, there is no local government area in the state that has not felt the impact of Governor Okowa in the area of road construction. I am a politician and if you look around, there is no serious contender against the Governor for his re-election in 2019 which goes to say that his good works for Deltans have given him the ticket to continue as our Governor till 2023. Deltans are happy and it can only be better.
(As published on page 18 of The Pointer Newspaper of today, Monday, May 28, 2018.)
