Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu, yesterday, inaugurated a six-man Governing Council of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), with Chinyeaka Ohaa as the chairman.
Other members of the council are: Ikenna Chukwu, James Ifeanyi, Gladys Okoro, Chinedu Onu and Eric Oluedo.
Mbah, who performed the inauguration at Executive Council Hall, Government House, Enugu, said the exercise was in line with Section 6 (1) of ESUT Establishment Law.
The governor said education remains the strongest weapon to fight poverty and enhance development hence the priority given it by his administration.
He said members of the council were selected based on competence and expressed the confidence that the institution and state government would get the best of service from the council.
Mbah, while calling on the council to ensure operational effectiveness, urged both the council and the management to work hand-in-hand to realise the lofty dreams for which the institution was founded.
He said: “You know that your responsibilities as the governing council of the university are much, we expect that ESUT will soon be ranked among the best in the country and beyond.
“It is my hope you are going to cultivate a harmonious relationship with the management team of the university because your roles are complementary. Our expectation is that you are going to put in place an effective control in the area of management of finance and investment in the university. It is also my hope this inauguration would, in effect, redouble the operational effectiveness of the university.”
Mbah reminded the council that their appointments came at a very auspicious time when the government had earmarked 33 per cent of the annual budget for education.
He said the high provision for education underscored his administration’s belief that education is the strongest weapon to fight poverty.
“We are constructing 260 smart schools across the 260 wards of our state. We are establishing a centre for experimental learning. Similar centres such as the tech. hubs and the innovation hubs are also being set up in the university.
“Therefore, we are taking education as the number one priority in our government because we believe if we are going to achieve a zero percent rate in our poverty head count index, education should be repositioned to drive the project,” Mbah said. Responding on behalf of the council, Ohaa thanked Mbah for the appointment, noting that more than 80 per cent of the appointees were graduates of ESUT.
He assured the council would go the extra mile to meet the governor’s targets as well as ensuring cordiality with the school management.
“We are assuring you we will have a seamless working relationship with the vice chancellor and his management,” he said.
While noting that ESUT had been underfunded over the years, Ohaa appealed to the governor to ensure adequate funding of the institution to tackle challenges in the school.