By Joseph Joy

The office of the Registrar, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT was a beehive of activities on Thursday, December 21 as members of the staff “invaded” the office to collect their bags of rice, courtesy of the University scribe, Mr Ambrose Ugwu.

A visitor would have mistaken the Registrar’s office for a warehouse or palliative storage facility as bags of rice littered the office and staff trooping in and out dragging bags of rice along with them as they made their way out of the office in joyous mood.

Seated placidly on his desk is the Registrar, Mr Ambrose Ugwu seemingly oblivious of the activities going on inside his office.

Interestingly, the news of the Christmas gift fettered into the other departments and staff came in their numbers to also collect their own gifts from “our daddy” as they referred to the Registrar.

Mr Ugwu in an interview with ESUT monitor shortly after the distribution of the bags of rice to the staff, explained why he embarked on such humanitarian gesture.

“I have a way of thanking God because He has been very supportive to our administration and to me in particular. So I said those staff working under me, let them receive the dividends of their efforts. It is a happy Christmas gift, no matter how little. I can’t reach everybody but at least those who sustained the work till today, the 21^st of December, that is why I don’t want any person that is not here to receive it. If you are not here, you are not part of it. And those who are here today that we have to close for the year, I have to appreciate them. 

“It is a Christmas gift to them. Formerly we used to send Christmas cards but those things are no longer in vogue, we now commit it to cash or materials. That is why I made provisions for small gifts. I have bags of rice, bedsheet. Some may still get tokens in terms of cash,” he said.

Mr Ugwu noted further that he distributed 200 5kg bags of rice to all the staff members who are working under the Registry Office.

 “I made provisions for 200 5kg bags of rice and I have exhausted them. My staff members are many because the departments and units under the Registry Office include the Central Registry, Establishment, Students Affairs, Records, Exams, Council Unit, General Administration and Senate Unit. All these departments fall under the purvey of the Registry. But I extended it to other units within the Administrative Block. Except the Bursary, I will think about that because I didn’t make provisions for them.”

ESUT formally closed for Christmas and New Year festivities on Thursday December 21 and will resume on January 8^th, 2024