By Chiekezie Emmanuel and Ani Ruth

Enugu – The Management board of ESUT College of Medicine, ESUCOM on Monday held a Town Hall Meeting with the Staff of the College.

The first of its kind since the formation of the College over a decade ago, the interactive session afforded the management board the opportunity to have unfiltered information from the staff on issues bothering on their welfare, challenges and prospect.

The College Provost, Prof Uchenna Ekwochi in his opening remark, said the essence of the town hall meeting was to have a face-to-face conversation with the staff members, take appraisal of the management’s actions and inactions and find a common ground on how to enhance the welfare of the staff to guarantee effective teaching and administration in the College.

The Provost who listed the achievements of the College under his stewardship since he assumed duty on March 12, 2024 said that despite the obvious records, tangible and intangibles successes achieved, the welfare of the staff remains the management’s top priority even as it plans to install audio visual learning device to aid teaching and learning.

“When I assumed duty as Provost on March 12, 2024, I saw the wonderful work my predecessor did. But I also noticed that some areas need improvement and that was why I set off in my vision to make the College to be on the top.

“We took off by fixing the critical things that faced the College, key among them was accommodation for students due to increase in quota for some departments. We also repaired the students’ buses to ensure ease of movement when they are attending their programmes.

“Cleanliness of the environment was part of the agenda, we also delivered on it. The Department of Anatomy Complex was renovated, reticulation of water within the College was also carried out, Thanks to the Governor of Enugu State who has been supportive.

“As part of efforts to promote excellence, we initiated the ESUT College of Medicine Annual Merit Award where staff who distinguished themselves were recognised. The highpoint of the Award Ceremony held on Monday, December 16, 2024 was the announcement of the conversion from casual worker to a permanent staff of Mrs Ijeoma Ugwu by the University Council Chairman, Chief Christian Chinyeaka Ohaa. Today, Mrs Ugwu has received her appointment letter as a full staff of the College.

“I can go on with the achievements but I wouldn’t want to bore you with that so that the essence of this gathering will not be lost. We are here today to evaluate our actions and inactions and how they have impacted in the discharge of your duties. This meeting is for us to rub minds and have a common ground on how to move the College forward,” he said.

Members of the staff who spoke commended the board for their outstanding successes and urged them to remain on track.

On the challenges facing the workforce, members of the staff listed them to include non-payment of promotion arrears, exclusion of ESUCOM Staff from the new minimum wage, establishment of an autopsy centre to give students much knowledge, training of security personnel to ensure efficiency, under-staffing, among others.

 Responding, the Provost commended the staff for their outspokenness and explained that their views, particularly challenges, would be looked into,

On the issue of new minimum wage, the Provost informed the staff that the University management has set up a committee to work out the consequential adjustment, stressing that the report of the committee is being awaited.

Prof Ekwochi who asserted that every worker deserves good wage, noted that the management is making plans to establish autopsy and embalmment and mortuary centres in the college to serve as training centres for the students and attained to the needs of the people.

On the shortage of staff, he said “we have made recommendations to the management on this and we are expecting to hear from them. We will also work on having a liaison officer at Agbani to help us break the communication gap between Agbani Campus and the College Campus.

“I want to sincerely thank all of you for your contributions. It is important that we have this forum from time to time. If you want to be a leader, you must be close to the people. We have plans to implement all that were said here, but finance is the factor. However we will continue to prioritize your welfare because our mandate is to see you are better and can deliver optimally. We have also made plan to install audio visual to aid teaching and learning. When installed, lectures will be recorded and plated such that students can have their copies and re-watch the lecture during their spare time,” he said

Some staff interviewed commended the management for the Town Hall Meeting and called for sustenance.