By Amaechi Agbo

ESUCOM Provost, Professor Uchenna Ekwochi

On March 12, 2024, Dr Uchenna Ekwochi, a Professor of Paediatrics, assumed office as the Provost of the College of Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).

Prof Ekwochi replaced Late Professor Innocent Okafor, who died on December 9, 2023 after assuming office few months prior.

Regarded as the ESUCOM IGP – Internally Generated Provost – by the virtue of the fact that he was under the employment of the University Teaching Hospital, prior to his appointment by the Governor of Enugu state, Barr Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, Professor Ekwochi has left no one in doubt about his capacity to reposition the College and bring it to par among other comity of colleges of medicines across the world.

Twelve Months down the line, Prof Ekwochi’s remarkable achievements have increased the College’s visibility and ranking while at the same time prioritizing staff and students welfare to enhance conducive pedagogy.

His new name, IGP, given to him by the Registrar of the University, Mr Ambrose Ugwu on Monday, February 24^th, 2025 during the Faculty of Clinical Medicine’s one-day workshop on Mentorship, couldn’t have been a misnomer considering that as a Provost from the system, who worked actively with two former Provosts; identifying the challenges facing the College and proffering solutions, was never a task heavy to undertake.

Professor Uchenna Ekwochi on assumption of office marshalled out Nine Strategic Goals to be accomplished within his four years in office.

These goals which he has commenced swift implementations, have transformed the College as a citadel and reference for other universities both within and outside the country.

Set out to be a word class institution where excellence is the watchword and acquisition of knowledge and skill is the paramount goal with the core values on  academic excellence, innovation, scholarship, student focused and integrity, Prof Ekwochi’s nine strategic goals are geared towards actualizing the mission of the College “To expand the scope of knowledge by teaching, research and publication; to produce medical personnel who are excellent in character, knowledge and skill; and to transform and uplift the status of our immediate and remote society.”

The Nine Strategic Goals include:

Upgrading Infrastructures and Facilities

Strategic plan number two is to improve the infrastructural facilities in the College that will meet with global standard and accommodate the current quota as approved by the National Universities Commission, (NUC). Under this goal. the following projectes have been executed: Revamping the facilities in the College

Environment

• Grass lawn upkeep, replacement of damaged kerbes and painting of kerbs in the walkways, installation of dustbins at strategic sites in the College for effective waste disposal
  • Repair of damaged sewage pits
  • College Auditorium and class rooms
    • Replacement of damaged fans lights and desks
  • Students Hostels (3 nos)
    • Massive repairs/ replacement of damaged plumbing facilities, doors, wardrobes, floor tiles and electrical fittings
  • Outdoor conveniences: revamping of the conveniences and construction of a concrete walkway to ease access by users.  The outdoor convenience is largely being used by students who are not accommodated in the hostels as well as Casual staff of the College.
  • Leaking roofs: fixing of the leaking roofs of various offices in the College
  • Cafeteria: repair of damaged floors and painting of the Cafeteria. Institution of norms of wearing of uniforms by the cafeteria operators. General upgrade of hygiene in the café environment.
  • Provost office: painting, changing of blinds and construction of conference table in the office.
  • Relocation of examination facilities from the Provost’s office to a separate room /office now designated as “Examination Office” to enhance privacy.

Re-strengthening of the Anatomy complex: the Anatomy complex failed integrity test, was at the verge of collapse and constituted a huge threat to life and properties in the College. An appeal was made to His Excellency the Governor for urgent intervention and he responded and deployed the PDI team who carried out extensive re-strengthening/ re-construction works on the building to enhance stability and safety.

Reticulation of pipe borne water in the College: prior to my appointment, the College is in dire need of water supply and reticulation. We made a request to the Governor and he quickly released a huge sum of money for the reticulation project. Today, we got a separate supply trunk with very high pressure and every facility in the College is reticulated with pipe-borne water courtesy of His Excellency.

161-capacity Multi-purpose Laboratory: remodeling of the 3^rd floor of the TETFUND building at the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences (FBMS) into a Multi-purpose laboratory. This project is being funded by His Excellency and is one of the conditions given by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to validate the current training quota of our College. Presently, the work is over 90% completed.

Revamping of the Security system in the College. Security of College facilities was a huge challenge to my administration and we recorded several cases of break and theft shortly after I assumed office. To address this, I instituted the following measures;

• Revamping the lightning of the College environment by installation of solar powered street lights to illuminate the College surroundings.
  • Installation of stop & search barricade at the entrance gate
  • Barring of entrance of Tricycles (Keke) into the College
  • Barring of hawking activities in the College
  • Installation of CCTV cameras in the College surroundings, Class rooms and Examination halls with a central surveillance/ control centre.
  • Purchase of walking talkie communication facilities for the security personnel.
  • Purchase of Raincoats for the security personnel for their operations during the rainy seasons
  • Construction of metal vehicle clamp apparatus for the security personnel to checkmate the activities reckless driving and parking within the College environment.

Further plans include building of a 150-capacity Multipurpose Laboratory Complex for Haematology, Chemical pathology, Micro Biology, Pharmacology students which is ongoing;  building of a 500-capacity Computer Based Test (CBT) hall; 500-capacity Objective Structured Clinical Examination hall; Office complex for 150 lecturers; 200-capacity Cafeteria for students and Hostel for students on rural postings at Nenwe Comprehensive Health Centre

With the College suffering acute space, it is believed that the above infrastructure will be better accommodated in a new site for Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences with the architectural designs of facilities already in place                       

To Improve Capacity and Welfare of Staff

As an administrator who knows that the progress of the College lies on effective welfare of the workforce, Prof Ekwochi has made the welfare of the staff one of his primary agendas.

For instance, on December 16, 2024, the College organsided its maiden Annual Merit Awards where members of staff who have served the College diligently were honoured and rewarded.

The Award ceremony held at the College Auditorium had the Deputy Governor of the State, Barr Ifeanyi Ossai in attendance, Chairman, ESUT Governing Council, Chief Chinyeaka Ohaa, The Vice Chancellor, Prof Aloysius Michaels Okolie, Enugu State Lawmakers and other dignitaries in attendance. During the Award, five staff members were rewarded for their commitment to service. The staff members are: the former Provost, Prof. Frank Okechukwu Ezugwu, Best Lecturer in Faculty of Clinical Medicine; Prof. Samuel Ghasi, Best Lecturer in Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences; Prof. Joy Ebele Ikekpeazu, Best Lecturer in Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences; Mrs Philomina Chinwe Ogbodo, Best Performing Non-Teaching Staff and Mrs Ijeoma Ugwu, Best Performing Casual Staff. Mrs Ugwu was promoted to permanent staff by the Council Chairman during the occasion.

Over the past 1 year of Prof Ekwochi’s administration, he has hosted the following workshops

• Workshop titled “Capacity Building for Fundable Integrated Medical Policy Research”. The workshop also highlighted the opportunities available in TETFUND for sponsorships and grants.
  • Workshop on enhancing Examination invigilation skills: aimed at improving our skill to pick up subtle exam frauds and malpractices
  • Workshop on Mentorship titled “Accelerating Career growth in an educational work-place through effective and successful mentorship” 
  • 1^st edition of College Annual Merit Award during which the Best Teaching, Non-Teaching and Casual staff were rewarded with a plaque, a certificate and a cash prize to promote excellence
  • Engagement of more casual staff and increment in their monthly stipends to ease their financial stress.
  • Town hall meeting with College staff to have an unfiltered interactive forum

Other plans aimed at improving the capacity and welfare of the staff of the College include; training on the use of educational technologies and digital tools for effective teaching and learning e.g. online lecture delivery (innovations), provision of grants, resources, and assistance for research and publications, inter and trans-disciplinary collaborations among faculty members within the College and with other departments and institutions as well as advocacy to Enugu State government for award of car, land and housing loans to staff of ESUT College of Medicine

Improving Welfare of Students  

The welfare of the students, who are the primary stakeholders in the College also received unhindered attention in the past 12 months. For instance, for effective communication, the Provost opened a WhatsApp platform with student leaders to maintain a communication channels and flow of information.

The following activities were carried out to improve the welfare of students in the College over the past 1 year:

• Part sponsorship of student reps to 2 conferences held at Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki and at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Awka.
  • Repair of the 2 grounded students’ coaster buses for transportation of students for their rural postings and other activities outside the College
  •  Part sponsor of NIMSA Med-Tech Summit held at College Auditorium which attracted an Arificial Intelligence and machine learning expert, Engr. Charles Onu, resident in Canada to speak virtually to a cross-section of College students on ‘”Medicine and Artificial Intelligence, The Future Of Doctors”. The programme opened up some collaborations between ESUCOM students and the expert.
  • A token to subsidize the registration of 200 students of the College to undertake an online course in any of the 10 Emerging Technologies, a project of which is currently being championed by the state government. 
  • Timely induction of new Medical graduands of the College. A total of 3 induction ceremonies were conducted over the 1 year.
  • Attracted Cecilia Oyebola foundation (sponsored by Dr. Yomie Jaye, the SPA to the Governor on Health) to donate a sum of 500 USD to the Best graduating student of Medicine as against an abysmally low sum of N20,000 being awarded to such a high profile graduate before his assumption.

To Improve the Academic Profile of ESUCOM         

The College under the administration of Prof Ekwochi is witnessing mileages in academic standard. With a vision to promote academic excellence and enhance the College’s ranking nationally and globally, ESUCOM management Board under Prof Ekwochi has introduced programmes to raise the academic profile.

The Provost has undertaken the  following steps to address this goal.

• Tackling exam malpractice with the installation of CCTV surveillance of all the exam halls
  •  Registration of the College with LECTURIO and Up-to-Date: online digital Medical platforms for easy access to training materials.
  • Attracting donation of 3 Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) manikins for hands-on training of students on cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
  • Virtually every lecturer in the College is registered with Google scholar to increase global visibility of the College 

Furthermore, the board under his guidance, has carried out effective review of examinations and processes e.g. introduction of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in all Clinical examinations, Award for best performance, Registration of ESUCOM with other digital academic platforms globally such as Up-to-Date to enable students to engage in academic competitions.

It’s gratifying to mention that following the support of the management board of the College, the students last year participated in and won the 042 Debate Competition organized by the Enugu State Government beating all other tertiary institutions in the State to go home with the N15, 000, 000 prize. 

Professor Ekwochi, leading the Chairman, Enugu State House Committee on Education, Science and technology, Hon Osita Eze and his committee members during their oversight visit to the College recently.

Improve in Funding

There is no gain emplacing the fact that world over, higher institutions are not sustained through government interventions. This is because, as the builders of humanity, universities require collaborative funding to ensure that it functions optimally.

Funding is not a unique impediments to ESUCOM, a fact Prof Ekwochi identified as the major aspect of his strategic plans such that where funding is improved upon, basically, other  plans will fall in and challenges overcome.

Improvement in funding will include increase in overhead allocation, besearch laboratory services, breeding of research animals (Animal house which has been completed); provision of Consultancy services, advocacy to philanthropists and corporate bodies and supports from College Alumni Association.

In the past one year, Prof Ekwochi led administration has initiated the following actions to improve the College’s funding:

• Breeding for Business: facilities for breeding research animals such as rats, rabbits, were expanded to increase production and sales to our students and students of other schools.
  • Investment on production of ESUCOM distilled water. Production in commercial quantity will soon begin.
  • Reactivation of College Alumni forum; the Alumni donated 51” TV set to the College for a start and this connotes a sign of bigger collaborations and donations ahead. An office space has been provided in the College for the Alumni.
  • Constitution of College committee on Partnership and Corporate Social Activities with mandates to seek partnership with well-meaning individuals, corporate bodies, captains of industries, philanthropists in developing the College.  To date, they have attracted donation of 12 pieces of solar powered streetlights from a philanthropist and more are being expected. 

“Funding is a major challenge we have and that is why it is among my plans. My target is to improve on the College’s funding both on intervention from the government and our own internally generated revenue.

“Right now, we are facing many challenges such that if we have enough funding, we will tackle them headlong. In this regard, we are expanding our horizon to reach out to well-meaning Nigerians for support. We have set up a committee in this regard who is networking to attract sponsors to the College. We need infrastructure and also to repair or renovate old ones. We cannot rely on government at all times because the Governor of the State, who is also the Visitor to the College, I must tell, is very supportive and is doing a lot for the college,” Prof Ekwochi told ESUT Monitor in an interview.

Strengthening the Library and ICT      

In order to promote conducive reading environment in the library, the Provost has provided sufficient lighting and airing of the reading spaces with further plan to revamp the e-library in line with the modern practices. Improvement of database of the library is also part of the strategy towards repositioning the College

Addressing Energy Crisis In The College

ESUCOM Committee on Energy Preservation

Another remarkable feat achieved by the ESUCOM Management Board under Prof Uchenna Ekwochi’s guidance, is rectification of electricity challenge. The College was billed under EEDC (Enugu State Electricity Distribution Company) Band A billing system resulting in an outrageous and catastrophic bill to the tune of 11.3 million naira per month as against less than 2 million naira per month prior to March, 2024. Though the University tried to pay some fractions but couldn’t clear the bill. Overtime, the outstanding accumulated and the College power was disconnected eventually.

The power outage disrupted teaching, learning and research activities in the College. The Provost wrote to His Excellency who quickly came to the Collge’s rescue and paid the outstanding balance. To date, the Governor have paid the College’s outstanding EEDC bills on 2 occasions to sustain supply. To address the energy crisis over the past 1 year in office, the IGP initiated the following measures:  

• Organized a seminar on Energy management for the staff and students of the College. The GM, Enugu Rural Electrification Board, Engr. Christopher Ezeoha was the guest speaker and he educated the College community on how to manage energy conservatively and reduce wastages. The seminar was a huge success.
  • Constitution of College Energy Management Taskforce to oversee energy use and enforce effective use and punish any wastage

These measures automatically reduced the consumption and monthly bills from an average of 11 million to 8 million naira (27.3% reduction)

At Present, the provost and his management team is exploring alternative source of power and the installation of Solar energy system is being discussed. Once this is achieved, the College will be disconnected from the national grid because the current EEDC monthly bill is not sustainable as it were.  Quotations have already been made from different solar energy companies have been submitted to the Government for consideration.

The Provost had within the past 12 calendar, installed Wi-fi Real time CCTV for effective security, repaired damaged sewage carried out reticulation of pipe borne water          in all facilities in the College, built animals house where rabbits are currently being bred, installed ESUCOM Virtual Academic Platform among others.

Many staff of ESUCOM were promoted from one grade level to the next during the period under consideration.