INTERVIEW:
My Desire is To Make the College of Health Technology Takum One of the Best Institutions in Nigeria – Provost
Dr Wama Binga Emmanuel, Provost of the College of Health Technology, Takum
In this interview with Echo Express, she outlined the successes recorded since assumption of office and the challenges confronting the College as well as efforts by Governor Agbu Kefas to transform the institution.
Echo Express: Can you tell us about yourself?
Provost: My name is Dr Wama Binga Emmanuel and i am the Provost of College of Health Science and Technology, Takum.
Echo Express: What are the achievements you have recorded from assumption of office till date?
Provost: Thank you for taking your time to come and interface with those of us living outside the state capital regardless of the challenges that surround our locality. I assumed office in March 2023 and what i met was a different thing altogether. We met a system that was almost collapsing but we stood our grounds and with the encouragements of the students, staff and my management team, we are able to move and see that this institution is taken to its desired standard of being the best or among the best not just in the Northeast geo-political zone but Nigeria as a whole.When we came, there were a lot of issues about extortion of students for either grades or certain special programmes of study but I told them that this is a new regime and is not business as usual so whosoever feels he has the money, is not in College of Health Technology Takum. I said that my regime would stand for excellence, would preach excellence and would work for excellence so we started with the first set of students that were enrolled into the college and after three months, we had a weeding exams through Computer Based Test (CBT) and they were looking at it as a joke but immediately after a day, the results came out and we screened the students based on their performance. Those that performed well, we absorb them into the quota that they were given and those who couldn’t make it due to their underperformance and other factors, were crying and doing all sorts of things but I encouraged them to remedy their papers and come back and do better.This year, we had a serious reduction in number because they are all aware that it is not business as usual but we had good results. We just finished the weeding exams about three weeks back and if you see their results, some have five (5) points, four (4) points and so on. The least we offered admission with this time around was 3.5 points but previously, we managed to give admission to people with even two (2) points. I am aware that there are some bad eggs even now but I always give them assurance that no matter what, they will be caught one day and it will not be funny with either the student or staff. We have to clean the system and I am in the process of cleaning the system and I am trusting God that before next year, it will be a different story.Among other achievements is accreditation. I always say that this school is unique because it is managed by two professional bodies which are, NBTE which is responsible for our registration and other various regulatory bodies. We have thirteen health programmes so, each of these programmes have their boards/council which regulates their activities. We have accreditation by the NBTE which gives us right to give these students’ academic certificates. Then, we have accreditation by their professional bodies which gives us right to license these students to practice. Though when we came, the accreditation of some programmes expired and some didn’t have accreditation at all in fact, all the courses had no accreditation by the NBTE.I started working on the process when I came onboard but it was more of an impossible mission. Many discouraged me saying, they lose 5million in trying to fix those issues but I didn’t back down, I took it up with all the payment receipts and went to Kaduna and met with the Executive Secretary of the NBTE and explained the whole thing to him and they guided me on the procedures. So, I came back and started with four programmes because he said we should not enroll all the programmes at once but we started with the ones that have MOU with the NBTE so we started with Malnutrition, Environmental health science, Public health and Health Information Management. We started the process and they gave us the bill and when we took the memo to His Excellency, Dr. Agbu Kefas, he approved for their coming and they came last year. When they came, they were able to see things for themselves and we were able to scale through. We got full accreditations for three of the programmes and a decline for one which is malnutrition but we are hopeful that they will come back and accredit it because there is shortage of personnel and instruments. The approval with the NBTE gave us upper hand because back then, our graduates usually have difficulties in accessing Direct Entries from JAMB as JAMB did not recognized our school because of lack of accreditation but today, I can proudly tell you that if you log on to the JAMB portal, you will see College of Health Science and Technology, Takum. In fact, JAMB invited us for a meeting with head of institutions and I went. This is a plus and credit to Taraba state as well as College of Health Science and Technology, Takum.Aside that, we re-fixed the bole holes and purchased four hundred mattresses worth 8million to replace the dilapidated ones in the hostels. We also treated the hostels and the entire environment. His Excellency gave me official vehicle and equally promised to give us light and a school bus. He is building our fence and he has mounted a new gate for us. We have renovated both the hostels and the ICT Centre and we are working with His Excellency to build staff quarters. He also promised to build our administrative block. We have also improved/tighten our internal security to guarantee more safety for our students and staff. We have been able to affiliate the College with the European American University, Canada so that our students can have the leverage to study or do their internship abroad. I have also created security and works department for effective and efficient management. These are the successes/achievements I have recorded so far with the help and support of His Excellency, Dr. Agbu Kefas and my team.
Echo Express: What are the challenges confronting you and the school at large?
Provost: The challenges are many though we have been able to tackle some but re-accreditation is a great challenge we are having at the moment. Some of the programmes that received accreditation last year have expired so, we have to call the professional bodies to come again. It is actually more of a set back to the management and even the students. Funding is also a challenge though I commend His . Excellency so much for always supporting us financially and otherwise.Echo Express: What are your future plans for the College, Ma?Provost: My plans for the College are to uphold excellence and also to upgrade the school to a standard that will make it the best or among the best institutions not just in northeast but Nigeria as a whole. We have submitted a proposal to His Excellency basically for funds to organize workshops for staff and even students on professional ethics and we are hopeful that he will give approval to it.We have great plans though, they require time and finance to be executed so we are appealing to Governor Agbu Kefas to continue supporting us in the needed areas to be able to deliver effectively.
Echo Express: Thank you very much for your time and we wish you well.
Provost: You are welcome and thank you for having me on your platform.
