Celebrating Rivers Education Varsity

The Rivers State government a forthnight ago announced the upgrading of the State owned College of Education to the status of a University. The upgrading followed the signing into law by the Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, of a bill earlier passed by the State House of Assembly, on the issue.

Expectedly, it was a joyous momment for the staff, students and other stakeholders of the institution because of the numerous benefits that they all stand to reap from the new status which otherwise would have been impossible if it were left as a college.

While, we rejoice with the management, staff and students of the institution, we also commend the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi administration for the strong political will in taking the bold and historic step to bring the long conceived idea to final fruition.

The idea to upgrade the institution was muted many years back when it became obvious that the benefits far outweigh the demerits of maintaining the college status in affiliation with the University of Ibadan.

For example on April 27, 2007 this newspaper published an editorial urging the Rivers State government then under the leadership of Sir. Dr. Peter Odili to quickly upgrade the institution to a university status.

Prior to the editorial comment, at the 24th Convocation ceremony of the college in that same year, the then Provost, Prof. Addison Wokocha, had called on the state government to upgrade the institution. In the various appeals, it was made clear that the upgrading would not lead the state government into incurring unbearable additional cost but rather the government and people of Rivers State stand to save  huge sums of money accruing to the University of Ibadan from the affiliation agreement between the two institutions. It was also clearly stated that the two institutions had adequate and necessary infrastructure comparable with what is obtainable in similar institutions elsewhere.

Instead of counting any gains from the affiliation, the institution was losing out in many respects. First, experienced lecturers in the college who had approached the peak of their carrier left in droves in search for greener pastures in the universities within and outside Nigeria. The remaining ones were not only demoralized but faced stagnation in many respects. As a stop gap measure, the college management, with the cooperation of the university of Ibadan elevated some of the lecturers who were long overdue to professorial status.

It was this measure that saved the college from total collapse that would have resulted from brain drain.

There is no doubt that the upgrading of the institution which has been hailed and celebrated by stakeholders across the state would enhance the capacity of the institution to expand and upwardly review its programmes, attract more students from beyond Rivers State and even boost its internally generated revenue. With proper funding, the new university, which is the first of its kind in this part of the country, is bound to become a reference point in the training of quality manpower needed to drive the education sector as the nation strives to join the league of 20 most developed and industrialized nations of the world.

We urge the Rivers State Administration to make the development of the new university a priority project in the 2010 budget even as we felicitate with the staff and students of the institution on the historic event. For the staff and students of the university, it is indeed time to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of the academic objectives which the founding fathers of the institution and the government envisioned in setting up the institution and elevating it to the present status.