Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, says it has received over 500 pieces of Information and Communications Technology ( ICT) facilities in the university.

The Director of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre, Prof. Dele Joshua-Osahogulu, said this in an interview with The Tide at an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) workshop, organised for staff by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in conjunction with Digital Budge Institute (DBI) at the university in Port Harcourt, Thursday.

Prof. Joshua-Osahogulu, who said that the gesture came through the Federal Ministry of Education, private organisations such as Zinox and other agencies noted that these computers (ICT facilities) are at the ICT centre and in various offices-administrative, technical support and lecturers’ offices at the Rumuolumeni campus.

He expressed hope that the university would have more computers on the satellite campuses, so that students and staff who are outside the main campus can have access to the facilities after training to enable them continue their hands-on practice.

“We have the resources here in the university, I have not gone to every home to see that the trainees have their own personal computers to continue using to extend the training they have received, but so long as they are within the confines of the campus, they have freedom to use university’s computers.

“The fear I have is that perhaps on weekends, when they go home, if they don’t have their own personal computers, the training may break. We are told by the instructors that ICT is such that if you drop it, it drops you,” he said.

The ICT director encouraged the staff to get computer systems of their own and disclosed that many firms have special shemes that make it easy for staff to acquire personal computers and laptops of whatever grades and pay instalmentally at a convenient rate.

One of the instructors at the workshop, a staff of the Digital Bridge Institute (OBI), Mrs. Mary Ijeoma Ugochukwu Ibe, told The Tide Special Correspondent that the training covered areas such as computer appreciation, microsoft word, microsoft excel, microsoft power point and internet operations.

She expressed hope that the participants which include both lecturers and senior non-teaching staff would be able to use those tools to carry out their jobs and impact knowledge.

According to her,” it is not a must that the lecturers have direct contact with students all the time. They can create mailing groups for their students, where they would interact with them on assignments through the internet.”

Mr. Martins in the physics department said: “This is ICT age, it is really educative.”

Eunice Choko-Kayode