Efio-Ita Nyok|29 April 2016|5:54am
Governor Ben Ayade body language is to downgrade the Institute Of Management Technology -Ugep. Many have pooh poohed the idea, the latest being a peaceful protest walk. But, HE the governor of Cross River State seem not to acknowledge these concerns.
Below is a draft of the recommendations presented to the State government through her Secretary.
Summary And Recommendations.
c/o Liason Office
Institute of Management Technology,
State Housing Estate,
Calabar.
13th January, 2016.
To,
The Secretary to the State Government,
Office of the Governor,
Calabar.
Dear Madam,
SUBMISSION OF THE COMMITTEE REPORT ON RESTRUCTURING OF THE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, UGEP.
By your letter SSG/GSA/S/Vol. ix/408 of 28th September, 2015, you conveyed to us the approval of His Excellency the Governor to constitute eight of us into a Committee to look into the affairs of the Institute of Yechnology and Management, Ugep, with a view to ensuring that the Cross River State Government's dream of running a special kind of Polytechnic in Nigeria does not die. You specifically mandated us to review both the law establishing the Institute and the management contract agreement between Highbury College of the United Kingdom and Cross River State Government. If we dis not adopt the option of terminating the contract withHighbury College, we were to negotiate the re-scheduling of confirmed debts, review the present recurrent cost of running the Institute, advise on the courses and programs to be run in the institute and finally propose an appropriate name for the institute. You gave us two weeks to submit our reports.
We were inaugurated in the 12th of October, 2015. In the course of our work, it became clear that the scope of our work needed more time than two weeks, especially considering the time consuming requirement for us to search and recommend an alternative partner to run the institute. Despite the severe logistics problems that we encountered, we visited the institute, interviewed many stakeholders as well as shown in an annexure to our request for an extension of time up to 20th of November, 2015. His Excellency the Deputy Governor graciously granted the request.
In executing this assignment, our primary focus was to determine whether or not the State Government should continue with its partnership with Highbury College since most of the terms of reference had a bearing on the future of that partnership. In determining what to recommend in this regard, the Committee considered a) the legal implication of terminating the contract, b) the dislocation and likely consequent delay in the execution of the project, c) the loss of the huge investment already made in the project and d) the success we achieved in persuading Highbury College to accept a rescheduling of the debt and reduce the cost of running the Institute in the last three years of the contract. After painstaking consideration of these points, the Committee came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the people of Cross River State to allow Highbury College to continue to run the Institute of Technology and Management.
Altogether we made 34 recommendations which, if accepted and implemented, will give the people of Cross River State the Polytechnic of their dreams.
Here are the highlights of the achievements and recommendations:
a. The debt to Highbury College up to 31st July, 2015 is #273,248,580.00. This will be cleared in four equal installments of #68,311,980.00 each in December 2015, February 2016, April 2016, and June 2016.
b.The payment due Highbury College for the last three years of the contract as reflected in the management contract of document, is 492,837,840.00 (£1,493,448.00). Our negotiation has reduced it to the #204,765,000.00 (620,500.00). The total saving made as a result of the Committee negotiation is #288,072,840.00.
c. The monthly recurrent cost of running the ITM, Ugep, has reduced from #48,000,000.00 to #23,246,909.39.
d. The ITM Liason Office in Calabar, which receives a monthly subvention of #7,700,000.00, is to be closed down because it is a waste pipe. The head of the office couldn't explain satisfactorily what he does with the balance of #6,865,000.00 monthly after spending only #834,900 out of #7,700.000.00. The closure of this office yields a monthly saving of #7,700,000.00, and a yearly rent of #3,500,000.00.
e. The sinecure appointment of the the coordinating consultant, Professor Patrick Ukata, should be terminated immediately, bearing in mind the services that the Ministry of Special Projects is rendering to ITM. The monthly saving from this termination is #2,870,333.33.
f. The management contract agreement with Highbury College should not be terminated but reviewed in view with the dislocation and consequent delay in the execution of the project that a termination will involve.
g. A Nigerian Deputy Rector should appointed to understudy the Rector provided by Highbury College for the remaining years of the contract agreement.
h. The name "Institute of Management Technology, Ugep". This accord with the demand of NBTE and attract assistance from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (refund), UNESCO and other organizations within and outside Nigeria.
i. The Governing Council of the institution should be appointed without delay to emphasize the ownership of the institution and play the role assigned to it in the law establishing the institution. The demand of the Highbury College that the Chairman of the Council should be supplied by Highbury College is indefensible in view of the fact that the State Government that is funding the institute should have a controlling voice in the governing body.
j. The Governing Council should, as a matter of urgency, implement the salary structure used by all Polytechnic in the country. This will end the payment of the arbitrary and outrageous salaries now being paid to staff of the institution.
k. The signature project should be completed speedily to accommodate the major courses that gives ITM a distinctive name among Nigerian Polytechnics. This will enlarge student intake, enhance revenue generation and quicken the realization of the dream of everybody evidently cherishes.
l. The Landlords of the institute and legitimate property owner within ITM should be paid their due compensation to avoid conflict and promote a peaceful atmosphere for learning.
m. The appropriate agencies of government should amend the sections of the law and the terms of contract agreement as recommended.
It is pertinent to put it on record that the Committee's surprise at the Government's apparent vote-face against its decision to set up this Committee. The inauguration was done with fanfare and the urgency of the assignment was expressed in the shortness of the time given us to submit our report. But curiously, the Committee was not given any money to execute its assignment in spite of the repeated reminders to release the approved sum of money. However, in our determination not to offer any excuse for failure to execute our mandate, members contributed money to perform their assigned functions. If we had known from the onset that we would be required fund our activities, we would have submitted our report as far back as 20th November, 2015, that being the limit of the extension granted us by His Excellency the Deputy Governor.
Ten copies of our report are hereby submitted for presentation to His Excellency the Governor who graciously appointed us. We hope he will find our recommendations useful. We trust you will treat the report with urgency it deserves. We thank His Excellency very sincerely for finding us worthy of being entrusted with this assignment, which we accepted with patriotic zeal.
Yours Truly,
Signed By
Wilfred Inah.
Committee Chairman
*These letter was obtained from Ifere Paul's Facebook wall.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroid Haven
