The Rector of Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy Enugu, FEDCOTTEN, Prof. John Emaimo has revealed that President Bola Tinubu recently converted the institution to a Federal University of Allied Health Sciences, because the federal ministry of health needed to consolidate on the achievements the college had made to further improve on the healthcare services to Nigerians.
Emaimo noted that going forward with the conversion of the college to a university, the federal ministry of health would henceforth train its own manpower, independently, in critical healthcare courses such as in medicine, Nursing, Laboratory Science, Radiography and many more, where the ministry can have direct supervision of the trainings based on its programmes for the healthcare advancement in the country.
Prof Emaimo made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen, shortly after a town hall meeting with the staff and students of the institution on the developments in the college, where he told the community that what they heard in the news was true and that the college has actually become a full-fledged university of Allied Health Sciences.
According to Emaimo, “the development is a worthwhile venture into the restructuring of the health sector. You know that the healthcare sector in the country has actually been thriving, but the perception in the change of the Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy Enugu into a university is for the federal ministry of Health to progress and also to be able to introduce some germane programmes that are out there in the conventional universities.
“You know that within the healthcare sector, we have health professionals like Doctors, Nurses, Medical Laboratory Scientists and the rest, but we don’t have an institution that is actually gearing towards the training and building of capacities in the areas of manpower management, in healthcare financing, healthcare policies and healthcare coordination. This is where the federal ministry of health feels it should be able to have a university of its own, to bring in these germane courses and to coordinate the efforts that have been on the ground to see how it can have effective healthcare service delivery.”
Asked if as the Rector of the College he could now be called a Vice Chancellor, Emaimo said that “what has happened is just a pronouncement by the President through the Minister of Health as well. The university belongs to the federal government, and it is their prerogative to classify and mention at their own time what they want and who takes over the running and how the running should go.
“We know very well that this was not a university that was established with a bush, what I mean is that they are going to look around and say that this is a university. This is an institution that has been in existence and is transiting. The first is to announce the transition, the second is the administrative structure and I think it is in progress.”
The Deputy Rector of the College, Dr. Oluchi Olofin while speaking at the Town hall meeting, noted that God has been using Prof Emaimo to improve on the fortunes of the institution, stating that as far as the college was concerned, Emaimo has become the first vice chancellor of the university.