IMT Sanctions 28 Students For ‘Sorting’ Lecturers

The Rector of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, Prof. Gozie Ogbodo, has revealed that at least 28 students will face sanctions for “sorting” lecturers, a colloquial term for paying a bribe or gaining marks.

The announcement was made during a visit by Dr. Ben Nwoye, a lecturer at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), who led a group of PhD students on an internship to meet with the Rector.

Ogbodo also noted that apart from the students, the lecturers who condoned the activity will also be sanctioned.

“There was a menace that I also inherited. That menace is called sorting. Today, I have also banned sorting and there is a popular cliche that the sorter and the sorted will be punished because it takes two to tango.

“I have about 28 cases of people who have attempted to sort and we are handling it,” he said

Ogbodo commended the Institute for Peace, Conflict and Development Studies (IPCDS) for its commitment to grooming students who will serve as ambassadors of peace in society.

He expressed his readiness to partner with IPCDS to promote peace in Enugu State and beyond, highlighting the need for modern conflict resolution methods in today’s technological age.

The Rector also provided an update on the ongoing reforms at IMT, stating that he had declared a state of emergency upon assuming office due to expired curriculum and programs.

He, however, stated that with the support of the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, the institution was able to subject its programs to accreditation, resulting in a 100 percent accreditation rate.

“Upon assumption of office, I discovered that over 70 per cent of our academic programmes were expired, overdue for accreditation and re-accreditation and consequently, I declared a state of emergency in respect to the academic programmes.

“Then by the special grace of God, the governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, was very supportive and we were able to subject the programmes to accreditation in April 4th, 5th and 6th.

“They came here and subjected all of them to accreditation. The officials of the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, came here this week.

“On Tuesday, I received the official notification that we scored 100 percent of the accreditation.

“And more importantly, we were granted full accreditation. The first in IMT. It was not partial but full accreditation for all the programmes,” he said.

Ogbodo emphasised the importance of academic programs, highlighting the institution’s focus on both quantity and quality.

“The core essence of any tertiary institution and indeed any institution is academic programmes, and that is what we are here for.

“In addressing academic programmes, we look at it from two perspectives, the quantity and quality. What is the quantity, how many number of courses are you offering? Here we are offering 65 programmes,” he said.

He has implemented measures to ensure students attend lectures and lecturers are held accountable for their attendance.

“I have started enforcing students’ attendance and enforcing that any student who does not attend lectures for 70 percent of the term will not be eligible to write examinations.

“I want to make sure that as students are encouraged to attend lectures, the lecturers also are encouraged to come and teach them. It takes two to tango in any academic institution. If students come and the lecturers don’t come, it doesn’t not make sense and vice versa.

“I have set up two monitoring teams now. Every day, they must monitor the lecturers, make sure the lecturers are there and if they are not there, write me a report. And the students make sure that they are there.

“Every student in IMT today must enter into the gate in his departmental uniform. In November when I came here, they could come in with anything they liked. And so today, that one is settled. If you are not wearing your departmental uniform, you will not enter the gate.

“In my experience, any student that endeavors to attend lectures for 50 percent of the semester will have enough material and confidence to enter into the examination hall without looking for anywhere to sort,” he said.

The visit by Dr. Nwoye and the PhD students was part of their learning process, aimed at exploring potentials and challenges for the development of the state and nation.

IMT Sanctions 28 Students For ‘Sorting’ Lecturers is first published on The Whistler Newspaper