New Bayelsa Medical Varsity Seeks Partnership With UniPort By Otikor Samuel
In recognition of its widely acknowledged niche in medical education and service delivery, the College of Health Sciences has received yet another proposal for institutional collaboration. The latest partnership proposal came from the emergent Bayelsa Medical University.
Speaking when he received a team led by the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Ebitimi Etebu at the Council Chambers in the Senate Building on Monday, January 7, 2019, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, commended the team for choosing to tap from the University’s wealth of experience in medical education spanning over four decades. He also commended the Government of Bayelsa State for establishing the specialised institution despite the lean economic prospects of the Bayelsa State.
“We are humbled that you chose UniPort for this partnership in the training of your medical students. I am convinced that both the College of Health Sciences and the new Bayelsa Medical University will benefit from the proposed partnership. Our hope is that in the foreseeable future, medical tourism will be reduced to its barest minimum in Nigeria as universities team up to train more manpower that would effectively tackle health problems that are peculiar to our people,” the Vice Chancellor told his guests.
He congratulated Professor Etebu on his appointment, urging him to brace up for the onerous challenges associated with the high office and pioneering effort. Professor Lale expressed delight that the University of Port Harcourt had produced yet another Vice Chancellor for a new institution.
“We have a number of our staff heading higher institutions around the country and we are proud of our capacity to export requisite manpower to other higher institutions. Today, we have the Vice Chancellors of the Rivers State University, Professor Blessing Didia, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Professor Ozo-mekuri Ndimele and coincidentally a couple, Professors Ebitimi Etebu and Maureen Etebu, heading the Bayelsa Medical University and the Nigerian Maritime University in Delta State. Professors Julian Osuji and Balama Obomanu, have recently resumed duty after serving meritoriously as Vice Chancellor of Arthur Jarvis University in Cross River State and Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ukanafun in Akwa Ibom State,” Professor Lale said.
He also disclosed that Professor Tamunoimi Abbey and Dr. Samuel Kalagbor were currently serving as Rectors of Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny and Rector of Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, respectively.
Speaking earlier, Professor Etebu told his host that the visit was meant to enable his team tap from the vast knowledge pool of his former colleagues in UniPort as they settle down to administer the new specialised University.
“I was a product of this University and having been appointed the Vice Chancellor of the new Bayelsa Medical University, it became necessary for me to come down here to intimate the Vice Chancellor of this development and also to touch base with my colleagues in the College of Health Sciences. The mandate of the new University is to produce more experts in medical and allied fields. We want to tap from the knowledge of our colleagues here. We will be doing this from time to time to gain from the fountain of knowledge which we know to be in abundance here,” Professor Etebu said.
Also speaking, Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Professor Christie Mato, recalled that the new Vice Chancellor of BMU served as former Head of the Department of Anatomical Pathology in the College. She expressed the willingness of the College to share its vast pool of experience with the new medical University.
It would be recalled that the University of Port Harcourt already has similar collaborative agreements with the Kebbi State Government to provide hands-on skills and experience-sharing with its specialist hospital. The second partnership is with PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Iriebe in Rivers State. The University has been playing major roles in the establishment of the Medical School of Niger Delta University and the emergent College of Medical Sciences of Rivers State University, amongst other such institutional partnerships.