The Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Elder John Amodu Okpanachi, has disclosed that in spite of the legion challenges facing the institution, it has maintained its enviable performance .
The Chairman who spoke to Smart Magazine, a day before the new year, 2024, in his private residence, said this notable and creditable performance of the college has succeeded and remarkably made the institution to displace older similar institutions in the state while robbing shoulder with shoulder with other colleges of nursing in the country, which he observed were several years established ahead of that of Ochadamu.
Elder Okpanachi who essentially adduced the feat the college had attained to the number and quality of nurse educators and the state of art facilities present in the college, said these facilities have continued to encourage learning procedure in the college.
He said the institution has continued to grow rapidly since it was granted accreditation in 2016, but quickly added that its actual struggle started in 1980.
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Elder Okpanachi, maintaining the memory lane ,said the college which was established and fully owned by United Evangelical Church( UEC) ,said at the initial stage, the church wanted to establish School of Midwifery but this changed as the supervisory Ministry, Health with its Commissioner then , Dr P. H.O. Amodu who saw the efforts of the college’s Governing Council Chairman for the UEC, asked why “can’t Grimad Hospital, Anyigba, have the School of Midwifery”?
According to the chairman, having lost this to Grimad, Anyigba as a result of the invested power and influence of the Commissioner, efforts were intensified and concentrated for College of Nursing, which he said led to the invitation of the Nursing Council of Nigeria (NCN)from Lagos to see the efforts in this regard, he said..
He disclosed that after three inspection visits by the Nursing Council of Nigeria, provisional approval was then granted for the commencement of the school in 2016. However, he said the actual commencement was in 2017.
This he said was sequel to the establishment of the enabling law by the Kogi State House of Assembly and signed into law by the then State Governor, Captain ldris lchalla Wada, on 17th June, 2015.
With this development in place, Elder Okpanachi said over 800 applicants applied and sat for the college’s entrance exams while half of this number was successful.
Based on vigorous exercise, that number was again prone to 100 before it was eventually reduced to 60.
After six months, only 50 students actually made the required grade , but this again was thoroughly subjected to internal mechanism which brought the number to 30 students as required by the Board of the Nursing Council of Nigeria.
This, the Governing Council Chairman, said was the reason why the college was able to score an appreciable result of 98 per cent, after first three years of its inception.
Based on this sound footing of academic excellence of the college, Elder Okpanachi, said this performance eventually justified the permission of the Nursing Council to admit 75 students, which he said was maximum number permitted by the Nursing Council in Nigeria. This 75 students, of the second and third sets, he said scored a hundred per cent in their final exams as well as the fourth set which he said repeated same feat, thereby making the college one of the leading colleges of nursing in Nigeria.
Despite this excellent performance, the college was able to register, it is faced with many challenges which the chairman said included an official vehicle for the Provost as the present one has become unserviceable, more nurse educators to enhance quality teaching, more computers as well as staff accommodations among others.
