As VC Makes Commitment to Staff Welfare
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually all facets of human life – economic, social and even education. Since its devastating emergence in Wuhan China in the twilight of 2019, the world has known no peace, putting the global economy in ruins and education in hiatus. This has led to changes in life styles and systems of doing things.

It is based on the above premise and on the need to maintain its academic calendar that Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, has adopted blended learning in her academic activities. Blended learning is a system of knowledge transfer that involves the combination of online learning and face-to-face class room interactions between lecturers and students.


VC, Professor Sunday Elom addressing staff at the event
This paradigm shift is one of the preventive measures adopted by the University management to arrest the devastating effect of COVID-19. It is also geared towards ensuring that teaching, learning and research activities in the University were not halted because of the virus. It would also ensure that the safety protocol of physical distancing as announced by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is maintained in all academic activities of the University as the world continues to battle the pandemic.



This piece of good news was made known by the Vice-chancellor of the University, Professor Sunday Elom when he interacted with the staff and students recently. He announced that the Senate of the institution has already approved the adoption of the system on Monday, 15th February, 2021 when he presented his inaugural address.


A cross section of students at the event held at the Abubakar Rasheed auditorium
“To mitigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University will adopt the policy of blended learning i.e. combination of online learning and face-to-face interactions”, the Vice-Chancellor stated.



To achieve this goal, the Vice-Chancellor explained that the University was going to provide modern classrooms equipped with multimedia and public address system and necessary IT infrastructure as well as the training of staff on IT skills.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor has also affirmed his commitment to staff welfare in order to motivate and increase their productivity. He made this known during his inaugural meeting with staff of the University recently.

“Staff welfare will be my priority, and I will do my best to see that staff are motivated, as a happy staff enhances productivity”, he said.

He stressed that efforts would be made to ensure conducive working environment for all staff, adding that staff appraisal and promotion would continue to be transparent and timely under his watch.

The Vice-Chancellor further noted that more staff quarters were to be built to enable staff reside on campus, pledging to ensure that staff training remains on the front burner of his administration even as security of lives and property within the campus would remain a top priority of the university management.

Professor Elom also promised to sustain, consolidate and expand on the achievements of his predecessors in order to take the University to the next level.