15 Years Of IMFI

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By Martin Usenekong

“Adding value to University education” the motto of the International Management and Finance Institute, IMFI must have strange and confusing in 1993 when the institution was established. To sir Sunday Udo Akpan, a graduate of the University of Lagos, the need for a specialist training centre for a high caliber of management personnel must have been germinated during his short spell as a lecturer in the University of Calabar. And, coming back home to Akwa Ibom, six years after the creation of the state, the need for a 'professional tertiary institution' became a vision, which gave birth to the International Management and Finance Institution.
In the words of the founder of the institution at the fifth matriculation ceremony and the first for the pioneer candidates of the two years training for the ward of the National Innovation Diploma (NID) by the National Board in Technical Education (NBTE), the founding philosophy of the institute has been rooted in the passion to produce graduates with employable and marketable skill in Management, Administration, Accounting Finance, Information and Communication Technology in both private and public organization”.
The institution's three main objectives include the provision of “world class education and training in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ,Business and Finance Studies” that can prepare the students for various professional examinations at the Diploma, Higher Diploma and other internationally recognized academic bodies. Secondly, the institute seeks to adding value” to graduate through “Practical skills” that will enhance their employment capability. And, most importantly, the graduates of the institution are prepared for “self employment and entrepreneurship”.
In order to achieve these noble objectives, the management of IMFI sought and were granted official approval by the state ministry of education in 1995. And in order to ensure the required high academic standards, the institution got affiliated to the University of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua and the highly rated Cisco Academy of the United State of America. Cisco is one of the united worlds leading computer Networking Technology Institutions.
So far, the institute has succeeded in producing highly skilled manpower in the areas of Management, Administrations, Accounting, Finance Information and Communication Technology. According to Professor Soludo, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria about eighty percent of graduates produced from Nigerian Universities are unemployable. This alarming revelation places a great responsibility in the shoulders of those responsible for policy formulation in the nation's education policies, not only at the tertiary level, but down the ladder to the nursery and primary school levels. Many Nigerian graduates passed through their various academic programmes without any contact with the computer and very little practical experiences of their courses. Today, most advertisements for employment positions make computer literacy one of the necessary requirements.
practical experiences of their courses. Today, most advertisements for employment positions make computer literacy one of the necessary requirements. Lacking for Akwa Ibom State, the state government took an early lead in the introduction and implementation of Information and Communication Technology into governance. This has not only improved the information data base on vital statistics, accounting and personnel audit, but also ensured greater efficiency with minimum manpower today, the vision of the IMFI has grown and spread to every sector of the states education programme, business entrepreneurs and even private establishments.
Quite recently, the federal through the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE introduced a programme known as the Innovation Enterprise Institutions a veritable and profitable programme for myriads of Nigeria youths who may not easily overcome the wriggles and bottlenecks of the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board for entry into Nigeria Universities. The IET programme also provides links and profitable job opportunities particularly in the private sector. Being a pace-setter, the IMFI has become one of the very first institutions in Nigeria and the only one in Akwa Ibom State to he granted be approval to cue into this national programme with the establishment of the IMFI ICT ACADEMY. establishment of the IMFI ICT ACADEMY.
Some of the courses being offered by the Academy include computer hardware engineering, computer software engineering, computer networking and system security, telecommunications technology and electrical/electronics engineering. As a matter of fact, the pioneer students of this innovative programme was among the fifth set that matriculated on February 29,2008.
The IMFI currently offers programmes of studies that lead to the award of Certificates, Diplomas, National Diplomas and Executive Diploma in Data Processing and Information Technology, Computer Science, Networking, Telecom Technology, Software and Hardware Engineering, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Local Government and Public Administration. Other courses and facilities in the institution include cisco courses, and integrated science courses, computer laboratories, computer library and internet services.
Over the past fifteen years, the International Management and Finance Institute has made giants strides in various sectors of its chosen area of academic endeavours. It has not only produced the high quality of manpower for the public and private sectors, it has also opened up self employment opportunities for the teeming youths of Akwa Ibom State. Such an institution certainly deserves the support of government, cooperate bodies, parents and guardians, and the general public. It is certainly adding value to university education.