The Director, Enugu Study Centre, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Charity Akuadi Okonkwo, has emphasised the importance of treating students well with the aim of making their academic journey a pleasurable experience.

Okonkwo disclosed this during a meeting with the centre's staff in order to marshal out strategies to be deployed toward increase in the enrolment level as well as move the centre forward.

"My first advocacy is to serve and treat the students well, like the saying goes: the taste of the pudding is in the eating. These students, when satisfied, will in turn spread the gospel of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) to their colleagues, friends, among others, thereby increasing the students influx at the centre," she said. 

The director added that change at the centre is inevitable and staff should expect changes in the leadership styles with the purpose of ensuring optimal productivity, even as service is for God and humanity.

Okonkwo, who is a Professor of Educational Measurement and Evaluation, canvassed for team work in which every staff would be useful and given a sense of belonging to ensure a better output, adding that staff with useful ideas or proposal to move the centre forward should not hesitate to come to her. 

She constituted seven different teams, each with a leader and members for effective service delivery. 

The director appealed to staff who were emotionally wounded against one another to bury the hatchet and accept the healing balm of God to move their lives forward.