The Director, Port Harcourt Study Centre, Dr. Theresa Ucheoma Ettu, on Friday, August 23, 2024, was treated to a rousing farewell ceremony by the staff of Owerri Study Centre, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Imo State.

The current Owerri Centre Director, Dr. Juliana Ndunagu, paid glowing tributes to her predecessor who had administered the centre for over 10 years.

In her farewell speech, Ettu, who started out as Principal Counsellor at the centre, recalled with nostalgia her primal days at Owerri Centre and some notable staff who played major roles in the evolution of the centre to what it has become today.

She chronicled her administrative odyssey at the centre from her indefatigable fight to entrench discipline and examinations integrity at her appointment as Ag. Centre Director after the exit of her predecessor.

She further recounted how she initiated the meeting of NOUN's top management with the then Governor of Imo State, His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha, in 2012; a meeting that resulted in the donation of the present study centre facility to the university by the state government. 

Her assiduous narrative of the relocation of the study centre from the rented site at Nekede Federal Polytechnic to Owerri town captured the resilience with which Dr. Ettu, with her team, followed up the Imo State Government for two years before getting an official letter in 2014 to authenticate the Governor's donation of the premises; and another two years of follow up with the Presiding Judge of Court of Appeal to actualise their movement into the premises when Court of Appeal vacated eventually in 2016. 

She equally enumerated her staff development feats, major renovations and facilities that NOUN Management advanced to the Owerri Study Centre premises. 

Ettu, therefore, appreciated her successor for her obvious beautification of the centre and urged her and the staff to continue the improvement of the study centre both in infrastructural, academic excellence and human resources developments.

In attendance at the ceremony were staff and some students of Owerri Study Centre, Chairman of NOUNNA, Owerri Chapter, invited facilitators as well as well-wishers.