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Established December 8 2014
For Learning and Community Service
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PROFILE OF ONDO STATE
The University is located in Ondo Town in Ondo State, one of the 36 States of Federal Nigeria. Ondo State was created from the old Western Region of Nigeria on February 6, 1976. It originally included what is now called Ekiti State, which was split off in 1996. The Capital of the State is Akure.
Ondo State has a population of 3.4 million people, of which 1, 679,761 are females and 1,761,263 males. It is the 20th most populous state in Nigeria, and has a total land area of 15,500 sq kms. The state lies within latitudes 50 45' and 80 15' North and longitudes 40 45' and 6' East. It is bordered in the Northwest by Ekiti and Kogi States; West-Central by Osun State; Northeast and East Central by Edo State; Southwest by Ogun State and Southeast by Delta State. The southern coastline rests on the Atlantic Ocean with considerable territorial waters offshore, and is rich in aquatic, mineral and oil resources of significant importance. Ondo is one of the oil producing states of Nigeria, and has an impressive GDP per capita of US$ 2,392.0.
Ondo State is administered under 18 Local Government Areas, the major ones being the major ones being Akoko, Akure, Okitipupa, Ondo And Owo. The ethnic composition of Ondo State is largely from the Yoruba subgroups of the Akoko, Akure, Ikale, Ilaje, Ondo, and Owo. Ijaw minority (such as Apoi and Arogbo) populations inhabit the coastal areas.
The State is noted for the high priority it gives to education and health care delivery, and has devoted a substantial part of its annual budget to the delivery of these essential services over the past years. Ondo State has the largest number of public schools in Nigeria, with over 880 primary schools and 190 secondary schools. Under the administration of Governor Mimiko, many of these have been transformed into high standard model primary and secondary schools with quality learning and teaching environments. The State also has a number of tertiary educational institutions. These include: Elizade University Ilara-Mokin, Federal University of Technology Akure, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, Achievers University, Owo, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Adeyemi College of Education (now Adeyemi University of Education), Ondo, Wesley University of Science and Technology, (WUSTO) Ondo, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) Ondo, Millennium College of Health Technology, Akure Ondo State, and Ondo State School of Health Technology, Akure, Ondo State.
Ondo State has one of the most robust and focused health care system in the country, devoted to reducing health inequity and promoting access to quality health care to all citizens. From having the worst health indicators in the old Western region, Ondo State rose to the occasion in the last six years developing several policies that have substantially improved the health challenges in the state. Ondo State is now recognized as one of the few states in Nigeria that has achieved MDG 4 and 5, a reality that enabled the UNFPA country director to declare in May 2015 that the State remains a model for the African region in terms of effective and innovative health care delivery platforms by government agencies.
Despite this, many challenges remain. The most obvious is the paucity of human resource for health needed to sustain the delivery of effective health care not only in the State but beyond. Ondo State is largely a rural State, with up to 60% of the residents occupying the rural and sub-urban parts of the State. The Doctor/Patient ratio in the State is currently 1:14,000 as against 1:5,000 recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)/global standard for the health sector. To correct this situation, Ondo State's 2010-2015 strategic plan has as one of its objectives to "plan and implement strategies to address the human resources for health needs in order to enhance its availability as well as ensure equity and quality of health care". Part of the implementation strategies for actualizing this part of the strategic statement is to strengthen the institutional framework for human resources management practices in the health sector, and to improve the capacity of training institutions to scale up the production of a critical mass of quality, multipurpose, multi-skilled, gender sensitive and mid-level health workers. The establishment of UNIMED will fit squarely into this strategic framework, which would help the process of rapid development of the State.
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