We have achieved a lot with little resources – Ibarapa Poly Rector

Dr Iyiola Eyitayo is the pioneer rector of Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo State. In this interview with MODUPE GEORGE, he speaks on his achievements in office in the last two years as well as challenges and the ongoing strike. Excerpts:

 

It has been two years that you have been charting the course of this institution, how has it been?

It’s been great because serving in this capacity has given me the opportunity to see things I was unable to see as an ordinary lecturer. As the chief executive staff of this institution, I am now a realist; a realist in the sense that you now have to plan on whatever is made available to you. At this point in time, one needs a lot of perseverance and prayers.

 

In the last two years, can you say this institution has fulfilled the purpose for its existence in terms of service delivery?

Yes. The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), in its regulation process has what is called ‘class capacity’ for institution before autonomy is granted. So right now, NBTE is treating this institution based on its own merit because then, they would just give you statistics to work with. If they want to give class capacity for this institution now, they will have to come down. As an autonomous polytechnic, we now have our own validation; we are no longer referred to as a campus, but as an institution. We have been admitting and graduating students. In the last two years, God has really helped us to achieve a lot.

 

In specific terms, what are these achievements?

We give glory to God for the opportunity to serve the people of Oyo State. When we came on board, we had three faculties on ground, but right now we increased it to four. We  have introduced more courses; we introduced six OND courses and five HND courses. There was no HND programme on ground before we came in; we were able to re-accredit the entire 10 OND courses and accredited another six, making 16 OND courses in totality. The five HND courses were also accredited, now making a total of 21. I would like to let you know that was not so easy. We paid for the accreditation and hosted 100 personnel for the accreditation exercise.

In the area of human development, we have been trying our best in sponsoring staff to attend local conferences and have been giving  promotions on yearly basis. Despite the fact that we do not have enough money, God has been assisting us. For the students, we have been providing the amenities in our departments to create a conducive learning environment. We engage them in different sporting activities and even sponsored them for the 2015 West African Polytechnic games in Ghana, where we won a medal. Our students were at the Nigerian Polytechnic Games in Nasarawa and we also sponsored our staff to Kaduna to participate in sport games just to show them that we have them in mind and care for them.

In terms of infrastructure, when we got here, there was nothing like a central administration building. All the principal officers were scattered all over the campus. I was so fortunate, an uncle of mine in the House of Representatives facilitated a N200 million project from TETfund for us to construct a central administration office. At the completion of this project, he facilitated another N100 million to construct a ICT centre. There were two faculty buildings when we came on board, now we have the Faculty of Science building and we have constructed a 250-capacity lecture theatre, each of them with four staff offices.

We engaged some of our departments to paint some structures which were faded so that our money would be circulated within. The Art and Design students painted for us and we paid them, the Electrical and Electronic department fixed the CCTV, while the Civil Engineering, constructed the 60.5 litre drilling as their contribution to the transformation going on. The Art and Design department also constructed the logo on the top of the main gate. These are projects we could have used millions of naira to carry out. Honestly, there have been immense contributions from all our departments.

We have been financing all our departments with our little resources; we have been given them imprest monthly. We have enlisted this polytechnic with Joint  Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). We now admit our students directly from JAMB.

In order to cut cost, we bought our own ID card printer and we have been producing ID cards here  for staff and students. We installed a server for entire system and repaired the school generator and other two official cars we met on ground. We now have our own school bus and a X-ray machine for registration purposes. Our Mechanical Department constructed a bed for the health centre to ease operation exercise at the clinic.

We have paid the 50 percent arrears of our staff that we met when we came on board. Through the help of one of our House of Representatives member, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) gave us about 100 laptops, which were donated to staff for research work. We have been having our matriculations. We have also adopted a single deputy rector system instead of two.

Considering all the projects you have executed, are you saying there are no funding challenges?

There have been a lot of challenges especially in the area of finance. What we are getting from the students is not enough, and due to the situation in the country, parents too are not finding it funny. Majority of our students have not paid their school fees. We had to send some of them away for the first semester fees. There is no challenge that finance is not attached to; aside this, other challenges can be managed.

 

Most tertiary institutions today enjoy some level of freedom owing to their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). How is it with Ibarapa Polytechnic?

The main source of income for any tertiary institution is school fees, while others are secondary. Like other institutions, we generate revenue through some money-making ventures we have established on the campus. We have a water factory, where we produce sachet pure water and we sell them to the polytechnic community. We hire out our bus and the ambulance to the people of the community. Also, our health centre is opened to everyone. Though, our targeted audiences are staff and students, but we also allow the public, but they pay for the services rendered to them. We also run a crèche that is opened to both insiders and outsiders. More so, whoever makes use of our computer literacy centre pays accordingly and we train people at the centre too. Allocating spaces to people to do business is another source of income for us. Also, we issue ticket for Okada riders plying the school.

 

You seem to enjoy a cordial students\management relationship What is the secret?

Everything boils down to being faithful. If you are faithful to the people you are leading, even if they don’t agree with you at the initial stage on any issue, in the long run they will, when they acknowledge the sincerity of your heart and come to terms with you. I do tell my people, whenever we are having our family meeting, that “what you don’t want other people to do to you or your children, don’t do to these students.” We are their parents, while they are in school and the students know that. The students know that we are not just awarding certificates based on academic performances alone, but also to those whom we have found morally sound.

 

Tell us something about the ongoing strike?

The argument of the union is that the government should please increase the subvention. We are not fighting with the government. The union is appealing for increase so that, it would be easier for it to pay the staff. What I heard last was that a committee is being set up to dialogue with the government and what that means is that government is alive to its responsibility and I know within a short time, they will reach a compromise.

 

What would you like to be remembered for?

Our contribution has been enormous compared with the little resources we have gathered. We have done a lot and we will continue to do more. In terms of academy pursuit, I will be remembered for my contributions. In terms of standard the staffers would remember that I do not condone mediocrity when it comes to promotion matters. If you are not qualified, you are not. It is a matter of paper requirements and not where you came from. I want the students to remember me as their standard. The students know that I do not take nonsense. Even when I was a lecturer under a department my students know me and can testify to that.