THE Rector of Federal Polytechnic Ede, Dr John Taiwo Adekolawole since his assumption of the office 100 days ago has embarked on a restoration mission, to sustain industrial harmony on campus between unions and management by paying staffs owed allowances and salaries with a commitment to settle all outstanding backlogs following an agreement signed by the Council, Management, and Unions, thereby ending the long years of dispute between the school management and unions over staff emolument.
Federal Polytechnic Ede which is one of the top polytechnics all young Nigerians strive to gain admission to has been facing financial crisis before the new rector assumed his office, however, through his dedication and hard work, it is now financially stable as all financial leakages which were responsible for the inability to pay allowances which led to a prolonged Management/Unions crisis are blocked.
Dr Adekolawole has also commenced a checklist which would make the school a pacesetter for measurement of standard of performance in polytechnic administration in Nigeria.
In three months of assumption of duty, he has invested his wealth of academic, administrative and professional experiences in manners that have benefitted staffs, students and host community with a vision of extending same to a larger community.
Payment of salaries (normal and stepdown allowances) as at when due is now a norm since his reign as the polytechnic’s rector.
Preparation for accreditation of courses in the school has reached its highest peak as the institution has placed orders for the supplies of laboratory equipment, instrument and teaching aids needed for research. Teaching and learning resource inspection of courses has also been included and about two million naira has been paid to the National Board of Resource Inspection (NBTE) for resource inspection of some new courses which has not been paid for the past five years due to a dearth of funds before the rector assumed office. And within this period, the school has received three numbers of accreditation.
Innovation Technology Centre has also been proposed for creativity and technology development and advancement. The software team of the proposed ITC has been working and has developed an application Students Information Management System (SIMS) that will enable students to complete all registrations and payments online ― already available for download on Google Apps Play Store. However, additional staffers might be needed to complement the existing staffs of the hardware team.
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Health is wealth, and in line with this philosophy, the rector has improved the condition of facilities in the polytechnic’s health sector. Unlike before, there are now enough drugs and personnel to cater for staff and students of the polytechnic.
The need to develop and move schools to the permanent site of the institution has been a concern of Dr Adekolawole. He has seen been working tirelessly to make this possible. In the next six months, the schools of Applied Sciences and Business Studies should be moving to the Permanent Site (PS).
Efforts are being made to secure the 3rd and 4th tranches of the 2013/2014 TETFUND which would be used to further develop the school.
Contractors who have abandoned their sites have been returning to work after interactive sessions with the new rector.
In the rector’s bid towards the upliftment of infrastructural facilities on campus, he had awarded three contracts: Construction and Furnishing of Building Technology Department’s Building (Phase II) at the South Campus; Construction and Furnishing of Estate Management Department’s Building (Phase II) at the South Campus; Renovation of Former Civil Engineering Department’s Building at the North Campus.
The institution has recently bagged an award of excellence by the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, ACCA, a London based Accountant body with branches across the country and the world.
The reformer rector considers a Staff Manual as what every employee should have referred to it as “the best companion of every employee” because it contains all conditions of service and regulations governing all behaviours and conducts expected of good and well-behaved staff during their stay in the polytechnic. he mandated that copies should be made available to all staff at the first interactive session with the staffs after assumption of duty in November 2017. Consequently, the first edition of the Polytechnic Staff manual was printed in January 2018.