‘FG should fund education sector else private tertiary institutions will take over’

You have spent three years as the rector of this polytechnic, what are your achievements so far?

The achievements I have recorded in the last three years are multi-dimensional. In terms of capacity-building, we have been able to train our staff both within the country and internationally. We funded some of our staff to the US for training; 13 out of the 27 selected staff for the training were able to secure visa. They have all gone and cme back. We have also sponsored some to the UK and Dubai while plans are in the pipeline to send some to other countries for training. All these efforts are realisable through the TETfund. The aim of the training is to expose them to something new in terms of knowledge while they return to the institution to transplant it in order to take the polytechnic to the next level of development.

Aside from the doctoral degrees, 25 other staff members also earned master’s degrees through same training, and presently we have a grant for 10 of our staff to go for their doctoral degree programmes any moment from now. There is another internal training in ICT for another 110 staff of this institution organised by digital world in collaboration with the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC).

In terms of infrastructure, we have been able to complete the building of eight structures. The building of 500-capacity lecture theatre was ongoing before I took over the mantle of leadership of the institution and it has been completed.

The polytechnic has been accumulating convocation for years, and we were able to hold one in 2019. We hoped to hold another one last year but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our plans. By God’s grace before the end of this year we will hold another one so that we don’t keep our graduates waiting endlessly.

To tackle shortage of water on the campus, especially in the hostels, we sunk solar-powered boreholes, and as a result of such effort, students are now enjoying water supply for 24 hours.

The alumni of the institution have been doing wonderfully well; they also donated three solar-powered boreholes to the institution, and as we speak, the body has sent a team of experts to see to the renovation of the polytechnic clinic which will commence very soon.

We have also worked on our security network by engaging a new security outfit. We had to strengthen our security outfit and close our porous areas to ensure adequate security on the campus.

Since I came on board, we have never had any union issues to grapple with in the institution; we always carry the unions along in all our activities.

The current strike embarked upon by the federal polytechnics is nationwide and we had to join, otherwise the strike has nothing to do with internal issues.

With the little resources coming to the institution from the Federal Government, how have you been able to manage the affairs of the polytechnic effectively?

Lately, due to the recession and outbreak of the corona virus, the economy has been very bad and funding has been dwindling from the Federal Government.  We have been managing the affairs of the polytechnic through the school fees paid by the students without any increment and by cutting down on our expenses and also ensuring that there is value for every naira we spent.

In addition, we have been trying to strengthen our ventures to be able to generate more income.

 

Cultism has been a major problem in tertiary institutions across the country, what is the situation like in FPI?

We are so fortunate because we have been able to curtail cultic activities on our campus. As part of our efforts to get rid of cultism, we have set up security surveillance to monitor students’ activities on the campus. Through the feedbacks we are getting, we have been able to contain some of their activities. The two students who were arrested havebeen expelled to serve as a deterrent to others that our institution is not a safe haven for cultic activities.

Which area will you advise the Federal Government to concentrate more of its efforts on the affairs of tertiary institutions?

The Federal Government should be able to fund the education sector in order to save it from imminent collapse, otherwise private tertiary institutions will take over. The only way out for the admission-seeking youths is to acquire quality education through the public institutions. Government should therefore allocate more funds to public institutions in order to make them more accessible.

The choice of leadership of tertiary institutions should also be based on merit. All sentiments should be put aside while professionalism and expertise are emphasised so that the right people can come into positions for better transformation.

 

 

 

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