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Tag: MAPOLY

  • MAPOLY shut as students protest result verification

    MAPOLY shut as students protest result verification

    Authorities of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State have announced the closure of the polytechnic effective from January 13, till further notice.

    The school authority said this is to ensure the safety of lives and property, owing to the protest by some students on the decision of the management to verify their National Diploma results from their former schools.

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    This was contained in a statement issued in Abeokuta by the Public Relations Officer, Yemi Ajibola.

    He said: “Management expresses its zero tolerance to fake results from any quarter,” he said.

    “Consequent upon this, students have been advised to stay away from the campus in their interests, as parents and the public are assured of a timely update as events unfold.”

    The students are also protesting an alleged increment in their tuition fees and delay in the mobilisation of their Higher National Diploma students for the National Youth Service Corps.

  • MAPOLY students protest increase in fees

    MAPOLY students protest increase in fees

    The students from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Monday, October 9, assembled at their school gate to protest the hike in acceptance fees for newly admitted students.

    They gathered outside the school gate as early as 7 a.m., brandishing placards with slogans such as #No to Tuition Fee Increase, #Rector Must Go, #Release our Result ASAP, and others.

    Uniformed officers of the Nigeria Police Force were also present at the scene.

    It was gathered that some of the issues protested by the students included delays in results, a shortage of teaching staff and an increment in the acceptance fee for fresh students.

    The students’ union president, Babatunde Adelola, stated that the administration claimed that the institution was not receiving appropriate subsidies from the state government, which led to the increase in admission fees paid by new students from N35,000 to N50,500.

    Adelola also bemoaned the time it took for semester results to be disclosed, which may take up to a year

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    He said: “We have many reasons to protest. Recently, the school said they are not getting funding from the state government and they need to generate funds internally which was why they increased the acceptance fee from N35,000 to N50,500.

    “Aside from the hike in fee, the delay in the release of our result is affecting students. For instance, those who graduated last session are yet to be mobilised for service, I am in HND 2 second semester and I am yet to see the result of the exams I did in HND 1 second semester.

    This is affecting students because they do not know their academic standing and how well to prepare for the next exams.”

  • MAPOLY students embark on sensitisation

    From Fasilat Oluwuyi

    Students’ of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, have embarked on a road walk tagged:  ‘MAPOLY is back with a bang”.

    The programme, aimed at creating more awareness about the institution, started off from the school premises and moved round the major areas in Abeokuta, with participants distributing flyers to residents.

    Students Union (SU) President Samson Omoniyi told CAMPUSLIFE that the campaign was organised to rebrand as well as correct certain misconceptions about the insitution.

    Omoniyi said there was the need to educate the public that the planned relocation of the institution from Ojere to Ipokia under the immediate past administration was no longer feasible.

    Read Also: MAPOLY students embark on sensitisation

    He said: “We need to clear certain impressions some people have that MAPOLY has been moved to another location. We need to reassure such people that aside the fact that that is no longer possible, MAPOLY is really back and better.

    “We need to also let people know that MAPOLY maintains a good image. Some parents have misconceptions about MAPOLY, but as students, we will not allow any rumour to affect our fate.

    “We need to rebrand the image of MAPOLY so as to further stimulate interest for potential admission-seekers for 2019/2020 admission process.

    Also, the SU Public Relations Officer Johson Idowu, described the walk as the contribution by SU to the development of the institution.

    He lauded the Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, who stopped the relocation.

    “I am proud to say it anywhere that I’m a product of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. This is because of the calibre of faculty staff and the status of the institution among its contemporaries.

    ‘’On our part, we believe our own way of contributing to the development of this institution is to sensitise the public to acknowledge that we are back to full academic activities.”

  • One year after, MAPOLY won’t release HND results

    When many of the immediate past Higher National Diploma graduates of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic gained admission about three years ago, they never thought they would spend three years on programmes that should have wrapped up in less than two years. Having resumed classes in November 2016, many had high hopes that by last November, they would have been mobilised for the mandatory National Youth Service Corp.

    Interestingly, some of them who previously gained employment and had started earning a living after the end of their National Diploma in 2015, returned to MAPOLY for their HND in 2016.

    None among them ever thought that the academic journey which took off smoothly would turn turbulent halfway. At a point, it required prayers and intervention of some powerful people before the students could write their second semester exam. That was almost a year after they had written the first semester.

    Unfortunately, the students’ challenges were further compounded by the conversion and rechristening of the institution as Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, and the relocation of MAPOLY to Ipokia area of the state by the immediate past administration.

    The development created uncertainty, especially among lecturers, who felt they were not properly carried along and that a committee set up to oversee the transition marginalised them.

    However, amid government’s uncompromising posture, the lecturers, under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) of MAPOLY, embarked on a three- month strike. Unfortunately, the strike started on the day students were to begin their second semester examination.

    Even after what seemed like negotiations and resolutions between the government and ASUP,  things have not remained the same. The union appeared to be working on their own schedule and not in conformity with the academic calendar.  Since then, releasing of results, mobilisation of students for NYSC have become an herculean task.

    Some of the outgone students who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, lamented how the delay affected their NYSC mobilisation since they graduated in March this year.

    A student identified as Bolaji said: “I am tired of the situation of things, MAPOLY has failed to release our result. Management has failed to mobilise us for NYSC.

    “Nobody is ready to employ you without result. We don’t know the way forward, they should just let us go”.

    Another student who introduced himself as as Bolu said, “I am running away from people at home because they are already thinking I have extra year and that was why I have not gone for service.

    Bolu continued: “My parents are not ready to spend on me again and MAPOLY had failed to mobilise us.

    “Governor (Dapo) Abiodun (of Ogun State) should come to our aid so that we can do better things with our lives.”

  • MAPOLY workers down tools

    THE Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institution (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta have embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the non-payment of members’ salaries and allowances.

    The duo locked the main entrance. The protesters were armed with placards bearing various inscriptions some of which read:”Amosun, where is our pension deduction; ‘Amosun, enough is enough’; ‘Amosun, pay our entitlement, our members are dying’.

    In a communiqué co-signed by the chairmen of NASU and SSANIP, Messrs. Kola Sopade and Olawunmi Musbau, the workers said they had issued an ultimatum to the management to pay their members’ outstanding salaries and allowances.

    The communiqué reads: “The union held a meeting with the management. The outcome of the meeting was given to the congress.

    “At the end of the meeting, the union members resolved that having stayed off action on the notice given to the management, the government should pay our outstanding four-month salary. Our contributory pension should be paid; Our cooperative dues should be paid without delay; and that our union dues should be paid.

    “The congress also expressed concerns over the incessant loss of lives of our members due to their inability to afford hospital bills occasioned by non-payment of salaries which again has caused the death of another staff.

    “After extensive deliberation, congress decided to embark on indefinite strike with effect from Friday, 26th April, 2019.”

    But the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) MAPOLY chapter has distanced itself from the strike.

    Its Chairman Babatunde Osifalujo told CAMPUSLIFE that lecturers were not part of the strike, adding that lectures were ongoing.

  • 2019 Budget: Don decries paltry allocation to education sector

    Alhaji Waheed Kadiri, a two-term former Rector of , has criticised the paltry allocation to the education sector in the 2019 federal budget.

    Kadiri told newsmen in Iseyin on Saturday that poor funding could cause loss of confidence in the sector and called for urgent support of stakeholders.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kadiri, a fellow and past President of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP) is the Chairman, Governing Council of SAF Polytechnic, Iseyin.

    NAN reports that SAF Polytechnic, the first private polytechnic in Oke-Ogun area of the state, had recently secured NBTE certification to operate.

    The institution had on Friday in Iseyin held its maiden matriculation ceremony, where it matriculated 21 students in the Faculties of Engineering, Environmental Studies, Sciences and Financial Management.

    “”I implore you to check the 2019 budget and see what was allocated to education. This will send a signal to parents and guardians that studying abroad is the best.

    “”This is a stand that I hate to accept. Quality of education in Nigeria is still better and all we need is adequate funding for quality facilities, research, teachers’ emoluments, and other critical areas of need in our institutions.

    “”The allocation to education in the budget is not up to 20 per cent. I fear for the future. People may lose respect for our education soon,” Kadiri said.

    He described those taking their children abroad for study as unpatriotic Nigerians whose desires are to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth, adding that the performance rate of higher institutions in Nigeria was still above average.

    The Ex-Rector called on parents to look at facilities and number of academic staff available at any institution of higher learning before enrolling their wards in such institution.

    He said that SAF Polytechnic had gone through the teething period, but was ready to provide quality academic performance that would make their students the pride of Nigeria.

    ““I still will not look favourably at the idea of sending children abroad to get good education. It is not a good excuse. We still have the best here.

    “”Look at our graduates who travel abroad and see how they perform better than others met over there. It shows that we still have good quality here.

    “”I am sure this institution will give other polytechnics a run for their money. We have quality facilities here.

    “Our lecturers are ready to impart knowledge on the students who will graduate to make Nigeria proud,” Kadiri said.

    Dr Azeez Ganiyu, the Rector of the institution, called on the pioneer students to be good ambassadors of their various families and make the institution proud in both their academic and non-academic activities.

  • MAPOLY promises free tuition for visually-impaired

    New Rector of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta Mr Samson Odedina has pledged financial assistance to visually-impaired students.

    Odedina said this in a chat with CampusLife after he was given an award by the Students Union (SU) of the institution.

    The SU had earlier renovated the bus shed of the polytechnic and christened it ‘Samson Adeola Odedina Bus Shed’, in honour of Odedina who was appointed in January by the Ogun State government.

    Odedina was honoured by the students for his effort in resolving the crisis that had prevented them from writing the second semester examination, which began on Monday.

    At the inuaguration of the facility, some visually-impaired students had approached the Rector to seek financial and moral support.

    The leader of the group, Tobi Itomi, an HND student of Mass Communication, said they had potentials to unleash given a more conducive environment.

    Itomi, who was runner-up at the public speaking competition of his department, said his good academic performance is a testimony of his commitment to his studies.

    He said: “People with disabilities are often discriminated against in the society and even in the family,we are considered last in everything.

    Itomi continued: “In spite of my condition, I am the most read member of my family. I was the first runner-up at the last public speaking competition. This is to tell you sir, that I have passion for learning.

    “I am pleading with the management to render more assistance to us, especially in the payment of tuition. Some of us are sponsoring ourselves. Our family members do not expect anything positive from us, hence, they abandoned us’’.

    Odedina, who later spoke to CAMPUSLIFE in his office, said he would ensure that the request of the visually-impaired students is fulfilled.

    He said if SU could pay the fees of some less privileged students, he would do more for students with special aids.

    Odedina said: “I don’t need to be begged. Since I came on board, we have done greater things that we don’t want to make public in terms of welfare and support for special people.

    “As far as I am concerned, it (their request) is a done deal for them. I want to know if there are other groups like that so that they can get the support of the management and the Students Union.”

  • The Nation’s Associate Editor donates books to MAPOLY

    A prolific writer, journalist and Associate Editor with The Nation, Mr Olukorede Yishau, has donated 40 copies of his novel titled: In the Name of Our Father, to the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    The books were presented to the Rector, Dr Samson Odedina, at the Ogere Campus, Abeokuta, by the author’s representative, Ernest Nwokolo who. The Nation’s Correspondent in sthetate.

    Odedina hailed the courage, diligence, skill and commitment of Yishau that crystalised into the writing of the novel, saying it was worthy of emulation by aspiring and budding writers.

    The Rector, who was represented by the institution’s Registrar, Mr. Emmanuel Adeleye, also expressed the polytechnic’s gratitude to the author for the donation, praying that God would grant him more wisdom and strength to keep writing for the intellectual nourishment of the present and future generations of Nigerians.

    He assured that the institution, staff and students would make judicious use of the book.

  • MAPOLY Rector raises hope of resumption

    Rector of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic(MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Dr. Samson Odedina, has said the institution is ready to resume academic activities.

    This is coming just as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), the umbrella body of lecturers in polytechnics, suspended its two month-old strike on Tuesday, last week.

    Odedina, told CAMPUSLIFE last week that the crisis rocking the institution had been resolved.

    Initially, MAPOLY lecturers did not join the strike which started in the first week of December. The management of the institution even declared as festive holiday Wednesday, December 12 through to Monday, January 7. However, by January 8, the then ASUP chairman Kola Abiola announced on a radio programme that the institution was on strike, a development that surprised students.

    In an interview with Campus Life, Odedina said the lecturers had received their outstanding arrears.

    Odedina continued: “It has been resolved because our salary has been paid up to date and we are expecting January salary and a one month arrears in 2017.

    “I had a meeting with members of the union on (last) Friday. We are eager to resume, everyone trust me as the new Rector to make things happen.The governor already promised to come and see us. We are expecting him anytime from now. All the union on campus is eager to set the ball rolling.”

    He however declined comment on whether students would still resume despite the elections.

    Ahead of the time, lecturers of the institution were on a partial strike  described as ‘work to rule’, one of the crises that resulted from the transition occasioned by the rechristening of the institution from MAPOLY to Moshood Abiola University of Technology (MAUSTECH).

    When contacted, the newly elected MAPOLY ASUP Chairman, Babatunde Osifalujo told Campus Life to direct his questions to the management.

    The union was expected to hold its congress today (Tuesday) to address issues surrounding MAPOLY- MAUSTECH, among others.

  • MAPOLY students’ dilemma

    It started out as Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta, in 1979. Few years later, it was renamed Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY). Two years ago, the government upgraded it to Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology (AMUSTECH). But today, MAPOLY, MAUSTECH and Ogun State Polytechnic, which was founded in 2017, share the same campus at Ojere. The students are confused about the status of the institution. Is it MAPOLY, MAUSTECH or OGUNPOLY. Micheal Babatunde, HND 1 Mass Communication asks.

    Students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, are confused over their status.

    Reason: the school and two other institutions-the Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology (MAUSTECH); and the Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia share the same campus at Ojere.

    MAPOLY was upgraded to MAUSTECH by Ogun State government in 2017; it was replaced with OGUNPOLY, which is to be sited in Ipokia.

    MAPOLY was to gradually metamophorse into MAUSTECH, and then pave the way for the coming of OGUNPOLY.

    Since the announcement of the upgrade, MAPOLY has ceased to admit students  for its national diploma (ND) programmes. But its doors are still opened for the higher national diploma (HND) programmes. Ogun Poly is expected to admit its pioneer ND students for the 2018/19 academic session at MAPOLY, Abeokuta.

    Investigation by CAMPUSLIFE showed that graduates of MAPOLY who have been mobilised for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps have Ogun State Polytechnic written on their mobilisation credentials, a development that further compounded the students’ woes.

    As things stand, lots of questions are hanging in the air on the specific status of the institution! Ogun State Polytechnic is at present admitting into ND programmes, MAPOLY, into HND programmes, with a possible commencement of admission into degree programmes by MAUSTECH, all in MAPOLY campus in Abeokuta.

    Ahead of the upgrade, MAPOLY had a record of a peaceful institution. After that announcement however, the institution has continued to witness series of strikes, social media bullying, protests and even prolonged academic calendar.

    As the popular saying goes, when two elephants fight, the grass beneath pays the price! It is common knowledge that the current predicament of the students emanated from the rechristening of MAPOLY and the fallouts pertaining to workers, students and representatives of government.

    However, to resolve the impasse, some experts have intervened, advising that MAUSTECH should take off on a new ground, while MAPOLY should remain because of the status it has earned for itself over the years.

    During the institution’s 14th convocation in March 2016, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun announced plans to upgrade MAPOLY to a degree awarding institution. The announcement, which would see MAPOLY rechristened MAUSTECH, was received with exhilaration by the entire polytechnic community. Incidentally, the announcement came at a time when there were arguments across quarters over HND/B.Sc dichotomy. Lecturers and other non-teaching staff also saw prospects of a leap in their careers. However, the biggest gladiators were the students who saw it as a victory over the B.Sc intimidation.

    Determined to walk its talk, the state government in January, last year, signed a bill passed by the Ogun State House of Assembly. The bill which in part also sought the establishment of Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia, enjoyed a speedy passage and became a law two month late.

    Meanwhile, almost everyone at the time, hailed government’s move, thinking it would follow the path of Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) which metamorphosed into Tai Solarin University of Education under former Governor Gbenga Daniel in 2005. And while the university remains in Ijagun, the College of Education was eventually relocated to Omu-Ijebu.

    All seemed to be going well until April 2017when Amosun inaugurated a transition committee headed by a former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola. Amosun had promised that the committee would be disbanded once the Governing Council of MAUSTECH was constituted.

    In three months, the committee facilitated NUC’s presentation of an approval letter for the upgrade of  MAPOLY to MAUSTECH to a delegation of Ogun State government. Pronto! MAUSTECH was declared the 45th state university and the 85th public university in the country by the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, who officially presented the approval letter to the state governor at the NUC headquarters in Abuja.

    During the presentation, Prof Rasheed had noted that Ogun has managed two state-owned universities (Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye; and Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun) to an ‘enviable level’, expressing optimism that the third would not be an exception. Nonetheless, the NUC helmsman urged the government to do more in infrastructural development of the institution.

    He added that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB, the Tertiary Education

    Trust Fund (TETFund); and the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), had been informed of the institution’s new status.

    Interestingly, all the aforementioned bodies have since remained silent on the status of MAPOLY, MAUSTECH and Ogun State Polytechnic.

    This good news didn’t last long as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) of MAPOLY staged a protest over what members described as a threat to their job by the Okebukola-led committee.

    The committee had issued a directive ordering more than 250 lecturers in the institution to turn in their resignation letters and reapply. The information had irked ASUP members who immediately took to the streets in protest. The lecturers who chanted solidarity songs and also displayed fetish objects, had shut the school’s gate, blocking it with two vehicles,

    Thus, the first strike MAPOLY would have in a long time came sometime in August 2017. The aggrieved workers however, shelved their grievances to resume work. They sent series of letters (which were allegedly not acknowledged) to the state Ministry of Education Science and Technology.

    Students of MAPOLY immediately took to the streets in protest of the delay in their second semester examination schedule and relocation of the institution to Ipokia from Ojere.

    While the delay in examination was linked to lecturers’ strike action, students in their hundreds headed for the Governor’s Office at Oke Mosan in Abeokuta.

    They held Abeokuta to ransom for almost a week, setting social media ablaze with various harshtags to announce their plights to the world.

    The governor said: “Creating Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology will not affect you. We have said nobody in the school will be relocated to Ipokia. It will take four years before MAPOLY goes into extinction. The reason is this: those in Higher National Diploma (HND) now, you will leave, those in Ordinary National Diploma (OND) 1, you will be in this Abeokuta. All of you here, you will go through your normal course.”

    Calm returned, activities went back to normal and the session ended; but the graduating students who ought to be serving their fatherland couldn’t join their colleagues owing to delayed results, hence another round of protest.

    Briefly after the result issue was settled, the institution began to experience a slow academic calendar. Oftentimes, lecturers embarked on industrial action (work to rule) which gave them liberty to act as they wished.

    CAMPUSLIFE also gathered that the situation was not unconnected with the failure of the government to offset the backlog allowance owed to part time staff.

    While the full-time students were managing the work-to-rule action of lecturers, their part time counterparts were not attended to at all. In show of their grievances, the part time students shut down the school gate, paralysing academic activities for a week.

    Speaking with CAMPUSLIFE at the weekend, a Computer Engineering HND 1 of the school, Oluwaseun Adepegba said: “It is not possible for the three institutions to co-exist in the same compound considering the fact that university students will want to be superior to poly students and the professors won’t want to mingle with lecturers. Classes won’t be enough for the three institutions to run.

    “If MAPOLY should be eradicated or name changed, which name will be on my HND certificate? is it Ogunpoly/Mapoly? How will I explain to the companies I sent my CV to that MAPOLY is now OGUNPOLY if it’s an international company?

    Omokehinde Abdul-Azeez, another HNDI Computer Sceince, also lent his voice.

    “Government’s conversion of MAPOLY into MAUSTECH has become a threat to the entire staff of MAPOLY, while also putting the students career at risk.

    He continued: “Why asking the lecturers to resign and apply fresh because it is not certain everyone would be reabsorbed into the system. What is the possibility that lecturers that lose their jobs in the process will get another anytime soon. Ultimatum should have been to them to upgrade their credentials while still working as members of staff of the polytechnic.

    “I don’t really blame them because none of their children is schooling here in Nigeria to face exactly what we are facing. For this reason, they have total disregard for  our careers regardless of efforts our parents are putting to make our lives better here.”

    Also Oluwatobi Odeyinka, ND2 Mass communication, added to the heat

    “Whatever its name is, whether MAPOLY, OGUNPOLY or MAUSTECH, we don’t even know anymore. We don’t know how long we would remain at home; even the lecturers don’t know their stand or so they claim.

    “The studentship of all students of MAPOLY is uncertain. MAPOLY no more exists as an institution and that is evident in its absence in the brochure of JAMB. I am still wondering what institution would award me a certificate after graduation, whether it is MAPOLY, OGUNPOLY or MAUSTECH.

    “For me, the government of Ogun State was unreasonable to have taken the decision to scrap MAPOLY and establish a university without taking necessary steps, otherwise.”

    Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) of MAPOLY Comrade Kola Abiola, put the root of the crisis in bad advisers appointed by the governor.

    He said:  “It is a pity that the Ogun State governor appointed bad advisers. I can say that the governor had good intention but his advisers did a bad job and immediately they started, we raised alarm. It was just like taking a carpenter to head an hospital.”