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Tag: MAPOLY

  • Maploy loses final year student during child birth

    A final year student of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ojere Abeokuta,  Miss Olatundun Alexander, has reportedly died  during child birth.

    Olatundun, who was an HND 2 student in the department of computer science was said to have been in labor on Monday afternoon at one of the  hospital in the state capital.

    The Nation gathered that late Olatundun  delivered twins at Korede hospital before she developed complication and was later referred to Federal Medical Centre, FMC Idi-aba, Abeokuta.

    Speaking with The Nation, a student of Civil Engineering Department , Bankole Damola confirmed the incident.

     “I went to do a medical check-up and had some test at the hospital yesterday, but I  witnessed the scene. Yesterday was a bad and mysterious day at korede Hospital,” he said

    Speaking further,he said the vehicle that was meant to take Olatundun to FMC for emergency treatment broke down on the way where she gave up the ghost before  getting to the medical center.

    “Perhaps she might have survived the incident because someone also tried to help with his car after the other vehicle broke down, but he couldn’t meet up.”

    He said students from various departments have been seen paying tributes to Olatundun and sending their condolence messages to the family.

  • MAPOLY students protest non release of HND results

    … Anti – Riot Police, SARS take over flash points

     

    Students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic ( MAPOLY ) on Monday poured into the streets of Abeokuta, the state capital, in their thousands protesting the non release of results of the final years Higher National Diploma students to enable them partake of the April mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC).

    The protesting students who seized the entrance to the polytechnic located at Ogere, also shut its gate and barred academic and management staff access to the campus.

    It was learnt that the academic staff of the institution who are in constant running battle with the Ogun State government since the conversion of the polytechnic to Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, refused to mark, collate and grade results of the second semester examination, two months after the students had sat for their final papers.

    They vowed to keep the polytechnic gate shut until the lecturers release the said results but the protest was soon truncated by a detachment of hundreds of heavily armed Anti – riot policemen and Operatives of the Special Anti – Robbery Squad(SARS) forced the students to beat a retreat and dispersed.

    The Anti – Riot police and SARS also took over some flash points such as Ibara, Panseke, Onikolobo, Iyana-Oluwo and Oloke axis of the state capital to prevent the angry students from re – grouping there or miscreants from using the opportunity to torment trouble.

    The Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ogun State, Olawale Balogun, told journalists that the students were being put to undeserved pains for no fault of theirs.

    “It is just unfortunate that we found ourselves in this mess as students because we are suffering for what is none of our business, because we have carried out our own part.

    “I will use this medium to appeal to ASUP in MAPOLY to be fatherly and human to us as students because none of us is a child of the Governor or commissioners. More so, the government should also do the needful,” Balogun said.

    But the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, MAPOLY Chapter, Mr. Kola Abiola, declined comment when contacted. “I have no reaction,” he said.

  • Police arrest 20 MAPOLY students as protest turns violent

    Police arrest 20 MAPOLY students as protest turns violent

    The mass protest by students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, entered day two with the students occupying the busy Panseke  area and made born fire.
    Dozens of them were arrested by policemen.
    The students were protesting non – commencement of the semester examinations following the crisis between the lecturers of the polytechnic and the state government over its conversion to Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology and establishment of Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia.
    The grouse of the lecturers is that the development left them in a state of quandary whether they are still lecturers of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic which technically is in abeyance or the new one in Ipokia but yet to take off.
    The students, 20 of them and whose names are yet to be confirmed, were arrested by  men of the Ogun State Police Command for alleged arson and public disturbance.
    The protest which began on Monday and  christened “Black Week in Ogun,” turned violent as
     a police officer identified as Samuel Daniel,  was injured in the head on the first day of the protest.
    The Police Spokesman, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi told reporters on Tuesday that the hitherto peaceful protest had turned violence, saying some government properties were torched.
    Oyeyemi said the police used “minimum force” to disperse the protesting and subsequently arrested 20, who he said, would soon be arraigned in court.
    “The so-called peaceful protest has turned violent and they became riotors. They were disturbing public peace, attacking innocent citizens and passers-by.
    “We used minimum force to disperse them. We arrested 20 students and they will soon be arraigned before the court of competent jurisdiction,” Oyeyemi said.
  • Students protest rocks Ogun over rot in education sector

    Students protest rocks Ogun over rot in education sector

    • We’re committed to quality education, says Amosun

    Thousands of students under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS) spilled into roads in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, in protest over what they considered as “rot in the state’s education sector.”

    The protesting students who took off with their protest from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation mega station, Abiola Way in the morning, poured into the IBB Boulevard where they later branch off to the Governor’s Office, Oke – Mosan, demanding to see him.

    And bearing placards with the inscription “Rescue Ogun State Education Campaign,” “Save Ogun State education, ” ” Education must survive” and “MAPOLY must survive” among others, urged Governor Ibikunle Amosun to quickly halt the unsavoury trend.

    The chairman of Ogun NANS, Comrade Olawale Balogun, told Amosun that the students were not happy with the state of education in the state.

    Olawale cited delay in the take off of the examination of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, (MAPOLY) Abeokuta, as an issue if not urgently addressed could affect the career of the students.

    Olawale also said the association was not comfortable with the cancellation of the payment of the West Africa Examination Council(WAEC) fee for secondary school students, adding that they equally frowned at the recent hike in the Acceptance Fees being paid by new entrants into the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.

    The students also demanded a categorical statement from the Governor regarding the status of MAPOLY, in the light of its metamorphosizing into Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology as well as the creation of the Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia.

    But responding, Amosun said MAPOLY has gone into extinction with its upgrade to a university status, explaining that the institution would still be in existence for the next four years.

    Amosun who blamed the institution’s lecturers for the delay in students examinations, said his administration remained committed to improving the standard of education in the state.

    “I am not happy because this my school. What is happening today is because those that have been given the privilege to serve us are not serving well.

    “Everybody here (current MAPOLY students) will finish their courses, it will take four years before MAPOLY will go into extinction. You are not going to Ipokia . If the lecturers don’t want that, we will sort them out.

    “We will sought for new lecturers for the university and the new poly. MAPOLY lecturers are not comfortable with it, I said the appointment they have is for MAPOLY, for the new university, they will have to reapply. If they are qualified, they can take them.

    “I will ask the Commissioner to meet with the academic union of the the institution. We are only admitting ND 1. We are not admitting any student into MAPOLY. We are not sacking anybody, we are not taking them automatically. Why should we carry another place problem to new one.

    “We are only admitting ND 1. If you have carryover, you are going to Ipokia. I told them (management) don’t admit new students into MAPOLY,” Amosun said.

  • Lecturers shut MAPOLY over alleged sack of 250 colleagues

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, yesterday suspended academic activities, following alleged sack of 250 of its members by the Technical Committee supervising the upgrade of the institution to a university.

    The committee, led by Prof. Peter Okebukola, was said to have directed them to resign and re-apply as academic workers of the new university, named Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology (MAUTECH), by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

    The lecturers, who stormed the institution in the morning, shut the entrance gate and chanted solidarity songs.

    They were said to have also placed some fetish objects in a calabash dropped at the entrance.

    The ASUP Chairman Kola Abiola, who addressed the protesting lecturers, accused Okebukola of giving the directive in a meeting between members of the committee and the leadership of the union.

    Abiola said the academic workers did not have confidence in Okebukola and his team.

    He said the union would resist any directive that could lead to the loss of jobs among the academic workers.

    Also, ASUP’s Zonal Coordinator for Zone C in charge of the Southwest, Olawale Adetunji said the action of the lecturers had the backing of the national body.

    He argued that the government and the committee did not consider the rights of other stakeholders in their decision.

    But Okebukola, in a statement, denied sacking the academic workers.

    He said: “We held a meeting with all workers at the beginning of our assignment and conveyed our position on job security. This position has been re-echoed in subsequent meetings with workers’ unions. It is curious that some persons have taken undue liberty of misinforming the public with the spread of such fake news.

    “We have given the people of Ogun State a pledge that in the shortest possible time, MAUSTECH and Ogun State Polytechnic at Ipokia will be among the brightest stars in the firmament of quality higher education in Nigeria, indeed in Africa.”

  • Re: e-Voting, e-crisis at MAPOLY

    I read, with nostalgia, a report featured in CAMPUSLIFE section of The Nation, titled: “e-Voting, e-crisis at MAPOLY”.

    Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have joined issues with the writer, but in order not to mislead members of the public and not to put Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in bad light, I am writing this rejoinder based on the fact that I was involved in the entire process. Therefore, it becomes imperative for me to iron out the grey areas in the write-up.

    First, the Friday, March 10, 2017 election was the first time the e-voting would be used for Students’ Union election in MAPOLY. This was made possible by the recent amendments made to the union’s constitution. No doubt, this is a welcome development and definitely, it may witness some teething problems which I am sure would be improved upon in subsequent elections.

    However, it is unfair to indicate the interest of the school management in a particular candidate as events leading to, and activities on the election day showed that the students (through the electoral commission) were the ones conducting the affairs of the process. If indeed, as written in the report, the ‘management’s candidate’ won, why is he yet to be sworn into office?

    The rector, from what we gathered, is interested in things being done rightly and in line with the provisions of the constitution.

    The problems surrounding the six-digit pin should be put on the door steps of the ‘biased’ electoral commission, which should have given the full statistical analysis of the election viz-a-viz total number of voters, total votes cast, total void votes (if any), accredited voters, etc before the pronouncement of results.

    The writer painted a picture of massive breakdown of law and order, which was not the case as we, the ‘aggrieved electorate’, only indicated our displeasure through comments made to the school Public Relations Officer (PRO), security personnel and Dean of Students’ Affair (DSA). It must be on record that all these happened at the election venue and nowhere else.

    In addition, the constitution of the Students’ Union provides for a Students’ Union Electoral Petition Committee which is currently addressing petitions written by some aspirants, a result of which (as stipulated in the constitution) will still get to the academic board.

    The report also added that some results were undeclared. This is not true. All the 10 positions contested for had their results declared (announced) by the electoral committee chairman on that day.

    Finally, it is criminal to make spurious allegations against a management which has shown its desire to continue to improve the status of the institution, and is currently grappling with its transition status to a University of Science and Technology.

     

    Olatunde is a Mass Communication student, MAPOLY

  • E-voting, e-crisis at MAPOLY

    E-voting, e-crisis at MAPOLY

    Nothing was expected to go wrong with the exercise because it was conducted through e-voting.  But the Students’ Union Government (SUG) election of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, ended in stalemate following allegations of irregularities. FESTUS OGUN reports.

    IT is known as e-voting and it is believed to be the panacea for rigging. It has worked elsewhere, including some higher institutions. But, last Friday, it failed at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the Students’ Union Government (SUG) election.

    Amid expectations, students went to the poll to elect their leaders. But, it all ended  in stalemate when a row broke out in the middle of the process. Winners could not be declared.

    The Students’ Union Electoral Committee (SUELECO) Chairman, Oluwadoyinsola Olaibi, who attempted to announce the results, was pelted with stones when he could not give the number of accredited voters.

    Before the exercise conducted at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Resources Centre, the electoral committee unveiled the guidelines. It said the number of accredited voters would be released before the election. But it failed to do so, fuelling students’suspicion about its transparency.

    An accredited student, he said, would be issued a six-digit pin number that would enable him to log on to the ICT Centre’s database to vote.

    As the election progressed, students demanded the disclosure of number of accredited voters. In response, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the Acting Director of Students’ Affairs (DSA), Akin Ajayi, stormed the ICT Centre at about 3pm to stop the voting. This sparked a protest.

    As the demonstration was going on, the school’s Chief Security Officer, Adekunle Adekoya, allegedly slapped Halimot Yekinni, a female student of Mass Communication Department, who wanted to vote.

    Students defied Ajayi’s order and trooped to the ICT building to vote. The long queue of students waiting to vote did not reduce, despite the Acting DSA’s directive terminating the process.

    The action of Department of State Services (DSS) operatives deployed to maintain security during the election was said to have aggravated the situation. A student was allegedly manhandled by the operatives and the phone of another was seized. The protesters marched on some offices on the campus.

    The Acting DSA, it was learnt, accused Ogun State chapter of the National Association Nigerian Students (NANS) officials of instigating the protest. Security agents sent  NANS Chairman, Olawale Balogun, who led a delegation to monitor the election, out of the campus. More students joined the protest in solidarity with the NANS officials.

    As the protesters moved round the campus, the electoral committee members, Ajayi, Students’ Affairs Officer Ayobami Oderinde and the school counsellor, Dr Rotimi Olukoya, gathered at a location close to the ICT building at 4pm to announce the results in the presence of security agents, comprising the DSS, Observation Post Corps Services (OPCS) and Man O’ War.

    The students were unsatisfied with results of four of the 10 offices contested for anounced by Olaibi. They pelted him with stones and other weapons. The security operatives hurriedly surrounded Olaibi and took him away.

    Ajayi stopped the announcement and directed other SUELECO members to return to the ICT Centre.

    Two hours later, Olaibi and other members of the committee came out of the ICT building to announce more results. The school’s Public Relations Executive, Sulaimon Adebiyi, was invited to pacify the students.

    Student Representatives’Council (SRC) Deputy Clerk Jamiu Ogunbamowo asked for total number of accredited voters before any results could be released.This, Jamiu said, was the only way to pacify students.

    Without doing that, Olaibi went ahead to announce results for the remaining six offices. Students became more agitated and disrupted the announcement. They said they would not accept the results, if the total number of registered and accredited voters was not declared.

    Olaibi spirited back into the ICT building before he could anounce all the results.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that Olaibi was  told not to give the number of accredited voters and pins issued to the students. This, it was gathered, was to save time, because the exercise started behind schedule.

    While addressing students, Ajayi said: “The election started behind schedule. As far as we are concerned, the results needed to be announced on time. But, protesters prevented the announcement of results when they started hurling stones at members of the electoral committee.

    “We have the responsibility to save the lives of SUELECO members. We will need to complete the announcement of results at a later date. If anybody decides to stone us, then everybody will go home and we will paste the results on all notice boards, where we can all go and check them there. Members of the electoral committee are students too. We cannot stand there and watch them being stoned.”

    The undeclared results showed that the three presidential contenders – Babatunde Adegoke, Olusola Kosoko and Ahmed Fakunmoju – garnered 705, 532 and 104 votes.

    Contenders for Vice President, Daniel Obanla and Sulaimon Adeyemi, had 721 and 598 votes; Qudus Rahman and Tijani Mustapha, who contested for General Secretary, polled 794 and 515.

    The results for other positions were declared, but CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the total votes cast were more than the number of pins issued to the students. It was also gathered that the pins were more than the accredited voters.

    Olukoya said he released the number of votes cast, adding that they were more than the number of accredited voters.

    A document obtained from a SUELECO member who did not want his name mentioned, indicated that 1,298 voters were accredited, while 1,318 pins were issued to the students.

    Contacted on telephone, Olaibi admitted that there were discrepancies in the number of accredited voters and the number of pins. He said: “It was after the election that we discovered that the number of pins issued out were more than the number of accredited voters. Some people may have received multiple pins for voting.”

    But, the results showed that 1,341 votes were cast for the president, while 1,319 were cast for the vice president. These figures did not tally with those contained in the SUELECO document obtained by CAMPUSLIFE, indicating that the process might have been fraught with inconsistencies.

    It was gathered that further announcement of results was suspended at Olukoya’s instance.

    The committee declined to comment on the next step.

    The students described the process as subversive and fraudulent, accusing management of attempting to undermine the process to pave the way for the emergence of its favoured candidates. They vowed to reject the institution’s plan  to foist its candidates on them.

  • Amosun signs bills to upgrade MAPOLY to university

    Amosun signs bills to upgrade MAPOLY to university

    •Re-establish OGUNPOLY

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has signed into law the bill upgrading the state-owned Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, to Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, Abeokuta.
    The governor, who assented to the bill, earlier passed by the House of Assembly, during the executive council meeting yesterday, also signed into law, the bill for the re-establishment of the Ogun State Polytechnic, which will be sited in Ipokia-Yewa-Awori axis of the state.
    Amosun revealed that the institutions will be multi-campus, as government would engage professionals and people of high knowledge to provide technical guide, adding that this will enhance the prospect of education in the state.
    Commending the House’s efforts for the timely and successful passage of the bill, the governor assured that necessary documents have been prepared and sent to the appropriate quarters.
    The Speaker, Suraj Ishola Adekunbi, said the House swung into action and accelerated the passage, because of the priority the government is giving to the education sector.
    He noted that the step will create jobs, open access to tertiary education in Ipokia and encourage the people to embrace education.

  • MAPOLY to become varsity of technology

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has said the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta would soon become a degree-awarding institution. The governor made the announcement at the 14th Convocation of the institution last week.

    According to the Amosun, the government has started discussions with the National Universities Commission (NUC) to actualise the dream.

    He said: “Ogun State has the highest number of higher institutions in the country. This administration believes in creating the enabling environment for them to thrive. We are already looking into the possibility of making MAPOLY a degree-awarding institution. We have already written to the NUC and we believe we will receive their response very soon.”

    Praising the leadership of the polytechnic, Amosun pledged he would use his personal resources to construct two hostels on the campus in memory of his late parents. The governor noted that education is a tool for achieving socio-economic development.

    Chairman of Governing Council, Chief Alaba Lawson, said the council had entered into a Build-Operate and Transfer (BoT) deal with private developers to construct three clusters of 2,500 bed spaces each for students’ accommodation.

    She said: “This is to alleviate the pains and sufferings of the students who have to travel long distances between their off-campus apartments in town and the campus. These hostels are equally envisaged to enhance the status of the institution and make it viable for elevation into a degree-awarding University of Technology.”

     

  • Turn waste to wealth, GM tells MAPOLY students

    An environmental expert, Mrs Olufunmilayo Kuti, has urged students to embrace the Waste-to-Wealth Project of the Ogun State Government to become entrepreneurs.

    Mrs Kuti, Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OGEPA) General Manager (GM), said there were over 140 companies in the state into waste processing, urging the students to make money from the waste generated in their hostels.

    Mrs Kuti spoke at a seminar at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. The one-day seminar with the theme: Say No to Littering, was organised by the polytechnic’s chapter of Junior Chambers International (JCI).

    The environmental agency donated waste bins to more than 20 departments in the school to stop indiscriminate disposal of waste on the campus.

    Kuti said dirty environment and indiscriminate waste disposal would have negative effects on students’ health, adding that the Waste-to-Wealth Project would keep the campus clean and help prevent illness in the school.

    She said: “It is simple to generate wealth from waste. The materials that students mostly drop on the gound, such as sachet water nylon, bottles and used cans,  could be gathered and sold to companies. There are many companies in the state that will buy those materials which we see as waste products.

    “The moment you have enough waste, we will link you with these companies. We have some people who pick these wastes, gather them together and we have more than 140 companies in the state who are into this. Nylons and bottles are not degradable. When they get into the environment, they block drainages and cause flooding and diseases. They breed bacteria that cause illness and infections.

    “We have donated these bins on behalf of the state government to students. We are also looking at the private sector participation to enable private sector players to pick the waste materials themselves from dumpsites.”

    Director of Students’ Affairs Seyi Shobande thanked the agency for donating the waste bins. He advised students to take advantage of the state’s environmental policy to make money.