The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Poly students

  • Poly students seek Buhari’s intervention in crisis

    Poly students seek Buhari’s intervention in crisis

    Students of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the rector crisis.

    Their appeal was conveyed at a briefing in Abuja by a former president of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), Samson Okoduwa.

    The students last year protested at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja over allegations of high-handedness, mismanagement and corruption against the acting Rector, Mr. Sanusi Jimah.

    They urged the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, to make public the outcome of an interview conducted for the position in 2016.

    The students alleged that the acting rector was running the institution as a personal office by giving appointments to his friends and cronies.

    Okoduwa alleged that students were not issued identity cards in 2016/2017 session despite the management collecting N1,500.

    The Chief Public Relations Officer, Mr. Mustapha Oshiobugie, said elections into the SUG were deferred because of security reasons.

    He said the students were issued identity cards to enable them write their second semester examinations.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • MMM: Eight poly students defer studies

    Eight of the 36 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida (BIDA POLY) in Niger State, who lost their school fees to Mavrodi Ponzi Scheme, known as MMM, have deferred their studies after they could not pay their fees.

    The affected students lose a semester, because they could not meet up with a deadline given by the school for fee payment. They were unable to retrieve the money they invested in the scheme after it crashed in January.

    The students were advised to defer their studies till next session, when they are expected to pay for their fees for the semester.

    Based on the intervention of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), it was gathered that the affected students were invited by the management, after which the deadline for fee payment was extended for three weeks.

    Eight students could not pay the fee before the semester examination started last week. One of them, Gbenga Daniel, in National Diploma (ND) II Marketing, said he put his school fee into the Ponzi scheme last November, hoping to recoup his investment in January. He said his MMM account was frozen in December.

    He said: “Up till now, I cannot get back the money I invested into MMM. I was stopped from writing test, because I could not pay departmental fees. I decided to defer the semester, because I will not be allowed to write the first semester examinations since I have not paid my school fees.”

    Another victim, who did not want his name in print, said he deferred his studies because he could not get money to pay, after losing his MMM investment. He said his parents warned him about the scheme, noting that he could not go home to explain the development to his parents.

    It was gathered some students, who scaled through, sold their properties, including televisions, DVD and other electronic appliances to raise money for their school fees.

  • Poly students design electric water treatment plant

    Poly students design electric water treatment plant

    Students of the Chemical Engineering Department of the Federal Polytechnic in Bida (BIDA POLY), have designed an electro-coagulation waste water treatment plant, which can reduce the use of chemicals for water treatment.

    The project co-ordinator and lecturer in the department, Mr Haruna Muhammad, said the innovation makes use of electricity in the purification of water. He said the plant would remove unwanted particles in waste water and make it safe for domestic use.

    The plant was designed by Umar Abubakar Baba, the team leader, Jeremiah Gana and Godspower Ibitayo.

    Umar said the plant would require about 250 voltage to function effectively, noting that the nation’s electricity came with 240 voltage, which may slow down the bumping rate and the plant’s electrodes.

    He said the low voltage could be improved by converting the Alternating Current to Direct Current to get 370 volt output, which would enable the bump and the electrodes to work efficiently.

    On why the students embarked on the project, Umar said: “Treating water with chemicals at certain point leads to excess chlorine in water. When people drink of such water, it could result to purging and other diseases. We aim to change water purification with our innovation.”

    He said Aluminum Sulphate is used in treating water, stressing that the chemical could not remove insects and other impurities. He added that excess chemicals could be harmful to the body.

    Haruna said the project was an improvement of the previous innovative projects carried out by students. He said students had developed a table-top water treatment device, noting that that the project was being improved on to enable the students design an industrial plant that could be used for large volume of water.

    He identified lack of funding, technical equipment and time as challenges the students faced in the project. He urged the management to support the project by marketing it to the nation.

  • Urge poly students to embrace skills

    The pioneer and immediate Vice Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Professor Sidi Osho, has urged the Polytechnic Students across the country to embrace skill acquisition rather than dwelling on disparity between the BSC and Higher National Diploma (HND).

    She said both the Polytechnic and University students should see education as the bedrock of successful career.

    The Don who spoke on Tuesday at an education summit tagged “The Nigerian Education System-The Role of the SOF Education” held in Ibadan said her foundation has created opportunities for many students to adopt self-reliance rather than depending on government for survival.

    She said: “We set up this summit to encourage our polytechnic students to embrace skill acquisition rather than depending on the federal government for survival.”

    The guest speaker and the representative of the World Bank at the event, Dr. Olatunde Adekola spoke of the effort of polytechnic and vocational education in transforming National economy.

    He urged government to invest in technical education especially the teachers and lecturers in such institutions.

    “We need to trust our technical instructors and their ability to deliver. Nigeria should support our institutions with fund so as to improve their teaching skills.

    “Some advanced countries of the world like Singapore, South Korea and Finland have discovered the role of technical education in national development and it has contributed to the development of their economy,” he said.

  • Protesting poly students disrupt Lagos traffic

    Some polytechnic students on Monday in Lagos staged a peaceful protest to appeal to the Federal Government to meet the demands of their striking lecturers to enable them return to classes.

    The students, under the aegis of Concerned Students Against Education Commercialisation, appealed to the government to reconcile with the lecturers.

    They said the strike, which is now over five months old, was becoming too long and could jeopardise their future.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students disrupted vehicular movement for over three hours from Jibowu to Onipanu Bus-Stop on the ever busy Ikorodu Road.

    The students chanted solidarity songs as they demonstrated in their hundreds, displaying various placards with inscriptions such as “HND is equal or greater than B.Sc” and “Stop the discrimination”.

    Some placards also read, “we say no to strike,” “we want to go back to our classrooms” and “Education is our right not a privilege”, among others.

    NAN reports that policemen from Sabo Police Station were on ground to prevent the protest from turning violent or being hijacked by miscreants.

    Mr Joshua Ayokunmi, the Speaker, Student Union Government, Yaba College of Technology, urged the government to end the strike to save the future of youths studying in polytechnics.

    Ayokunmi told NAN that the protest was to draw government’s attention to the yearnings of the students, who were being affected by the strike.

    “We are protesting to show our frustration and we do not support the strike.

    “We are not happy with the government because the strike is being prolonged unnecessarily.

    “We want the government to meet the demands of our lecturers so that we can go back to school. We are pleading,” he said.

    NAN reports that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) embarked on an indefinite strike in September, 2013.

    The union is protesting the non-release of the white paper on Visitation Panel to federal polytechnics and the non-commencement of the NEED Assessments of Nigerian polytechnics.

    ASUP also said that government-owned polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of technology across the country were in deplorable state.

    The union wants a full implementation of the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15) and a stop to discrimination against holders of HND among others.

    NAN reports that the Federal Government had made an offer to pay N40billion to ASUP and Colleges of Education lecturers as CONTISS 15 arrears in two installments.

    The government said it would pay the first installment in March and the second in September.

    ASUP, had, however, turned down the offer and vowed to continue their strike, saying the government had yet to meet its demands.

  • Forced break for Ibadan Poly students

    Forced break for Ibadan Poly students

    Barely a month after The Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY) resumed, its lecturers have gone on strike, demanding the payment of hazard allowance. Students are unhappy with the development. OMOLARA OMONIYI (HND II Mass Communication).

    Students of the Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY) are worried. Barely four weeks after the institution resumed for the 2013/2014 session, its lecturers an indefinite strikeover alleged non-payment of their hazard allowance.

    The development has paralysed activities on the Ibadan, Eruwa and Saki campuses.

    The institution’s officials are, however, still attending to freshers, who are yet to complete their registration.

    The school resumed last December and released its calendar for the academic year.

    The students, who went on Yuletide break, returned to learn that their lecturers were planning to go on strike.

    On their resumption on January 6, the students waited in their classrooms for lecturers who never came. The following day, they got text messages that two weeks had been added to their Yuletide holiday. No reason was given for the development.

    The message reads: “The management has decided that two weeks break be given to students. You are to resume back (sic) for academic activities by Monday, January 20, 2014.”

    The message caused confusion among the students, who wondered why another holiday was given when they just resumed.

    Some wished the message was sent before they returned from Christmas break.

    While students were waiting for the two-week holiday to lapse, they got another message on January 17, informing them that the “break” had been extended indefinitely. The message reads: “Please be informed that the resumption scheduled for January 20, 2014 has been postponed indefinitely.”

    At this point, it dawned on the students that something was amiss.

    The students are bemoaning their fate. Some, who said they had nothing to do at home, plan to acquire vocational skills before the “break” is over. Some expressed frustration.

    They later heard that the strike had been called off.

    But, officials of local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Adeseun Ogundoyin and Oladeji Kabir said the union had not met to suspend the action.

    The union officials went on air to declare that the strike would continue until the management meets their demands, which include payment arrears.

    Olamilekan Sholagbade, a National Diploma (ND) II student of Public Administration, pleaded with the management to resolve matter with the striking lecturers because “I can’t afford to stay at home for long”.

    A student of Music Technology, who does not want his name in print said: “The strike is frustrating. I don’t know whether to go home or remain in school.”

    An Higher National Diploma (HND) II Mass Communication student, who also does not want his name in print, said: “I am so disappointed with the fact the management tries to cover the crisis from students. It is even more disheartening to know that we are going on indefinite strike. I just hope they reach a compromise as soon as possible.”