The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Polytechnic

  • Tertiary institutions begin indefinite strike in Nasarawa

    State-owned tertiary institutions in Nasarawa have embarked on an indefinite strike, citing government’s refusal to address welfare-related issues.

    Institutions involved in the action included the College of Education, Akwanga, College of Agriculture, Lafia and the Nasarawa State, Polytechnic, Lafia.

    The workers, under the aegis of the Joint Union of Tertiary Institutions (JUTI), told newsmen on Wednesday in Lafia that they had exhausted avenues toward an amicable resolution of the dispute and were left with no alternative.

    According to Mr Samuel Bashayi, chairman of the state’s chapter of JUTI, the workers resolved to shut down the institutions at a meeting held at the State Polytechnic, Lafia, on Tuesday, April 4.

    He said that the state government had been “very insensitive” to the plight of the workers and had equally failed to address issues impeding effective service delivery.

    “The government has also failed to implement agreements reached between the workers and the government, through the Governing Councils of the institutions,” he added.

    He regretted that the union’s repeated notices were ignored, and listed key areas of concern to include promotion, annual increment, arrears, among others.

    “Instead of paying our allowances, government has chosen to dare us by removing even the allowances we used to take for granted,” he said.

    Bashayi advised workers to remain at home and await further directives.

    Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who went round the three affected institutions, met the gates locked in full compliance.

     

  • Polytechnic lecturers begin five day warning strike today

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) will today begin a one-week warning strike to protest  the government’s refusal to honour its agreement with the union and fund the polytechnic sector.

    ASUP National President Comrade Usman Dutse said the union’s one month ultimatum to the government expired in December 2016 without any visible sign of the government willingness to meet the demands of the union, leaving them wig no choice than to embark on a warning strike.

    Dutse said in a statement after an emergency National Executive Council meeting of the union in Abuja that the union had earlier given the government an ultimatum in July 2016, but decide to stay action on their proposed strike because of appeal from the government and renewed the ultimatum in November, 2016.

    He said despite the magnanimity of the union, the government failed to address the issues raised by the union, which include the non implementation of the NEEDS assessment reports, poor funding of public polytechnics, deliberate attempt to frustrate the resolution of the meeting of the council on establishment in July 2016 and victimisation of union members as well as interference in union activities.

    Other issues include Jon release of CONTISS 15 migration arrears, non release of visitation panel reports of federal polytechnic a as well as non release of ministerial panel to federal polytechnic a in Auchi, Oko, Yaba and Ado Ekiti, delay in the review of the federal polytechnic act, non commencement of renegotiation of ASUP/government agreement of 2010 and government’s tardiness in the appointment of Rectors of Federal a polytechnics.

    He said that there was no attempt by the government to improve the funding of public polytechnics in the country as the 2017 budget currently before the National Assembly does not have any provision to that effect.

    He said further that there were attempts to frustrate the decision taken at the National Council on Establishment held in Minna in 2016 directing the removal of the age long entry level dichotomy against HND holders, while no further step has been taken on the issue.

    He also accused the government of not showing any interest in amending the Federal Polytechnic Act, adding that the bill amending the act currently before the National Assembly was the effort of a private member.

  • Polytechnic lecturers begin one week warning strike

    Polytechnic lecturers begin one week warning strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) will on Monday, January 30, begin a one week warning strike to protest government refusal to honour its agreement with the union and fund the polytechnic sector.
    National President of the Union, Comrade Usman Dutse said the union’s one month ultimatum to government expired in December 2016 without any visible sign of government willingness to meet the demands of the union, leaving them with no choice than to embark on a warning strike.
    Dutse said in a statement after an emergency National Executive Council meeting of the union in Abuja that the union had earlier given the government an ultimatum in July 2016, but decide to stay action on its proposed strike because of appeal from the government and renewed the ultimatum in November, 2016.
    He said despite the magnanimity of the union, the government failed to address the issues raised by the union, which include the non implementation of the NEEDS assessment reports, poor funding of public polytechnics, deliberate attempt to frustrate the resolution of the meeting of the council on establishment in July 2016 and victimisation of union members as well as interference in union activities.
    Other issues include Non release of CONTISS 15 migration arrears, non release of visitation panel reports of federal polytechnic as well as non release of ministerial panel to federal polytechnic a in Auchi, Oko, Yaba and Ado Ekiti, delay in the review of the federal polytechnic act, non commencement of renegotiation of ASUP/government agreement of 2010 and government’s tardiness in the appointment of Rectors of Federal polytechnics.
    He said that there was no attempt by the government to improve the funding of public polytechnics in the country as the 2017 budget currently before the National Assembly does not have any provision to that effect.
    He said further that there were attempts to frustrate the decision taken at the National Council on Establishment held in Minna in 2016 directing the removal of the age long entry level dichotomy against HND holders, while no further step has been taken on the issue.
    He also accused the government of not showing any interest in amending the Federal Polytechnic Act, adding that the bill amending the act currently before the National Assembly was the effort of a private member.
    He also said that the government has not demonstrated any verifiable interest in renegotiating its 2010 agreement with the union, adding that the Babalakin Committee set up by the government was only meant for the universities, since nobody from the Polytechnic sector is a member of the committee.
    He said: “we are told that the committee to negotiate with the Polytechnic unions has been set up, but its membership is yet to be announced and inaugurated. Babalakin may also head that committee, but let me say that we are not part of the committee that has been announced because you cannot negotiate what you don’t

  • Bayelsa Federal Polytechnic searches for sanity

    Bayelsa Federal Polytechnic searches for sanity

    There is hope, maybe, a breath of fresh air, for the troubled Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State. The newly appointed Rector, Dr. Timi Seiyaboh, has vowed to bring sanity to the crisis-ridden polytechnic.

    In fact, the institution requires sanity. It has been a shadow of itself since its establishment in 2009. From a citadel of learning, the Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, the only polytechnic owned by the Federal Government in Bayelsa, has gradually become the Ivory Towers of decay, corruption and confusion.

    It was even ironic that all the obstacles that militated against the institution were erected throughout the period former President Goodluck Jonathan, who hails from the state, was in the Aso Rock Villa.

    Located on the bank of the River Nun in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, the polytechnic has a mandate to produce middle and high level manpower in Aqua Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Applied and Enviromental Science programmes.

    The institution’s journey to destruction started during Jonathan’s Presidency. The tenure of its former Rector, Dr. Eneyi Ekpebu, was marred by allegations of massive financial fraud against Ekpebu and the Bursar, Mr. James Neminebor.

    The school was said to have only admitted 48 students since its establishment in 2009. Despite its lean student population, the school reportedly maintained 100 employees in its payroll.

    The institution was crippled by inefficient management and perhaps gross and deliberate financial misappropriation. Some highly-placed persons vowed to destroy the institution by making it their personal cash cow.

    Irked by the development, the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANP), engaged the management staff in a protracted labour dispute. The union wrote many petitions to the then Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, detailing the woes of the institution and calling on him to bring sanity to the polytechnic.

    They complained among other things of infrastructural decay, unpaid arears of salaries, allowances, minimum wage, first 28 days allowance and implementation of NHIS and pension scheme. But the minister turned deaf ears to the cries of the workers. Ekowe continued to burn. The crisis claimed its first casualty, Mr. Frank Moses, a 35-year-old senior administrative employee of the institution.

    Moses was assassinated in his home in Yenagoa. SSANP accused the management of killing Moses alleging that the deceased became a target for exposing N1bn fraud in the institution and for dragging the management to court over allegations of embezzlement.

    Petitions were further written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) by the union. Ekowe suddenly became a campus of reproach as officials of the anti-graft agencies turned their satellite on it.

    But now with the appointment of Dr. Timi Seiyaboh, as the new Rector of the polytechnic, hope has risen for the long-suffering institution. The workers are happy over the emergence of Seiyaboh whom they described as a forthright anti-corruption crusader. They expect him to turn round the fortunes of the polytechnic.

    Shortly after his inauguration, the rector promised all the stakeholders of the institution a new era. He said the polytechnic would no longer top the chart of bad news. He attributed crisis in the polytechnic to bad management, but said a new chapter had opened for the institution.

    He said: “We will no longer be known for bad image. Most times we have crisis because of bad management. This time we intend to operate a very transparent management. We are also going to be very serious with issues.”

    Seiyaboh said the era of collecting salaries without working was over adding that all the workers must perform their duties to earn their money. He said he was appointed specifically to develop the institution insisting that he must succeed in his mandate.

    He said: “Our days of crisis are over. We want to move forward. I have made it clear that all those that are ready to work with us, we will work with them. Those are not ready to work with us, they will be shown their way out. We need to develop this place. I have a mandate to succeed and I will succeed”.

    On infrastructure, he said the polytechnic was not doing badly. According to him the school has better infrastructures compared to others. But he said buildings and other structures would be maintained and improved upon.

    “Things are going got take shape and move forward. All the unions in the institution will be carried along. We are going to be demanding and we will make sure that people work for their money. We are going to sanitise the institution”, he said.

  • Why, Kaduna Polytechnic?

    SIR: I was disappointed after reading the circular issued by the management of Kaduna Polytechnic ordering students to vacate their hostels on or before April 25.  According to the management, the order became necessary because the institution needed to use students’ hostels as accommodation for the delegates to the Nigerian Polytechnics Senior Staff Games (NIPSSGA). Apart from the fact that the time given for the students to vacate the hostels was very short, the semester examinations were still going on. It is unimaginable that the school management could not remember that some students are from outside the state. Many of them are now confused, stranded and restless.

    This action, which has caused untold hardship and pains for most of the students shouldn’t have been taken in the first place.  Even with much appeal from the Students’ Union Government, the school authorities could not reverse the decision until the matter nearly degenerated into protest; even then, the students were given just two floors out of the eight halls in the female hostel to pack in until the end of the games.

    This action by the school authorities is very unfair. To compound the pains of the affected students, the school management also ordered them not to relocate with the mattresses given to them for which they had paid. This is also unfair. Denying them the opportunity to move their mattresses can only mean that the school management wants the students to sleep on the floor like animals.

    The management’s action can better be described as robbing Peter to please Paul. The fact that the students are under the control of the school’s management does not mean that they (students) should be treated anyhow with even threats of victimising them if they attempt to voice out their anger.

    My advice is that next time, sufficient notice should be given to students, at least long enough to enable them prepare.  Meanwhile, relevant authorities should find a way to prevail on the school management to shun such unfair, ungodly and unwise policies.

     

    • Ifeoma Nmeregini,

    Nyanya, Abuja.

  • No technical intent in polytechnic education, ASUP laments

    No technical intent in polytechnic education, ASUP laments

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has accused successive governments in Nigeria of formulating policies that are antithetical to polytechnic education.

    ASUP added that there is no technical intent in the delivery of polytechnic education in the country.

    National President of the union, Chibuzo Asomugha, said this during the 81st National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union hosted by the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (FEPOFFA), Kwara State.

    He, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review, on a stakeholders’ platform, the present state of Nigerian polytechnics.

    He said that Buhari should allow the practitioners and all stakeholders to evolve a model that can fit into contemporary times, especially in meeting up with global standards.

    He said: “There is no understanding of what we really want polytechnic education to be. We have deviated from the original vision. There is no focus. There is hardly any technical intent in the delivery of polytechnic education and we must return to the basics. This dovetails into what happens in the wider economy, in the industries and workplace.

    “There is no contact between the industries and the schools, because of that hiatus it is not coordinating. It is like we are just producing polytechnic graduates without actually being able to exactly know where they will fit in.”

    On the discrimination between university and polytechnic graduates, Asomugha urged the President to fulfil his campaign promise to “look at the issue of discrimination against HND graduates.”

    He said: “Thousands of Nigerians are seeking tertiary education in this sector and the system is structured in such a way that already by making that choice they are placed as not meeting up to the standard of another sub-sector. It is better government looks at these issues completely.

    “Paucity in funding eventually derives from the perception of polytechnic education in the minds of policy makers. When you don’t consider that a system is serious enough then you don’t give it serious consideration in fund. Even in Tertiary Education Fund (TEDFUND) you find out that there is lopsidedness among the three sub-sectors that participate.

    “The polytechnics are clearly disadvantaged. We tasked the past government to monitor its funding of the sector. Don’t just throw money in a system and then go and write in the papers that you are funding such system. With all the money that government is parading that it has thrown into the system, government has not gotten better result because of lack of proper monitoring.”

    Chairman, ASUP, FEDPOFFA, Dr Shola Ojeniyi said the poor regard for polytechnic education was caused by the ineptitude of success governments.

    “By this meeting I am envisaging that we will come out with a statement that would remind the new government of the need to direct its focus of polytechnic education in Nigeria and at least try to tap from the potentials we have to technological advancement of the country,” he said.

  • Ebola: Kwara Polytechnic to screen workers, students

    Authorities of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin in Kwara State have completed plans to subject both fresh and returning students of the institution to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) screening exercise when the school resumes for the 2014/2015 session.

    The Rector of the polytechnic, Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu, disclosed this in Ilorin, the state capital, during a sensitisation training on the control of EVD organised by the school management for workers.

    Apart from the various sensitisation programmes lined up, workers would also undergo EVD screening exercise.

    To achieve this, Elelu said a committee has been put in place “to liaise with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) on how to bring in some of those screening equipment before the school resumes.

    “And when the students come, we will screen them and give them proper lecture to sensitise them on the Ebola Virus Disease. We have a proper plan to screen all students including workers as soon as we get the equipment. And if we cannot lay our hands on the equipment, we will hire from those that have the screening equipment,” he said.

    He added: “Though the Federal Government has assured us of safety on the issue of Ebola Virus, we still believe prevention is better than cure. We have decided to bring all information about the deadly disease closer to our staff and our community in order to prevent ourselves from it.”

    Earlier, Consultant and Infections Disease Physician from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Dr. Abayomi Fadeyi, said EVD was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Sudan in 1976.

    He described Ebola as the deadliest among the viral hemorrhagic fevers with no cure and preventive vaccine yet.

    Abayomi said Ebola can be contracted through, body fluids of the affected animals, handshake, kissing, hugging and breast feeding.

  • Onolememen stresses use of pedestrian bridge

    Minister of Works, Arch. Mike Onolememen has urged students of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, to always use the pedestrian bridge built across the Benin-Abuja express way.

    The construction of a pedestrian bridge in front of the polytechnic has been a major demand of staff and students of the polytechnic to help check road accidents on the highway

    Onolememen warned that students who failed to use the pedestrian would be responsible for any accident that might result on the road occasioned by the dualisation of the Benin-Abuja road.

    He spoke at the inauguration of the pedestrian bridge at Auchi in Estako West Local Government Area.

    The Minister noted that incidents of hit and run driver at the school gate would be completely eliminated.

    Other projects inaugurated by the Minister were the Weppa River Bridge, Bridge over Okio River and Ekperi-Fugar Road off Auchi Polytechnic-Ekperi-Agenebode Road.

  • Polytechnic Education: A recipe for visionary leadership and governance in Nigeria

    Had the committee had more than a glancing acquaintance with the phenomenon of genuine branding and not the superficial shibboleths of Nigerian officialdom, it ought to have occurred to them that Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic were already successful brands in their own rights. Turning them into “city universities” actually devalues their brand. It is like asking Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech, Imperial College,  London School of Economics etc to drop their gloriously unique brands and become universities.

    In a remarkable stricture, ASUP noted that the committee was filled with establishment bureaucrats, equal opportunity consultants and other racketeers out to preserve and promote vested interests. In any case, we may wonder, what is the point of adding hordes of glorified graduate illiterates to an already saturated labour market?  This can only compound an already dire situation, fuelling social discontent and ultimately inviting anarchy.

    It is noteworthy that while Nigeria was trying to abolish its polytechnics, the Singaporean authorities were strengthening theirs based on a rigorous evaluation of country-specific needs.  In a remarkable speech at the closing ceremony of the annual Polytechnic Forum on 8th October 2009, the Minister of Education and Second Minister of Defence, Dr En eng Hen, outlined with engrossing perspicuity the vision behind the retention of polytechnic education in his country.  Among the reasons proffered, four are particularly compelling.

    (1)The law of supply and demand. With over 40 percent of the primary cohort demanding for quality polytechnic education, the authorities had no choice but to grant the demand of the populace. (2)The fact that the polytechnic work-force arrive “industry ready” and is readily available to fill opening vacancies in industries through what is a close symbiotic relationship between the forces of labour and the forces of production. (3)The rate and vigour of what he chooses to call “disruptive technology”. In a rapidly modernizing and increasingly globalised world new technologies intrude into our life on a daily basis which demands the constant upgrading of obsolete curricular and the constant introduction of new courses based on emergent technologies.

    For example, a polytechnic in Singapore has begun to offer Bachelors’ degree course in Computer Games Software. There is also a degree programme in Culinary Arts. Finally, there is the need for existing workforce to be retrained, retooled and even re-certificated. Rapidly evolving technology renders a degree obsolete and antiquated during the life time of the degree holder. The cure-all and once-for –all time paper qualification is no longer tenable. A person that holds a 1979 degree in Computer Science would no longer understand what is going on the profession by 2009.

    According to the minister, polytechnics are there for “jobs yet to be invented and challenges not yet foreseen”. Finally, “being autonomous, these universities can chart their own destiny, differentiate themselves and pursue revolutionary innovations”. By creating themselves anew, they re-create and reinvent the society on the basis of ceaseless self-surpassing.

    This is a radically innovative educational policy based on visionary governance and pro-people policy. The dynamic is powered by country specific needs and a close study of the Singaporean society and culture. When there is a perfect congruence between the educational policy of a nation and the societal needs, there is a positive equilibrium between the parts and the whole. Little wonder then that within only one generation, Singapore has moved from the Third World to the First World.

    Without innovative thinking, there can be no innovative and cutting edge industry for that matter. Even transferred technology requires considerable innovative thinking to be “tropicalised” and domesticated. And without revolutionary technological innovations, there can be no expanding economy. Any society caught up in a technological rut will always play host to mass unemployment and a glut of unproductive work force.

    This is the basis of Nigeria’s contemporary plight. Let me now begun to tie up the loose ends as we arrive at the conclusion. As we have seen from the above-going, it should now be clear that the virus of unoriginal thinking is more dangerous and potentially more lethal than the virus of unemployment. This is because unoriginal thinking is the original form of unemployment; a critical disengagement of the thinking faculty.

    Yes, as we have read from above, Nigeria needs polytechnic education as a recipe for visionary leadership and governance. The can do spirit, the rugged determination, the energetic networking, the constant struggle to improve self-capacity, the urge to pull oneself up by the bootstraps such as we find in the polytechnic community are all heroic ingredients of visionary leadership.

    But before these fertile resources can be milked and harnessed for national greatness, Nigeria itself will need a generous dash of visionary leadership to rescue it from the present morass and millennial  under-development. I thank you all and wish the graduands the very best in the current circumstances.

     

    Excerpts from the 19th Convocation Lecture of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Tuesday, March 8th, 2010

  • Polytechnic workers suspend seven months strike

    Polytechnic workers suspend seven months strike

    The Nasarawa State Polytechnic chapter of Non Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP), on Wednesday suspended its seven months-old-strike.

    The Chairman of the union, Mr David Ayitono-Goshi announced the suspension in Lafia while briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting they had with the management of the polytechnic.

    Ayitono-Goshi said that the suspension followed the intervention of respected personalities who pledged to pursue the union’s grievances to the appropriate authorities.

    “We have been on strike for seven months now, but when the new members of the governing council came on board, they requested that we should appeal to the national headquarters of the union to suspend the strike.

    “They also assured that they will continue with the negotiation from where it stopped,” he said.

    The chairman said that the suspension was “conditional”, as the union would resume its strike if the state government fails to address the issues within six months.

    He directed all members of the union to resume work immediately.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that already some members of the members have complied with the directive, as they were seen in their places of work. (NAN)