In a country in dire need of development and innovative advancement, the federal government’s bid to bring tertiary education closer to Nigerians remains a viable step in the right direction. Among other tertiary institutions of learning including universities and colleges of education, polytechnics, particularly, have shown to contribute to the country’s development aspirations.
With Nigeria’s 179 polytechnics, it’s still a far cry for the country when compared with the need for homegrown innovations and technological resurgence. Out of the country’s 54 federal-funded polytechnics, a recent editorial comment by the LEADERSHIP Newspaper brings the Federal Polytechnic, Ugep in Cross River state to focus.
This editorial opinion of the widely-read newspaper after a meeting between the rector of the polytechnic, Edward Okey, and the House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and other higher institutions of learning motivated this writer on a fact-finding reporting which is the focus of this intervention.
Established in 2021, the Federal Polytechnic at Ugep has weathered the storms of taking-off to enviable heights. Given a waiver to recruit 150 take-off staff, the management of the new polytechnic hit the ground running and did as directed. With a take-off fund of N2 billion (not N20 billion as wrongly insinuated in certain quarters), FedPoly Ugep’s management and governing council have had to contend with the challenges of establishing a functional academic institution from scratch to fruition.
The management of the polytechnic led by the rector demonstrated pragmatic leadership when the dilapidated Community Secondary School in Ugep was remodelled as a temporal take-off site for the instruction after a thorough search. This cost-saving approach has made office spaces and classrooms for instruction available and enhanced smooth administration. Access roads at the temporal site were also constructed to give the campus a befitting look. Today, the Federal Polytechnic at Ugep could boast of a relatively conducive location to fulfill its core mandate of higher instruction.
With the said take-off fund, the management of the polytechnic has also facilitated the establishment of the School of Engineering with a two-storey building and secured the use of the Cross River state-owned (but defunct) Institute of Technology and Management (ITM) and built perimeter fences at both the temporal and permanent sites of the institution fitted with gates and gate-houses. The procurement of two new vehicles to aid administrative duties, purchase of office furniture and office equipment for the new institution at a time when inflation is a pervasive trend attested to the judicious application of the take-off fund. The institution has three operational campuses to its credit today.
With a prudent disposition, the rector of the polytechnic and his management team have been able to secure accreditation for five academic programmes for the institution, a feat worthy of commendation. As at the time of this writing, Federal Polytechnic Ugep is a massive construction site for infrastructure of programmes including the Departments of Computer Science, Statistics, Electrical & Electronics, Computer Engineering, Infomatics, Business Management, Architecture, and others.
In addition to the extensive infrastructure development, FedPoly Ugep has also embarked on the construction of two medical centes at campuses 2 & 3; a befitting Administrative Block; a 1,000-capacity Auditorium; a functional library and student cafeteria. These projects are at different stages of completion and should be to the good use of students and staff.
That the management and governing council of FedPoly Ugep could achieve these enviable heights with the take-off grant, overhead and capital allocation available to them is a testament to the sense of prudence and efficient resource applications at a challenging time for Nigeria.
On the crucial issue of student’s’ enrolment, while it has been agreed that 142 number of students is paltry, the polytechnic is currently admitting qualified applicants, a process that will last to January 2025 with the prospects of expanding enrolment. For anyone to suggest that the institution is needless at this point in time smacks of sheer mischief.
The commitment of the rector and the entire management of the polytechnic and the host community needs to be commended in a bid to encourage them to succeed in administering the institution of higher learning. To establish a polytechnic from the scratch is a tasking responsibility and stakeholders, including the media and the National Assembly who have oversight interests should put their hands on the deck to ensure that the federal government’s goals of establishing FedPoly Ugep is actualised in the interest of Nigeria’s development.
To whom much is given, much is expected, so said an age long adage. It’s expected that the polytechnic’s management would justify the huge confidence reposed in them by the government and the host community.
–Abonu writes from Ugep, Cross River State
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