* Graduates 249 Distinctions, 11,080 others .
* Secured accreditation for 30 programmes,
* Flush out cults, exams malpractices.
The Rector , kogi state polytechnic, Dr. Usman Ogbo Salisu has disclosed that his motivation to abolish the sales of handouts and text books is to ensure students have fresh breath air from the hands of some unscrupulous lecturers.
This is just as the Rector , disclosed that 285 students from ND/ HND bagged Distinctions and a total of 11,080, comprising 7,653 for ND and 4,427 HND would be graduating with upper , Lower classes and pass certificates, that spanned over a period of ten years, compressed into four combined convocation ceremonies..
The Rector, stated this during a press briefing to mark the commencement of activities heralding the convocation ceremony held on the main campus of the polytechnic in Lokoja.
Dr. Usman noted that on assumption of office, he met an institution in comatose with all kinds of atrocities, including cultism, examination malpractices, obnoxious sales of handouts and text books and low morale of staff and students.
He said , he has to face the situations head on by banning the sales of handouts and text books which was a serious burden on the students and their parents with its attendance consequences on quality certificates.
He added that the situation became worrisome when some of the students would go out of their ways to use their hard earned school fees to buy handouts and text books in order to escape the wrath of the lecturers and to improve their marks, stressing that the ban has restored sanity to the academic progress of the institution.
He explained that another debilitating challenges he faced was the audacity of cults organisations and organised examination malpractices, persisting across the fabrics of the institution, hence, he introduced new security measures that kept bursting their activities, as arrested culprits have been undergoing prosecutions.
In order to restore academic integrity to the institution, the Rector said , he has to embark on massive recruitment of qualified lecturers and non teaching staff, which aided in the full accreditation of all the 30 programmes presented to the National Board for Technical Education NBTE.
The Rector, revealed that the institution which was hitherto regarded as glorified Secondary school with its certificates considered not worthy than the bread wrapper, has with the present management became the toast of students and parents with upsurge of admission seekers.
While admitting the cooperation of staff and students for the success so far recorded, noted that both physical structures have received befitting attention with multiple buildings dining length and breadth of the campuses.
According to him, when we came in , we have the challenges of poor academic contents, cultism, ethnic envy and deplorable hostel facilities. We hit the ground running by putting our Artificial and common Intelligence in place , with security architecture that caught perpetrators nappings. We made landmark arrest of cultists disturbing the peace of polytechnic community, burst coordinated examination malpractices. Today , the polytechnic is totally free from the predatory actors .
” To stop the ominous trends among males and females students cohabiting on off campus as a result of the poor hostel facilities, we approach the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for assistance, and he graciously provided us a window and today, our hostel is one of the modern hostels across institutions in the country. We have been able to secure Tetfund interventions and with our stringent monitoring , best quality buildings spread across the campuses of our Polytechnic.” Dr. Ogbo revealed.
Meanwhile, part of the activities , is the convocation lecture,on Friday ,with the theme” providing food Security, the Role of Tertiary institutions in Nigeria, to be delivered by one time Rector of the polytechnic, Professor Joseph Omada Ittah
