Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), have demanded clarification from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), over the status of the newly established Ogun State Polytechnic located at Ipokia area of the state.
Stating this was the National Vice-President of the association, Comrade Timothy Ogunseye, at a press conference in Abeokuta, on Tuesday, who said that the Board must as a matter of urgency published the names of courses it had accredited for the polytechnic billed to take off by December. The state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had at the foundation laying of the new institution, submitted that the NBTE had accredited 42 courses for the new polytechnic.
However, the ASUP vice chairman, faulted the governor’s claim, insisting that the Board could not have accredited 42 programmes for the new polytechnic which was yet to have any physical infrastructure. He said the leadership of the union would not abandon its members in MAPOLY in the on-going struggle, maintaining that the two institutions could co-exist for a period of three years.
Ogunseye said, “Our position in this regard is that there must be a gestation period during which people can move people from Abeokuta to Ipokia. And we are of the opinion that there is nothing wrong if the polytechnic, as well as the university, can co-exist for the next three years. From there, our members can now move to Ipokia, by which time we expect the level of infrastructure in Ipokia to have been upgraded.
“As we speak, we have nothing on the ground in Ipokia. And please we need to correct this impression, ASAP in MAPOLY or any staff is not against the establishment of polytechnic in Ipokia. All we are saying is that where you even do that, issues surrounding staff career development, students’ comfort, all these issues have to be looked into.
“Honestly, if that programme is to work, we expect the government to spearhead a mass house revolution in Ipokia where accommodation would be made available for staff and students and where classroom blocks, laboratories, workshops, all those things would have been built before we consider the movement at all. “Otherwise, all they are just trying to do now is to go around it and asking our colleague to be facing all this hardship and sufferings, and we are saying all these things should not be. “We are not doing this because of our members alone but because of the students which the institution will produce.”
Similarly speaking, the ASUP coordinator, Zone C, Wale Omoobaorun, said that only 27 programmes were accredited by NBTE. He said that the union was not against the establishment of the new polytechnic, but that government should have a robust discussion with the union on the transition.
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