Inadequate funding, limitation of national diplomas and non-inauguration of governing boards are setbacks that may lead to the extinction of polytechnics, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has warned.

Speaking on the just-concluded 17th biennial national delegates conference of the union in Abuja, the immediate President of the union, Anderson Ezeibe, decried the wanton dissolution of the governing councils of all federal polytechnics despite the certainty of tenure of three years guaranteed by the Federal Polytechnics Act (2019 Amendment) which has left the institutions in deficit of the required governance structures for their smooth operations.

In the meantime, ASUP has elected Shammah Kpanja of Isah Mustapha Agwei Polytechnic, Lafia, Nasarawa State, as its new President. Dr. Zibairu Usman emerged as Vice President while the new Secretary General is Lawani Jimoh.

Others are Auwal Ayuba, who is Assistant Secretary General, Dr. Sabiu Yau, Abdullahi, National Treasurer and Itooro Ekenemasang emerged as the National Publicity Secretary while Precious Nwakodo was returned as financial secretary.Hussaini James was elected Internal Auditor, the immediate Past President Anderson Ezeibe is now an Ex-Officio while Dr Abdul’Azeez Badaru emerged as Zone A Coordinator.

Others elected are Zone B Coordinator, Simji Innocent Lumpye, Masopa Nuruddeen, Zone C Coordinator and Richard Iloma emerged Zone D Coordinator. Ezeibe, who spoke during the delegates’ conference said: “As we speak, the polytechnics are on the verge of extinction because of the actions, policies and utterances of the government. Nigerian polytechnics are still the only ones in the world that are limited to wearing only national diplomas. Other countries have moved their polytechnics to degree-awarding institutions. The level of funding is also abysmal.

“Our November salaries were delayed and our December salaries may not be paid on time because most polytechnics have chastised their budgetary allocations.

These practices are reasonable for the low number of students that are in the polytechnics today. In many polytechnics, the teacher-student ratio is almost one-to-one. There are no students anymore. If care is not taken, polytechnics may go extinct soon.”

He alleged that some of the affected polytechnics are in confused states as processes for the appointment of principal officers have been disrupted, staff appraisal processes cannot be concluded, staff disciplinary processes cannot be concluded and other statutory duties of the governing councils cannot be executed.

In terms of policies and how the system continually threatens the polytechnics with disdain, Ezeibe stated that the sector remains the only arm of tertiary education in the country operating without a dedicated commission.

His words: “It is in this light that we welcome the decision of the government to include the establishment of a National Commission for Polytechnics in the Roadmap for the Education Sector 2024 –2027 in the hope that such shall see the light of day.

He explained: “Similarly, we welcome the decision to grant degree awarding status to Polytechnics as contained in the same document. This is the surest way to end the persistent HND/Degree dichotomy which has defied every intervention thus far.

We are equally of the belief that this will mark an upturn in the fortunes of polytechnics in the country currently facing an existential threat due to dwindling students’ enrollment and qualified manpower flight away from the system.”

The ASUP ex-president noted that the appropriation bill which represents minimally seventy-five per cent of funds for polytechnics has continued to be inadequate, saying: “Budgets for personnel, overhead and capital have been insufficient consistently over the years with institutions exhausting their personnel allocations each year prematurely. In the current bill before the National Assembly, an underwhelming 7.8 per cent is provided for the education sector. This only implies that we are further away from a solution to the underfunding in the sector.”

The union also submitted that the recent reversal of the demand by the Accountant General of the Federation of 40 per cent of internally generated funds of institutions is but a temporary relief as the challenge remains as situated in the Finance Circular of December 20, 2021.

While faulting the perception of higher institutions as revenue-generating agencies/ agents of the government, arguing that this is against the reality of the paucity of funding being experienced by the institutions.

He added: “This perception must change if our institutions must meet the expectations of satisfying the nation’s manpower needs.”

The union also bemoaned the recent release of N15 billion to polytechnics for NEEDS assessment intervention, saying the sum is paltry given current economic realities.

“This paltry release goes to show the low priority on polytechnic education as the institutions remain shadows of what tertiary institutions of technical learning should represent,” Ezeibe stated.

He lamented that the Scheme of Service for Polytechnics has been undergoing review since 2017 without any conclusion in sight.

“The implication is that there is no uniformity in the application of standards on issues around duty prescription, career progression and cadre delineation in the sector. This chaotic situation has prevailed for six years only because of several attempts by persons without the requisite knowledge to insert provisions unknown to academics into the new scheme of service,” he stated.