Proliferation of polytechnics has not resulted in quality improvement but worsened the paucity of funds required to deepen learning in the existing institutions.
This was part of the resolutions taken at the end of the regular meeting of the Polytechnics and others Trade Group Council of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) at the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) secretariat in Abeokuta, Ogun state.
The Council acknowledged that while more educational institutions are needed to accommodate the growing population in a developing nation like Nigeria, it expressed worry over the sub-standard institutions established without adequate infrastructure and sustainable sources of funding.
The Council noted that most of the state-owned institutions have been neglected by the government and the resultant effects are substandard infrastructure, poor staffing and half-baked graduates who cannot defend their certificates.
The Council called on the Federal and State Governments to uplift the standard of the existing Polytechnics to impact the required knowledge for the country’s technological needs.
NASU decried underfunding of the Polytechnics, especially the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions facing insufficient or zero annual budgetary allocations.
The Council stated that the affected institutions were established for long-term investment in manpower development and should not depend on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as they are not revenue-generating institutions.
It added that the limited funds released to those institutions by the Federal and State governments cannot adequately provide for the infrastructural needs and staff welfare requirements for sustainable modern technology in the institutions.
The Council further observed that most of the state governments have not increased the subvention to the institutions even in the face of the hyper-inflation in the country while in some cases the institutions are operating on zero allocation as they are partially contracted out to be funded with the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
NASU insisted that it is practically impossible for the institutions’ IGR to sufficiently take care of the high cost of goods and services as well as wage increases without raising the school fees.
It called on the Federal and State Governments to improve the financial commitments and subventions to the polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions to enable them to provide adequate infrastructure and staff welfare as education remains the bedrock of manpower development for a developing nation like Nigeria.
The council-in-session also noted that the appointment of Governing Councils for Polytechnics is very essential in the regulation of the management of the institutions and will assist greatly in drawing the attention of the government to the level of decay of the infrastructure in the polytechnics, the required staff strength and their welfare needs in the institutions.
Therefore, the council applauded the government for appointing governing councils for all the Federal Polytechnics most of the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions.
It urged state governments that are yet to appoint governing councils for state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions to do so urgently in line with the provisions of the edicts establishing the institutions.
NASU cautioned all the appointed council members to see their appointment as a call to national assignment and seize the opportunity to address the infrastructural and manpower needs of the institutions to raise the standard of education in the polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions.
While decrying the long overdue new schemes of service for polytechnic workers, the council lauded the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for constituting a technical committee to develop the new schemes.
It also applauded the Federal Government for the steps taken to unify the schemes of service and conditions of service in public polytechnics and similar TVET institutions.
The Council urged the NBTE and the stakeholders’ representatives in the committee to seize the opportunity to do a holistic review and make recommendations that are all-inclusive and acceptable in the polytechnics and other similar TVET institutions.
It further called on the state governments and the management of the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions to make sure that the contents of the schemes of service and conditions of service are domesticated in the state-owned institutions whenever the document is finally approved.
