Polytechnics are established for long-term investment in manpower development and should not rely on their internally generated revenue (IGR) to run their affairs.
This was stated by the Non-Academic Staff of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU). In a communiqué issued at the end of the regular meeting of its Polytechnics and Others Trade Group Council, NASU specifically mentioned that state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions are facing difficulty because they are forced to run their affairs with IGR, which is too low, as they receive zero annual budgetary allocations.
The communiqué signed by the Deputy President of NASU and Chairman of the Council, Oloyede Raphael, and the secretary of the group, Emmanuel Amalu, NASU said: “The Council-in-Session observed with concern the gross underfunding of the polytechnics, especially the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions facing insufficient or zero annual budgetary allocations.
“The council noted that these institutions were established for long-term investment in manpower development and should not depend on the IGR as they are not revenue-generating institutions. The council further noted that the limited funds released to these 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.”
NASU observed that most of the state governments have not increased the subvention to most of the institutions, even in the face of 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 IGR.
The council noted 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 .
The council called on the federal and state governments, as a matter of urgency, to improve their financial commitments and subsidies to the polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions to enable them to provide adequate infrastructure and staff welfare, saying education remains the bedrock of manpower development for a developing nation like Nigeria.
While NASU acknowledged the enactment of the new National Minimum Wage Act 2024 by President Bola Tinubu, it noted that some of the state governments have implemented the new act for all workers in their states, while in some states, it was only implemented in the core state ministries, excluding state-owned tertiary institutions.
The council commended the state governments that have shown commitment to the implementation of the new act for all workers in their states and further called on the remaining state governments and the state councils of the NLC to ensure that the new minimum wage is domesticated in the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions without alterations in the salary table.
The council called on the governments at all levels to put measures in place to ameliorate the sufferings of the workers in the polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions.
The council expressed worry over the concurrent increases in taxes within the last year involving property tax, income tax, products tax, import duties, bank transaction levies, electricity tariff, phone calls, among others.
It noted that the new tax policies have increased, in no small measure, the cost of goods and services and the sufferings of Nigerians, in addition to the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy and naira devaluation.
The meeting 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 infrastructures in the polytechnics, the required staff strength and their welfare needs in the institutions.
To this end, the Council applauded the appointment of governing councils for all the Federal polytechnics and most of the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions.
It urged state governments that have yet to appoint the governing councils of the state-owned polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions to do so urgently in line with the provisions of the edicts establishing the institutions.
The council called on 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 of polytechnics and other similar tertiary institutions.
