Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has rejected the newly reconstituted Governing Councils of Federal Government-owned polytechnics.
ASUP said it was disappointed with the qualifications of the various members of the Council, saying they are people with no knowledge of the workings of the polytechnic system.
It called for the immediate review of the list “before the inauguration to include the class of persons with requisite knowledge of the workings of Polytechnics.”
The call is coming barely 48 hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who dissolved former Governing Councils nine months ago, approved the the reconstitution of the Councils.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Didi Walson-Jack, singned the document containing the reconstitution of the Councils.
The body in a statement signed by its President, Shammah Kpanja, said the composition of the lists left much to be desired.
It read: “Having carefully studied the released list of new members, we want to express our dissatisfaction and disappointment with the composition for the Polytechnics.
“Our Union has been demanding that persons with the requisite knowledge of the workings of the sector be appointed. Such persons in the category of former Rectors and other Principal Officers from the sector, former chief executives and staff of the regulatory body, retired and serving Chief Lecturers, and other staff from the sector who have displayed adequate knowledge of the workings of the sector abound in sufficient numbers.
“The current composition falls significantly short of the above as no such person(s) in the categories listed was appointed. This is a great disservice to the Polytechnics and is also different from the experience in the two other sub-sectors that make up the tertiary education sector.”
The union noted that it was witness to the fact that former Executive Secretaries of regulatory bodies were appointed in the other sub-sectors but none was curiously found appointable for the Polytechnics.”
ASUP further said “Former Principal Officers and retired and serving staff were appointed but none was found appointable for the Polytechnics despite the retinue of former Rectors, Chief Lecturers and other Principal Officers prevalent in Nigeria’s Polytechnic System.
“Our Union views this unwholesome trend as an extension of the age-long discrimination against Polytechnics in the country and an attempt to push the sector into crisis. The list for Polytechnics as released cannot improve the lot of the Polytechnics but rather turn them to playgrounds for businessmen.”
ASUP said that a review of the “list will save the sector from a crisis associated with poor governance which is likely to prevail if the list is not reviewed accordingly.”
