The newly appointed Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, N'yak, in Shendam local government area of Plateau State, has vowed to ensure that the newly established institution becomes the hub of technological innovation and research in the region.
Chairman of the institution's Governing Council, Abubakar Sidiq Usman, stated this on Tuesday during the council's inaugural meeting at the permanent site of the Polytechnic.
Usman and members of the Governing Council were received by the Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Mukaila Ya'u, and other members of the institution's management.
The polytechnic, established by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021, about three years ago, commenced lectures with 22 students across three courses in June this year. The three academic programmes approved by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) are Statistics, Business Administration and Electrical Electronics Engineering.
Usman also pledged the commitment of the Council to aggressively explore possible means of raising funds for the development of infrastructure at the institution as well as the student enrolment drive.
Speaking after a tour of the facilities at the polytechnic, he expressed satisfaction with what he saw on the ground, given that the Polytechnic is a new institution and started from the ground on its permanent site, but remarked that quite a lot is needed.
"However, there is still a lot to be done; as you can see, we have to go into bushes before we can access some of the facilities, especially the Faculty of Engineering building under construction. No single road at all.
"I'm not also impressed that we have just 22 students. Three courses were accredited, and we have just 22 students. Three courses are not much, but at least we should be able to have 40 students per programme, which will give you 120 students to begin with," he noted.
He vowed that the new Council would look critically and see how to resolve the issues around the low enrolment of students, perhaps through aggressive student enrolment drive and publicity, adding that the school has much potential for growth and the Council would ensure just that.
He expressed the determination of the Council to promote academic excellence while ensuring that the Polytechnic becomes the region's technological hub, saying the council's role was to ensure that funds are attracted for the provision of infrastructure to support the quality delivery of education in the institution.
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"The funding required in this school is enormous, so we must meet people and stakeholders. We will not wait for the allocation from the Federal Government or the intervention from TETFund.
"We need to spread our tentacles and see how we can raise funds for the institution," he said.
Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Mukaila Ya'u, on his part, disclosed that the take-off grant of N2 billion was released to the institution in 2022 by the federal government through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), saying this enabled the management to establish an academic complex in the permanent site of the institution as well as remodelling of a primary school initially donated by a former Local Government chairman to provide additional lecture halls.
He explained that a water tanker was also acquired to constantly supply water to the institution because the community where the school is located is well-known for water scarcity.
Regarding the student loan scheme, the Rector said the institution had submitted the list of students to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for the student loan.
