By Stellamaries Amuwa, Abuja
The National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has urged students and stakeholders in the industry to support Dr. Agbabiaka Adegoke, the Rector of Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Bayelsa state.
This call was made during a press conference organised by NAPS in Abuja yesterday.
The national president of NAPS, Comrade Asiegbu Kingsley pleaded with allow stakeholders to allow Dr. Agbabiaka complete his tenure as the Rector of Federal Polytechnic Ekowe.
Comrade Asiegbu said, “Let Agbabiaka finish the good work he started in Federal Polytechnic Ekowe Bayelsa state. Our attention have been drawn to the press briefing held in Kaduna state by the office of the national vice president of NAPS, it is pertinent we set the record straight at this point, i appointed a five man delegation led by myself Comrade Asiegbu Kingsley the national president of NAPS alongside four other excos, we quietly relocated the national secretariat of NAPS to federal Polytechnic Ekowe Bayelsa state on a fact finding mission devoid of tribal, regional, religious and political sentiments among others, where we engaged students, some staff and as well residents of the community.
” We also took time to investigate the level of development on our campus within the space of one year that Dr. Agbabiaka assumed office as the Rector of Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Bayelsa state.
“It is so sad, disgusting and appalling that nepotism, bigotry, regionalism and tribalism have eaten this generation so deep that they become so myopic to see the good and laudable transformation being done by the embattled Rector, it is funny that people tends to rebel against you whenever you try to break records by doing the right thing, these is not to portray Dr. Agbabiaka as a Saint but a human like every other person who is doing his best to register his footprints in the sand of time by leaving the campus and Ekowe community better than he met it, you may refer to the students, sincere staff, residents and community leaders for more details, even God the Supreme being didn’t complete the world formation in one day, it is therefore laughable to expect Agbabiaka to turn the least Polytechnic in Nigeria to the best overnight.
According to the statement ” The Rector was appointed in the year 2022, just like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he inherited both assets and liabilities from his predecessor, it is the same in the case of federal Polytechnic Ekowe.
The school is located in a riverine area such that it takes the average of one hour forty-five minutes from Yenagoa, there is no constructed road that leads to Ekowe as such you will need to use a speed boat before you get to Ekowe and this has naturally affected the institution in terms of population simply because of the cost of transportation.
“The Rector upon assumption of office realized that there are no reasonable number of programs being run by the school management, no light, no habitable hostels, in fact students were using chairs and tables with portholes in a tertiary institution with little or no fund to drive the transformational changes needed, the Rector went out of his way to borrow funds (which is yet to pay back) just to ensure the system runs properly at least, he introduced about ten more programs which are all fully accredited by NBTE as i speak, renovated the hostels (these are pictorial evidences) bought a boat to ease the stress of paying hugely to board public boats to mention but a few.
“However, the challenge started when Dr. Agbabiaka noticed some students couldn’t go for NYSC, he was pressurized to mobilize these affected students then he sought to know what the problem was, Dr. Agbabiaka realized that some enemies of Nigeria who are feeding fat on what was meant to develop the institution cornered the students, diverted the fees (IGR) and as such, those students had no record of updated payments to the school remita, at this point, the Rector insisted that since there’s no proof of studentship he wouldn’t mobilize those students for NYSC and that marked the beginning of the cold war.
“The Rector’s lodge is totally not habitable, it was swept by flood alongside students hostels and other facilities, the Rector then decided to fix the hostels for students rather than spending over fifty million naira to fix only Rector’s lodge, the federal government should give Dr. Agbabiaka the needed support to take federal Polytechnic Ekowe to its promised land.
“In the case of ASUP, we went through their demands but truth be told, not all their demands are tenable, ASUP having issues with management is not a new thing, in fact ASUP usually have issues with the mighty federal government let alone little school management, forcing this man to vomit or provide what he didn’t eat is evil, special thanks to the community leaders who have tried to wade in order to have a mutual understanding and let the students go back to class, ASUP should also consider the students during their agitation, Agbabiaka is not the one paying your salaries, the FG is not owing you so the issue of imprest and others can be managed, it is unjustifiable and witchcraft when you delay the destinies of Nigeria students while you continue to collect salary.
“You cannot continue to demand for entitlements when you have practically ignored your primary duties, it is so sad to note that the academic staff of federal Polytechnic Ekowe refused to mark students exam scripts of year 2021 until Dr Agbabiaka came on board and insisted in May 2023 and was approved by him. No practicals were conducted for two solid years, the general public should imagine the set of science students without practical knowledge produced by the lagging academic staff of this institution.
We humbly appeal that ASUP should go back to negotiation table with the management to forestall peace and tranquility on our campus.”
