The attention of the President is hereby drawn to the 25 newly inaugurated federal polytechnic governing council chairmen. It is observed that none of the chairmen of the governing councils presides over the polytechnic located in their state except that of Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Edo State. Chairman of the governing council of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Chief Micheal Oloko, is from Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State. He hails from Igarra town, 16 kilometers from Auchi where the polytechnic is located.
Is the appointment done in error or deliberate? For instance, Dr. J.I Okar from Benue State is the Chairman Governing Council of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, Afikpo, Ebonyi State. Chief Edwin Ogunbor from Edo State is the chairman of Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, Imo State. The same is true of Yalwa Tahir from Bauchi State WHO is the Chairman of Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, Bali. Taraba State.
Prof. Eddy Olanipekun from Ekiti State is the chairman Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, Bayelsa State while Dr. Ibrahim Liman Sifawa from Sokoto State is the chairman Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State.
No governing council chairman is from the state where the federal polytechnic he is overseeing is located. This anomaly is coming at a time when the Federal Polytechnic Auchi community is yet to understand the rationale behind the appointment of the acting rector for the institution.
The appointment, akin to imposition, defies all reasoning in the sense that 26 candidates went for the rector’s interview in July 2016 but in a fiat, one of the 26 candidates was appointed as acting rector at the expiration of former deputy rector academics. The man imposed was neither a deputy rector nor dean or even member of management team of the polytechnic. People see this as an attempt to introduce autocracy and politicking in to our educational system in an era when autonomy and merit should prevail. Tertiary institutions should not be treated as a fiefdom of political compensation where autocracy prevails.
I humbly call on President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the matter as efforts are on by some vested interests to abandon the credible interview conducted last year by the federal ministry of education and impose an indigene that does not merit the position through the current chairman of the governing council (also an indigene of Edo State). Merit and existing rules should be allowed to prevail in our educational system for the overall progress and development of the country.
Samuel Alli,
Jattu, Edo State
