The Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Other Higher Technical Education has found that the recently established Federal Polytechnic, Ugep, located in Cross River State, has only 142 students with approximately 154 academic and non-academic staff members.
The Polytechnic has reportedly incurred around N600 million in personnel and overhead expenses, with an additional N38 million allocated for local travel by the institution.
This information came to light during an oversight visit by the Committee, where the Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Edward N. Okey, and the institution’s management were in attendance.
As part of their ongoing monitoring of institutions within their jurisdiction, the Committee had summoned various Federal Polytechnics and technical institutions from the South-South region, including Federal Polytechnic, Orogun; Federal Polytechnic, Ugep; Federal Polytechnic Oil & Gas, Bonny; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi; Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe; Federal Polytechnic Ukana; and the National Institute of Construction Technology Management, Uromi.
The Committee Chairman, Fouad Laguda (APC, Lagos), and other members expressed their frustration that a Polytechnic established in 2021 would expend such a substantial amount of money for merely 142 students.
While addressing the Committee, the Rector stated that the institution utilised the N2 billion take-off grant it received to refurbish the neglected and rundown Ugep Community Secondary School, which was intended to serve as a temporary campus, while they are constructing new facilities at the Institute of Technology Management (ITM) that they have ultimately taken over as their permanent location.
“Our institution was founded in 2021, and we were to commence operations at a temporary site within the state Polytechnic known as the Institute of Technology and Management (ITM). However, when we arrived, we could not establish the school at the State Polytechnic.
“Our initial challenge was to find a temporary location to launch the school. This took us over a year since Ugep is not a large town, and securing a school to begin operations was challenging.
“We have initiated about ten different projects at the permanent site, some of which are at varying stages of completion. However, attracting students and staff to Ugep has proven difficult due to certain stigmas associated with the town.
“My first set of Council members were hesitant to come to Ugep for meetings because of historical fears associated with the town, rooted in traditions from hundreds of years ago.
“We began with 16 students, and this year we have enrolled 63 more, bringing our total to 79. Hence, we have outperformed schools that commenced 12 years ago. We now have a total of 142, as we absorbed the students and staff from ITM.”
Chairman Laguda conveyed the Committee’s disappointment regarding the subpar presentation from the institutions.
