The leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students, (NAPS), has bemoaned the deplorable state of infrastructures and the neglect of students in Kaduna Polytechnic.
The Vice-President, External Affairs of NAPS, Lawal Muhammed, made this call during a press briefing at the weekend, with the theme: ‘State of Nigeria Polytechnic hostel facilities, Kaduna Polytechnic as a case study’, in Abuja. This was as the association also urged the federal government, including other relevant authorities, to wade into the issue to ensure that all basic amenities due to the students are adequately deployed.
Disclosing that despite the poor percentage of budgetary allocation for the educational sector, and the fraction of it that was channeled to putting in place infrastructures in polytechnics, very little has been done to provide habitable hostel facilities for the students.
Muhammed said: “Therefore, the leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) feels it’s very important to set the records straight for the public and the concerned authorities’ both ICRC and the Federal Ministry of Education to know that, it is no longer news how students are being neglected without the basic amenities that warrant a conducive atmosphere for learning.
“Despite allocating just a fraction of the little percentage of the budget to Education, the lean resources and under-funding of the Educational sector, the present Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Ibrahim Bugaje, who was the then rector had initiated the idea of Public Private Partnership (PPP), with the aim of raising the quality of the hostels to a more befitting standard and habitable.
“We want to opine in strong terms that, the present Rector must be compelled by the appropriate quarters to submit for onward review the BOQ submitted by KYC interproject, to Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministry of Education in order to help meet up with the shortfall of students accommodation, to curb the problem of transportation, insecurity and rent outside the campus. The hostels to be renovated and upgraded with state-of-the-art aesthetics are eighteen blocks (18) with four thousand bed-space (capacity).
Photo Caption: Prof. Idris Ibrahim Bugaje
“NAPS is calling and appealing in strong terms to NBTE, the federal government and Federal Ministry of Education, on the urgent need to call to a roundtable the contractor KYC interproject, to revisit and focus it’s lens on the plan submitted and, allow the company to move to site, since it has been sinking it’s personal funds based on PPP concession.
“Personal interest by the leadership of Kaduna Polytechnic management should not stall the already standard raised by KYC Interproject, else any plan to compromise the already signed agreement, will be left with no option than to mobilise the entire students for a total and indefinite shutdown of Kaduna Polytechnic”.
