The Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Salisu Ogbo Usman, has explained that his administration banned the sale of handouts to students by their lecturers to guide against exploitation and threats of failure.
The Rector made this known when the National leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, paid him a courtesy visit in Lokoja.
He said direct sale of text books authored by lecturers to students was also prohibited to prevent victimisation and freedom by students to read diverse books of their choice.
He said only recently, a lecturer was suspended for forcing his hand-outs on students.
“We always encourage our students to read their books, that is why we insisted that lecturers who have books should take them to our school bookshops and not make it compulsory for students,” he said.
Against this backdrop, he said the institution had embarked on academic and infrastructural renaissance, which according to him, was already paying off, to the the admiration of all well-meaning people.
He said examination malpractices, cultism, social vices, forgery of results to gain admission in the Polytechnic, was also now a thing of the past, adding that management was very decisive on the matter.
Mr Ogbo noted that a number of students had either been expelled or rusticated for poor academic performance, in the ongoing efforts to sanitise the system and ensure academic excellence.
He said the current management of the Institution had embarked on academic and infrastructural revolution aimed at restoring excellence.
Mr Ogbo also said management had embarked on projects aimed at restoring and enhancing the dignity of students, as part of efforts towards producing graduates that can stand tall in terms of character and learning, for the advancement of the society.
He said management was striving towards building an institution that is accessible for all, irrespective of class or position in the society.
Usman described the NANS leadership visit as historic, in view of the fact that exactly this day, last year, Governor Yahaya Bello was at the institution to commission some projects.
He commented the governor for giving him the opportunity to serve, and stressed that he was a detribalised leader who would change the fortunes of Nigeria, if given the opportunity to lead the country.
In his remarks, President of NANS, Sunday Asefon, described as epochal, the rapid transformation being witnessed in Kogi State Polytechnic.
Mr Asefon who lauded the infrastructure and academic revolution in the institution, on behalf of over 41.1million Nigerian students at home and in Diaspora, passed a vote of confidence on Salisu Ogbo Usman.
He said the visit to the polytechnic was to enable on-the-spot assessment of the news about the positive turn-around taking place under the Ogbo Usman-led administration, adding that he was not disappointed.
Mr Asefon commended the fiscal and administrative discipline deployed by the Rector, in running the institution as well as the uninterrupted academic calendar which had restored the confidence of the general public in the credibility of the school.
The NANS President said the Rector, in less than two years, had changed the narrative of learning and social infrastructure of the school with unprecedented transformation.
He therefore commended Governor Yahaya Bello for the choice of Mr Ogbo, saying the feat achieved by the Rector could only be attributed to the governor’s knack for excellence and putting round pegs in round holes.
“Today, things have changed. For you to change the institution from glorified Secondary School to a 21st Century Polytechnic is very commendable,” he said.
NAN
