Making KadPoly A Varsity’ll Be Beneficial To Nigeria — Rector

The Rector, Kaduna Polytechnic, Dr. Muhammed Bello Ibrahim, in this interview with ISAIAH BENJAMIN, speaks about the challenge of running the institution, his relationship with the unions and his programme for internal revenue generation. He contends that turning the instituion to a university will bode well for technical education in the country. 

How has the journey so far been as the rector of Kaduna Polytechnic?

I would not say tough. But it is really quite a challenging journey. Here, you have an institution that came through crisis. We all know what happened to Kaduna Polytechnic over the years, specifically the crisis it went through, and for nine months the institution was closed down - no academic activities. The union and every sector of the institution was practically affected, in between, we had acting capacities. There were two instances and I just came in to actually serve. Within that period of crisis, the management was dissolved also the council.  There was a white paper recommendation and things like that. So when we came in, actually, the last regime managed to stabilize the institution. But we came in to inherit a great deal of challenges especially expectations from staff as well. Ever since we came in, our idea was that of maintaining peace and order and actually building on what we met so that the institution is fully stabilized. We specifically went into confidence building mechanisms that will actually bring about peace, harmony and understanding among the staff and equally also those measures that will actually reinforce assurance to staff that they have the people who can oversee the affairs of the institution justly and fairly too in all our activities.  I think, so far, if you take time and interact with staff, I think we are actually making substantial head way. It may not necessarily be that it has not been easy, because the stress in is there. You have to work from morning. You have to stay till evening and at times late at night with meetings all the time. That’s the challenges. But apart from those challenges is essentially that of meeting up with the demands of our unions.

 

One of the challenges that paralyzed the academic activities in the institution for three months was the allegation of financial misappropriation against the then management  by ASUP. You promised, when you came on board, to use all powers available to you to block all financial leakages; to what extent have you achieved this aspiration?

Very well, I think,. I can say with confidence that, so far, we have blocked substantially, all ways by which all monies are even lost or being siphoned away. We are looking for other ways, including the use of ICT and sophisticated technologies that we can muster within our powers and it is very important to do that, considering the meager resources that the institution receives and the large number in terms of population of both of staff and students. As you may know, the institution is the largest in West Africa, south of the Sahara; your guess is as good as mine that you need a lot of money to run an institution like that. So the little you get, certainly you have to jealously guard it. Our major revenue is essentially is from what we get from student registration, consultancy services and other affiliations we do. So we focus on all these and it has paid so far.  We are not recording losses because we know what we are expecting.  We compute these things and go on with mental arithmetic; on daily and weekly basis, we compile all financial and audit reports on what we have, every now and then. We don’t leave things to chances. What we want is to have a system.  It is when you have a system that is self accounting, and then automatically, the people that will man the system will equally be watched so that there are no rooms for any leakages.

 

What is your working relationship with the unions, particularly with ASUP, NASUP and SSANIP?

I am a unionist myself. We were the first group that introduced the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP). I was first executive from Kaduna Polytechnic. So I know the demands of the staff. Over the years that has gradually resulted in crippling the institution. It is a very painful thing. Nobody is happy to see where he is working crippled to standstill. But thank God we came out of it. We have actually substantially been engaging them. The first we did was to engage all the unions the academic ASUP, SSANIP and the NASUP.  We are constantly engaging and going into dialogue and discussion with them - in the office, at home, elsewhere when we meet. Any opportunity, we get, we discuss issues with them. As far as I am concerned, there is no barrier. If you were here yesterday, you would have seen us, almost three hours when we were together with NASUP. We were discussing areas the institution could assist them; the same thing with SSANIP. What I always tell them is that, fundamentally; we need to have the institution first before we have the union. We need to have a Kaduna Polytechnic first, before we can have the NASUP, ASUP, and SSANIP.  So first and foremost, our target is to make sure that the institution is there; not only that we have a Kaduna Polytechnic, but to serve as leadership to other polytechnics in the country. Our target is actually to make sure that we come out of the crisis. And we provide the leadership. So as far as relationship with union is concerned, it is excellent. There were some outstanding allowances. The first thing, I looked at a critical period, so before Sallah, we targeted to pay them.  In fact, they did not believe that it will be possible to pay them. We did it.  We put all resources together and made sure that allowances for the evening classes, particularly which was ASUP, were paid and that was the money most of them used to buy their sallah rams and other things for sallah preparations.  At the same time, before the Christmas and New Year, we packaged other allowances. That has actually made the union completely come to terms with the management on grounds of good relationships. They know actually we mean what we say and we follow it with action and the action is carried out within the stipulated time we give to ourselves.  I can assure you that all the unions are happy. Now we want to focus our attention to development of infrastructure in the institution and targeting our attention to making life conducive to our students who are our valued customers. You know without the students, there is no institution. We equally take them very seriously. We try to see that all their problems, and  complaints are equally attended to as much as possible and within the confines of our limited resources.

 

You also gave the assurance that you will pursue vigorously the conversion of Kaduna Polytechnic to a university; to what extent have you gone about the conversion?

The conversion issue is a federal government decision actually. Ours is actually to put pressure and the pressure may not necessarily be in the open.  Everything is in shape. I think that was actually the first comment by the minister. Now that it is the substantive institution to the extent of having a rector, hopefully the conversion issue will eventually pick up and we will make effort to actually put pressure directly or indirectly to the people that matter in the issue.  The conversion is a good process. You know the institution has come a long way in terms of history.  I think it is older than second generation universities.  In actual fact, it falls in line with first generation universities. In terms of size, facility and infrastructure, very few universities in actual fact can compete with what is on ground in Kaduna Polytechnic. You have a population of staff of about 2,600, very young and energetic. We have a total of PhD holders numbering about 270 or there about of those either finishing or already on ground.  I can assure you; this is a figure that not every university can boast of.  Most importantly too is the history and unique nature of the institution,  its position vis-à-vis technical education in Nigeria,  I can assure you, it has everything it takes. If given the opportunity, Kaduna Poly will take this country to greater height in terms of technical innovation and sophistication.  It is something that if the federal government sticks to it and allow its realization will bring tremendous development to the institution and to the country in general considering the history, size and opportunity abound within the institution.

 

Recently, you were quoted to have lamented the flight of PhD holders of lecturers from the institution; if this conversion to university becomes a reality, how do you think this will affect the institution?    

Positively, if it becomes a reality and it is converted to a university.  It means those running away to other polytechnics, not that they are going to other polytechnics, in most cases they rush to universities - because it is only logical that when you get a PhD the next thing is for you to attempt for is the desire to become a professor.  I told you, there are young people with energy in them. You don’t expect them to stand by watch their own mates move to the very peak.  It is expected that by the time we get the conversion, it means therefore we will be in position on our own actually, because I guess there are many around who would have been professors if it were to be a university, because what it takes actually is to carry out effective supervision of projects then convert those items for promotion. It is not that you have to go back to classroom where you supervise and it is adjudged that you have made the minimum requirement for becoming a professor. This is history where actually, given the upper hand of the university over the years, one  would have been a professor or associate professor. It is just that it does not exist within the polytechnic system and that explains why as soon as people get PhD they rush out to universities.  It is not good because here also we need them to supervise quality research that will actually be used for developmental purposes for industries to patronize our research works. The conversion could translate into positive benefit to the institution.  It means we want to retain them.  I told you we have over 50 of them over a year.  If that is the case, we have about 250 or more and some training abroad.  If we can retain these ones and others, then I can assure you, in not too distant future, we will be able to compete with any university around, especially with our plans on ICT and stuff like that.

 

What measures are you putting in place to ensure the security of the students, staff as well as infrastructure of the institution?

That is the area I don’t play with.  Having stayed for 10 years in Niger Delta, I know what security means;  I know what protection of lives and property is.  The first thing we did on my coming into office is that we re-invigorated all machinery in respect of security. We meet constantly. We have what we call rapid response committee that actually deals with any emergency situation that could be of security threat.  Only this (that) morning I called a meeting of all the security heads and we discussed how to continue to secure our boundaries and fences in making sure that our own students and staff are not unduly taken advantage of by hooligans or by anybody for that matter.  So what I demand everyday is that the acting chief security officer should present a situation report of security around our campus, so that I go through it every morning; in fact that is the first tea or coffee that I take. Until when I realize that everything is calm, then I attend to other mails of the day, otherwise I make it a duty to know what is happening before I start any day’s work.  We have a security consultant - a retired colonel, and he has a lot of experience in intelligence gathering and we have the SSS on ground which gives us security reviews. Everyday we communicate with them. We try equally to secure the environment of the institution to make sure our property is equally protected.

 

Any plans to improve welfare packages for the staff?

Yes.  You know everything borders on generation of internally generated Revenue (IGR). If I have my way, I would have introduced a salary like it is obtainable in the oil industry.  My target actually is to see an institution with a robust revenue base.  I even want a situation whereby we shouldn’t be waiting for government to pay us salary. From our own consultancy works, the industry that we intend to actually set up.  We actually intend to set up a situation in which we should be able to take care of our problems.  When we came into office, our table water was selling at N30,000 per week, now it is about N170,000 per week. Our bread was making about N3,000, now it is about N17,000.  We have other outfits like block industry which we intend to re-engineer to make sure that major construction work are actually carried out properly.  They come to buy our blocks.  We intend to establish skill acquisition centre where we intend to train our youth in partnership with government, and in such manner we help to generate revenue for the institution and help in addressing institution’s problems in Kaduna town and the state in particular and the north in general.  Our target actually is tomake billions in terms of IGR so that we should be able to compete with some of the state governments in terms of revenue generation. When we do that, we should be able to get special packages for out staffers. We have the capability to establishing automobile mechanic village, industrial park, where you can repair machines, vehicles, just like the Mandilas and other private companies. We intend to go into private practice seriously and ownership of companies.

 

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Court Sentences 6 Persons For Attempt To Vandalise Communication Installation

An Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced six persons to jail for attempting to vandalise communication installation in Maitama, Abuja. The six, who were charged with joint act and attempt to commit an offence, are Sani Abubakar, Mus...

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APGA Says Party Ready For FCT Council Polls

Mr Ifeanacho Oguejiofor, the Director of Publicity, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), on Monday in Abuja expressed the party’s readiness for the April FCT council polls.

Oguejiofor told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that candidates for the FCT elections had emerged in various council areas.

`` We are going to contest elections where we have strong base, areas like Abuja Municipal, Kuje, Bwari and Gwagwalada area councils.

`` We do not want our votes to be scattered, so we decided to concentrate in areas where we are sure we will emerge victorious,” he said.

He said the party had the wherewithal to contest the elections, adding that it was already campaigning.

`` The problem is that most people look at the Federal Government as if it is the only government in power.

``We want a situation where by if voted into power, we will be able to bring the government closer to the people.

`` We should be able to know the yearnings of the people and be ready to embark on programmes that have direct bearing on their lives

`` As you can see, items in the market are very expensive, this is because there are no access roads to bring those goods to the city centre,” Oguejiofor said.

According to him, ``we are going to sink bore holes, construct access roads in order to enable the indigenes to transport their farm produce to the cities without going through any stress''.

He said corruption was the major factor militating against meaningful development within the FCT and promised that if voted into office, the party would tackle it headlong.

Oguejiofor promised the people that the party would use all revenues and other funds to execute projects with transparency and accountability.

``Look at the wonderful works our party is doing in Anambra and Imo, we promised to do same in the FCT, if voted into power, ” he said.

He described the party as mass-oriented and progressive, adding that it had the interest of the people at heart and Nigerians in general.

He, however, urged the Federal Government to create a conducive atmosphere for the conduct of the elections to guarantee free, fair and credible results. (NAN)

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NITEL Manager, 16 Others Arrested Over Alleged N50m Cables Theft

The police in Lagos have arrested a NITEL Manager and 16 others for allegedly stealing NITEL cables worth N50 million from its warehouse in Victoria Island, Lagos.

A very reliable source at Victoria Island Police Station, who disclosed this on Monday to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the suspects were arrested at about 12:30a.m. on Sunday at NITEL Warehouse, Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos.

“We have been on surveillance for about two months for the suspects-- after we got intelligence report about their activities.
"The ring leader, one Safui, had promised one of the police officers in the station N2 million, so as to assist them to steal the cables.

“Some officers were posted to keep watch over the facilities.

"They (suspects) came in with a disguised truck, with NITEL stickers, so as to suggest that they were NITEL staff.

“They were about driving out when our men swooped on them. A NITEL Warehouse Manager, one other NITEL staff and 15 others, were arrested on the spot.

“The truck and the cables are currently kept at the police station,” the source told NAN.

The police source said that the suspects attempted to bribe the police officers with N700,000, after their arrest.

“The suspected ring -leader also threatened to use his influence to post the officers from the station to other areas if they did not co-operate with him,’’ the source added. (NAN)

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Lawmaker Faults INEC Over Request For Autonomy

A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Peter Edeh ( ANPP-Ebonyi), on Monday in Abuja faulted INEC over request for full autonomy.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC had proposed amendments to the Electoral Act to enable it disqualify candidates and political parties with flawed primaries from contesting elections.

Edeh said in an interview with NAN that there was the need for caution in trying to empower the commission.

"I do not share the opinion to allow INEC to have power to disqualify candidates in elections," he said.

According to him, if such powers are given to the commission, it will be abused by some chairmen with dictatorial tendencies.

He said that it was out of place for the commission to request for sweeping powers in carrying out its constitutional mandate.

"There is no authority in this country that is not subject to the supervision of any authority," he said.

He said the proposed request for amendments of the Electoral Act by INEC would be considered on its merit if it was brought to the House.

The legislator said that in spite of the achievements of the current chairman, certain powers should not be given to the commission.

Edeh described the nullification of election of 10 members of the National Assembly by a Federal High Court as democracy in action.

NAN recalls that a Federal High Court on Jan. 11, nullified the Certificate of Return issued to 10 lawmakers, members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) representing Katsina State in the National Assembly.

He urged political parties to imbibe the culture of fair play by adopting internal democracy where every member would be given equal opportunity during primaries.

The legislator enjoined the members involved to accept the verdict and allow the country's democracy to grow. (NAN)

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EU Rules Out Military Combat Mission To Mali

The EU has no plans to give any combat role to its upcoming military training mission in Mali, an EU foreign policy spokesman said on Monday.

The EU made its position known, following France's intervention in the sub-Saharan state against al Qaeda-linked Islamists last week.

The EU plans to speed up preparations to send military trainers for the Malian army.

This mission is now expected to start late in February or early March.

But the format of the mission will not be changed for now, spokesman Michael Mann told a daily briefing.

When asked whether he could rule out a combat mission by the EU, he said, ``Yes, I can.’’

Islamist rebels in Mali launched a counter-offensive on Monday after three days of strikes by French fighter jets on their strongholds in the desert north.

France is determined to end Islamist domination of northern Mali, which many fear could act as a launch pad for attacks on the West and a base for coordination with al Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa. (Reuters/NAN)

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