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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
The Rector Anambra State Polytechnic Mgbakwu in Awka-North council area of Anambra state, Dr. Nneka Mefoh, has sought the assistance of the legislature to enable the state-owned polytechnic to solve some of her very teething problems.
Mefoh made the appeal during budget bilateral interactions between officials of the polytechnic and the committee on Tertiary Education of the Anambra State House of Assembly at the legislative complex Awka.
The Rector told the committee that the state-owned polytechnic had three major challenges confronting the school. She said the challenges included lack of accreditation, staff salaries and the polytechnic’s infrastructure.
She said the legislature should help prevail on the Executive arm for releases on approvals to enable the polytechnic to have a comparative advantage over her counterparts across the country and also to restore confidence in staff and students.
The Rector disclosed that in spite of the problems facing the school, the upgrade of the institution to a polytechnic was a milestone achievement as many states fought tooth and nail for the same purpose for more than 10 years but didn’t scale through, adding that the state assembly equally passed a law in 2017 to back the polytechnic.
She also told the committee that between 2017 and presently the polytechnic has had 2 NBTE accreditation visits. She said the first accreditation exercise had eight programmes accredited while the second exercise got five programmes accredited.
Mefoh further disclosed that formerly the road from Mgbakwu to Isuaniocha was horrendous but Governor Willie Obiano she said gave approval for its construction and the road was constructed, adding that more internal roads were currently under construction in the area for easy and unhindered access into the institution.
The Rector also said that Anambra State Polytechnic has national recognition; that JAMB has equally enlisted the polytechnic and Tertiary Education Fund has also enlisted the polytechnic, stressing that the institution has recorded tremendous progress since inception.
Although the Rector pointed out that initially the polytechnic had only five programmes, he said presently the polytechnic has 13 accredited programmes as well as seven Higher National Diploma programmes awaiting accreditation, noting that the state-owned polytechnic has recorded huge successes.
She however brought to the knowledge of the Tertiary Education Committee of the state assembly that one of the major problems of the institution currently was accreditation for the seven HND courses.
According to her, the polytechnic drastically needs infrastructures to enable her to obtain accreditation for the aforementioned seven HND programmes of the institution.
Mefoh therefore maintained that there was need to tackle the third problem of the polytechnic which she said was the conversion of the present condition of service to the Tertiary Institution Salary Structure to motivate as well as boost workers’ morale.
Responding, acting chairman of the Tertiary Education Committee and member representing Ogbaru One State Constituency Hon. Noble Igwe directed the Rector to write an official letter to the legislature seeking assistance to enable the polytechnic to address some of her pressing problems.
