Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State

Worried by the rising cases of plagiarism among lecturers, the Nasarawa State Polytechinc chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), on Wednesday held a one-day symposium for its members on its consequences.

The symposium also dwelt on modern research strategies to help the lecturers to rely on independent methodologies.

Mr Paul Osini, chairman of the local chapter of the union, in a speech, said that the essence of the symposium was to update the lecturers on modern trends in academic research.

Osini said that the lecturers were taken through various ways through which they could use Information Communication Technology and appropriate science referencing style, to carry out research.

“Academic work has been modernized in line with globalization thereby making it imperative for lecturers to update their knowledge in order to remain relevant.

“The workshop is our modest contribution towards equipping lecturers to compete favourably with their contemporaries around the world,” he said.

While declaring the symposium open, Dr. Silas Gyar, Rector of the polytechnic, had lauded the union for the initiative, which he said was in line with the yearning of the school management toward building capacity of staff for optimum performance.

Gyar advised the union to ensure that resolutions from the symposium were packaged into a journal to serve as a blueprint for researchers.

Speaking at the event, Mallam Dalhatu Jibrin, a resource person, who presented a paper on the consequences of plagiarism, reminded the lecturers that those found guilty of such act risked termination of their jobs.

Jibrin said that owners of the plagiarized pieces could also sue for prosecution and claim huge damages.

Some of the participants, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), commended the union for the initiative and called for its sustenance.

Mr. Benjamin Ango of the Department of Public Administration, said that teaching, like other endeavours in life, was dynamic.

“The teaching job is dynamic and lecturers must be abreast of emerging technological trends in the academic field,” he said.

Similarly, Mr. Abimiku Otso of the same department, called on the management of the polytechnic to pay attention to building the capacity of its academic staff.

“An improved capacity will translate into improved services and ensure quality graduates,” he said.

(NAN)