Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan.
The ex-students Ibarapa Polytechnic on Wednesday grounded academic activities on the campus over failure of the institution to issue certificates as well as mobilize them for the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corp, NYSC.
The students, who have graduated for the past two years but are yet to get their certificates and unable to serve the nation shut down the main gate leading to the school premises.
The aggrieved students complained that the institution management has failed in their responsibilities to resolve the issue they are having, adding that the management of the institution has mismanaged funds which is meant for the accreditation of the engineering course of the institution.
The protesting students, while fielding questions from the newsmen noted that the protest would not have been necessary if the institution’s authority has fulfilled its promise of holding a meeting with them around 8am as agreed adding “We have not heard anything about this issue since our last protest, all our efforts to get in touch to the authority concern was proved abortive, our problems are yet to be attended to and we are here to show our grievances”.
Speaking on the issue, the National Senate President of the Federation of Oyo State Students Union, FOSSU, Comrade Wasiu Oke pointed out that the union is aware of what led to the protest, stressing that FOSSU as a student body is ready to take up the struggle and ensure that the matter is resolve on time. “We want to urge the Oyo State government to do their best to resolve this issue, the management of this institution in conjunction with the NBTE must also make sure that this problem is resolve on time”, Oke stated.
Oke noted that the protesting students have been delayed unnecessary and their problem has not been resolved, urging the concerned authority to find a lasting solution.
Also, the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students NANS in Oyo State, Comrade Olujuwon Asubiojo said, “What we are requesting from the school management is to resolve this problem on time. The Oyo State government should be ready to fund the accreditation and the management also should be accountable for all the money they have collected.
Addressing the aggrieved students, the Rector of the institution, Mr. Eyitayo Iyiola stated that short of fund and misinformation from the Faculty of Engineering responsible for the inability of the institution to get the necessary equipment required by NBTE for accreditation of Engineering courses.
He said, “The management of the school didn’t have enough fund to buy engineering materials to accredit the engineering courses, and we have been misinformed by the faculty concerning the accreditation”.
Iyiola reiterated that 600 million was proposed by the Faculty of Engineering for the procurement and upgrading of engineering materials so that the NBTE can come to inspect and accredit the courses adding, “Funding and misinformation was the basic cause of this issue. We have met several times and we keep on saying the same thing, the issue we are having bothers on finance. This problem will be resolve very soon because the National TETFUND has promises us some funds, together with other individual who has showed interest to assist us”