The Rector of the Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, Rev. Dr.Wence Madu, has given reasons for the delay in mobilizing the students of the institution for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme, attributing it to the delay in constituting the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) by the Federal Government.
Reports in the local newspapers had it that the delay was caused by the State Government’s lack of funding for the Polytechnic following the free education, resulting to de-accreditation of all the Higher National Diploma courses offered by the institution.
But speaking to journalists in his office yesterday, Rev. Madu disclosed that the late constitution of the NBTE board members by the federal government resulted to the names of the students of the institution not being in the database for the NYSC after the Polytechnic had passed full accreditation of its courses. He said however that the monitoring body (NBTE) which he disclosed had since written to the NYSC to express regret with clarifications, even as he apologized to the affected candidates for the embarrassment caused them by the delay
The rector assured the candidates that within few days, they would go back to NYSC camps when the Dean of students Affairs of the Polytechnic must have come back with the corrected version of the their names.
He however decried the manner some politicians were playing politics with almost every issue in the education sector in the state and urged them to moderate their politics.
Rev. Madu insisted that Governor Rochas Okorocha had funded the Polytechnic much better than any administration in the past. According to him, since his assumption of office as the rector of the Polytechnic in 2012, the governor had spent over two hundred million naira (2,000000.00) to ensure 25 programmes at National Diploma level received full accreditation from the NBTE.
He added that the governor had sponsored three accreditation visits in the last 24bmonths.
The Rector disclosed that before his appointment, only six HND courses received accreditation, but 10 more HND programmes had received accreditation totaling 16 courses since his appointment in 2012.
He maintained that his administration was on course to make the polytechnic as the best in Nigeria “this is the only Polytechnic that has NBTE approval to offer Chemical Engineering in Nigeria. If we are not doing well, how can we have our Electrical Electronics Course accredited?
He said that NBTE had even written to him declaring Imo Poly as bonafide in being faithful to accreditation
