The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) on Monday rejected the reconstituted governing councils of Federal Polytechnics in the country announced by federal government.
President of the ASUP, Comrade Shammah S. Kpanja, in a statement called for the review of the names announced by the government because they did not have the requisite knowledge.
He said the union condemned the dissolution of the former councils as such action go against the provision of Polytechnic Act.
Comrade Kpanja however, warned that government must review the lists announced before the inauguration because the list released cannot improve the lot of the Polytechnics but rather turn them to play grounds for businessmen.
The statement reads, “It is worth noting that our Union had condemned the illegal dissolution of the previous councils against the provisions of the Federal Polytechnics Act and has therefore been consistent in demanding that the councils be reconstituted without any delay.
“Unfortunately, the reconstitution process took nearly one year within which a lot of complications and illegalities held the sector captive.
“Having carefully studied the released list of new members, we want to express our dissatisfaction and disappointment with the composition for the Polytechnics.
“Our Union has been demanding that persons with the requisite knowledge of the workings of the sector be appointed.
“Such persons in the category of former Rectors and other Principal Officers from the sector, former chief executives and staff of the regulatory body, retired and serving Chief Lecturers and other staff from the sector who have displayed adequate knowledge of the workings of the sector abound in sufficient numbers.
“The current composition falls significantly short of the above as no such person(s) in the categories listed was appointed.
“This is a great disservice to the Polytechnics and is also different from the experience in the two other sub sectors that make up the tertiary education sector.
“We are witnesses to the fact that former Executive Secretaries of regulatory bodies were appointed in the other sub sectors; but none was curiously found appointable for the Polytechnics.
“Former Principal Officers and retired and serving staff were appointed but none was found appointable for the Polytechnics despite the retinue of former Rectors, Chief Lecturers and other Principal Officers prevalent in Nigeria’s Polytechnic System. Our Union views this unwholesome trend as an extension of the age long discrimination against Polytechnics in the country and an attempt to push the sector into crisis.
“Our Union hereby demands that the list for the Polytechnics be reviewed before the inauguration to include the class of persons with requisite knowledge of the workings of Polytechnics.
“This will save the sector from crisis associated with poor governance which is likely to prevail if the list is not reviewed accordingly”.
