By Philip Yatai
Dr Aliyu Ibrahim, the Chairman, Kaduna Polytechnic Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), on Tuesday said his office had been under the mango tree for more than 18 years.
Ibrahim told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that he did not have an office for the past 18 years due to infrastructure deficit.
He decried the high level of infrastructure deficit in the institution.
According to him, nothing has changed in terms of infrastructure since I graduated from the institution in 1994.
“I am privileged to be talking to you in this office today because am ASUP chairman but my office is under the mango tree.
“I do not have an office since I joined the institution 18 years ago. I seat under the mango tree.
“If my students or anybody wants to see me, he must either meet me in the class or strategically position himself and wait for me to pass by.
“This is just to tell you how bad the situation is. It is affecting our motivation and making it difficult to impact knowledge,’’ Ibrahim told NAN.
He said that Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had not been fair to polytechnics in terms of intervention for infrastructural development.
“If TETFund gives university N200 million, for example, it will give polytechnic N50 million for infrastructure.
“Nigeria is a developing economy and needs the middle class of manpower to develop the economy.
“The essence of polytechnic education is to bring out middle class operations in terms of technological advancement, design implementation and even research.
“The lack of infrastructure in the system is hampering the ability of the middle class to deliver, ‘’ he said.
The ASUP Chairman called on the Federal Government to address infrastructure challenges affecting polytechnic education in the country.
