Are you a Polytechnic Student? Then Read this Press Statement Please
TEXT
OF PRESS CONFERENCE DELIVERED BY COMRADE C.B ASOMUGHA, PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC
STAFF UNION OF POLYTECHNICS (ASUP) ON 15TH JANUARY, 2014 AT RICH CREST HOTEL, ENUGU.
Gentlemen of the press, it has become expedient to
once again bring to the attention of the world the sustained non challant attitude
of the government of Nigeria towards polytechnic education and by extension,
the future of hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youths.
You will recall that polytechnics in the country
have remained closed (intermittently) for the past six (6) months occasioned by
the strike action embarked upon by our Union, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics
(ASUP) to press home legitimate demands. These demands are clearly in the
direction of strengthening legal and institutional frameworks for the
actualisation of the mandates of Nigerian Polytechnics, strengthening the
capacity of teaching staff to actualise their deliverables as well as
decimating the age long discrimination against the sector and its products.
For reasons of clarity, the issues at the centre of
the current engagement include:
1.
The
need for the constitution of Governing Councils of Federal Polytechnics
2.
The
migration of the lower cadres on the CONTISSS 15 salary scale
3.
The
release of the white paper on the visitations to Federal Polytechnics
4.
The
need for the commencement of the needs assessment of Nigerian Polytechnics
5.
The
worrisome state of state owned Polytechnics in the country.
6.
The
continued appointment of unqualified persons as Rectors and Provosts of Nigerian
Polytechnics and Monotechnics by governments.
7.
The
refusal of most state governments to implement the approved salary packages
(CONPCASS) for their Polytechnics and Monotechnics as well as the 65 years
retirement age.
8.
The
continued recognition of the NBTE as the regulatory body of Nigerian
Polytechnics as against the Union’s repeated
calls for the establishment of a National Polytechnics Commission.
9.
The
snail speed pace of the review of the Federal Polytechnics Act at the National
Assembly.
10. The reluctance of the office of the Head of service
of the Federation to approve the revised scheme of service for Polytechnics.
11.
The
insistence of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to include
Federal Polytechnics in the IPPIS module as against the Union’s protestations
while other arms of the tertiary education subsector are allowed to maintain
the status quo.
12. The non commencement of the re negotiation of the
FGN/ASUP agreement as contained in the signed agreement.
The lethargy, associated with Government’s response
to these issues is underlined by the fact that the first item on the list of our
demands – the constitution of Governing Councils was addressed (partially) only
when the union started its indefinite strike in April 2013. It is also note worthy
to recount that correspondence concerning these issues started in February
2012, with no serious response from the government. Since the commencement of
the indefinite strike by the Union,
government’s response has been haphazard and unconvincing.
Till date, the white paper on the visitation panels
to the Federal Polytechnics set up by the Federal Government nearly two years
ago is yet to be released. This is a clear indication of neglect as the
Governing councils set up are expected to be implementing the recommendations from
the white paper. It is worrisome that after spending millions of tax payers’
funds on the exercise which lasted for a month, no report has been released
leaving the inaugurated Councils rudderless.
Another clear indicator of neglect in the sector is
seen in the obsolete and retrogressive provisions in the Polytechnic’s Act
which our Union has been craving for its
review. The review process has been stalled in the National Assembly as a
result of the non committal disposition of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Polytechnics in Nigeria
have thus continued to suffer the stifling impact of extant provisions in the
Act which erodes administrative autonomy, encourages dissipation of scarce
resources, promotes avoidable conflicts and distractions associated with the
quest for second term by principal officers in Nigerian Polytechnics and
promotes human capital flight from the sector. ASUP has held that the
provisions in the Act, which allow for the ratio of 7: 1 in favour of external
membership in Governing Councils has under developed our Polytechnics.
Successive administrative and political heads of FME have sustained the use of
this obsolete document, conjuring self seeking reliefs through circulars and
abandoning the noble objectives of a thorough and holistic review process.
Polytechnics in Nigeria have continued to suffer
from poor regulation. Standards are irregular, both in administrative and
academic facets. This is traced to the absence of a commission designated to
play appropriate regulatory roles like in the other sub sectors. This is an age
long demand of ASUP. The sustained recognition of the National Board for
Technical Education (NBTE) as the regulatory agency for Polytechnics (in
addition to the over 200 vocational and technical institutions in its
regulatory port folio) has ensured that Nigerian Polytechnics continue to
suffer from poor regulatory activities. Our Union
has continued to insist that the sector deserves its own commission (National
Polytechnics Commission) with commensurate organs, legal and administrative
frameworks and funding portfolio equivalent to those of other sub sectors
including Universities and Colleges of Education. Government has continued to
play politics with this demand while at the same time admitting to the
appropriateness of such demand.
The poor regulation of Nigerian Polytechnics has
led to duplication of standards. Most of the Polytechnics under state
proprietorship have continued to operate in environments undeserving of
tertiary education anywhere in the world. Staffs are placed in deplorable
working conditions with arbitrary retirement and progression requirements as
well as salary structures. Unqualified persons are still being imposed on some
Polytechnics as Rectors while at the same time persons from outside the sector
are still being hired to head our polytechnics where they operate as
mercenaries. These practices have encouraged sustained brain drain in the
sector. Since the commencement of our current engagement, the government has
only continued to pay lip service to this demand. There has not been any
conscious effort to mainstream state proprietors into the discussions at any
level.
The implementation of the migration of officers on
the lower cadre on the CONTISS 15 salary scale has only received administrative
approval. This process started in 2009, yet the Government has refused to
commit to its responsibilities by providing cash backing for the policy.
Statements credited to the supervising Minister for Education to the contrary
are deceptive and outright falsehood. Government has continued to abdicate from
its responsibilities with respect to personnel emoluments, slashing allocations
arbitrarily and pushing funding responsibilities to individual institutions.
This is unfortunate as the institutions are not equipped to source funds to
meet such responsibilities which the government is pushing to them. Capital
funding is virtually nonexistent, yet the intervention funds from TETFUND are
discriminatorily applied to the sector. In addition to this, government has
refused to set up a renegotiation committee to commence the renegotiation of
the ASUP/FGN agreement which was due in 2012, as contained in the signed
agreement.
Regrettably, however, government has neither shown concern
over the repercussions of this action nor has it been worried that the polytechnic
sector which is largely responsible for training of the technical manpower needs
of the nation is in a state of disarray. This is a clear indication of the estimation
in which government holds polytechnic education, a perception that has
exacerbated the discrimination and marginalization of the sector and its
graduates by both the public and private sectors of the economy.
While government is busy intervening in other
sectors that have been on strike or threatening strike, it has remained
nonchalant about responding to the cry of our union and to end the six month
old strike. We make bold to say that the critical state of the polytechnic
sector today has significantly been encouraged by government’s attitude and
approach to issues concerning it.
Globally,
technical education has become a key driver of growth and development and
countries with higher skills levels are better equipped to face new challenges
and master technological discoveries. That is why throughout the world, and in particular the
progressive economies of Sub-Saharan Africa, governments are renewing efforts
to promote technical education and training with the belief that skill
formation enhances productivity and sustains competitiveness in the global
economy.
As nations respond responsibly to the need for technical
and vocational education and have worked to equip their institutions to meet
the challenges, Nigeria
is only pretending and paying lip service to repositioning the polytechnic sector
to make it respond to the challenges of our emergent civilization.
What baffles our union and other well-meaning stakeholders
in the sector is the failure of our leaders to appreciate the technological challenges
posed by global trends, replicate and improve on them.
Ironically, polytechnic education as conceived in Nigeria was copied from Britain where
the system took off as far back as 1962. Today Britain has overhauled and
harmonised the sector and made it respond to the technological and specific
needs of the country. Unfortunately, not much could be said about our country
as our polytechnics have continued to endure neglect and discrimination.
The history of our struggle with government which
led to the current strike is long and detailed. As far back as February, 2012
our union had brought the issues in contention to the attention of government.
Following government inaction over these demands, the
union issued a 30-day ultimatum in December, 2012 which expired on 31st
January, 2013. Despite the expiration of
the ultimatum, our Union went ahead and gave
ample opportunity to government to enable it address the issues. Unfortunately,
government’s disposition portrayed nothing but lack of commitment.
On the 25th of March, 2013 the National
Executive Council (NEC) of our Union again
issued a 21-day ultimatum which expired on 22nd April, 2013. This led to the
declaration of a one-week warning strike which culminated in an indefinite
strike action on 29th April 2013. Following several levels of
intervention by well meaning Nigerians including the Joint Education Committee
of the National Assembly chaired by Senator Uche Chukwumerije and on the
understanding that government will meet four of the union’s demands within two weeks;
the strike action was suspended on 17th July, 2013.
After two
months of suspension of the strike, government met only two of the demands and
has continuously evaded the remaining issues for no clear cause. On 4th October, 2013 our NEC reviewed the
lack of commitment of government to addressing her demands and directed the
resumption of the strike action. Three
months into the season of the ongoing strike, government has remained insensitive
to the reasons for the strike and the cumulative effects.
Gentlemen of the press, it
is instructive to note that the polytechnic sector in Nigeria is
facing a challenging period in its development. The framework that will revamp
the sector requires inventiveness and the strengthening of all resources-both
human and financial as well as thorough commitment from government and the
participation and support of all stakeholders.
The polytechnic, like its
other counterparts in the education sector require increased funding and
support to enable it improve efficiencies in mandate delivery so as to meet the
challenges ahead and to impact on the growth of the nation’s economy. Records
have shown that despite our country’s huge financial resources, it has failed
to improve on its funding of education as required by UNESCO and therefore
occupies the least position on available tables and charts:
Table1. Federal Government Budgetary
Allocation to the Education Sector, 2000 – 2013 Year Allocation as percentage
of total budget Year Allocation as percentage of total budget
2000
8.36
2001
7.00
2002
5.9
2003 1.83
2004 10.5
2005
9.3
2006 11.00
2007 8.09
2008 13.0
2009 6.54
2010 6.40
2011
1.69
2012 10.0
2013 8.70
Sources:
Central Bank of Nigeria
(2013). Statistical Bulletin and Information. Retrieved on 07/01/2014 from www.nigeria.gov.ng
Table 2: Annual budgetary allocations of 20 World Bank
sampled countries to education (World Bank, 2012) S/No. % Budget allocation to
education
Country % Position
Ghana 31.0 1st
Cote d’ Ivore 30.0 2nd
Uganda 27.0
3rd
Morocco 26.4 4th
South Africa 25.8 5th
Swaziland 24.6 6th
Mexico 24.3
7th
Kenya 23.0
8th
U A E 22.5 9th
Botswana 19.0
10th
Iran 17.7
11th
USA 17.1
12th
Tunisia 17.0 13th
Lesotho 17.0
14th
Burkina Faso 16.8
15th
Norway 16.2
16th
Colombia 15.6
17th
Nicaragua 15.0
18th
India 12.7 19th
Nigeria 8.4 20th
(Last)
Table 3: Annual total scores on Ibrahim Index for
African Governance 2006 to 2012 by all African countries (Mo Ibrahim
Foundation, 2012) RANK
2006
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1st
Mauritius
78 79 83 83
83 83 83
2nd Cape Verde 74 77 80 77 78 78 78
3rd
Botswana 76
76 76 76 77 77 77
4th
Seychelles
74 72
72 74 75 73 73
5th
South Africa
72 71 70 70 71 71 71
6th
Namibia 70 70 69 69 69 70
70
7th
Ghana
64 64 64 66
66 66 66
8th
Tunisia 65
65 62 61 60 63 63
9th
Lesotho 61
62 63 61 61 61
61
10th
Tanzania
58
58 58 58 59 59
59
11th
São Tomé &
PrÃncipe 57 58 58 57 57
58 58
12th
Zambia
56 57 57 56 57
58 58
13th
Benin 59 60 57 59
59 58 58
14th
Egypt 58 60 60 61
60 58 58
15th
Morocco 57 57
56 57 57 57
57
16th
Senegal 59
58 56 57 57 56
56
17th
Malawi
53 53 53 56
57 56 56
18th
Burkina Faso
53 52 53 55 56
55 55
19thUganda 54 55 54 53
55 55 55
20th
Mali
53 53 53 53
54 55 55
21st
Mozambique
55 53 53 55 54
55 55
22nd
Gabon
48 48 49 49
53 54 54
23rd
Rwanda
51 51 52 52 53
53 53
24th
Algeria
54 56 54 54 54
53 53
25th
Kenya 54 54 54 51 54 53 53
26th
Swaziland
50 50 51
51 52 52 52
27th
Gambia
53 52 53 51
51 52 52
28th
Niger 43 43 45 44
45 50 50
29th
Djibouti
49 49
46 48 49 49 49
30th
Sierra Leone
39 44 45 45 48
48 48
31st
Comoros
48 43 47 47
48 q 48 48
32nd
Mauritania
50 53
43 46 47 48 48
33rd
Ethiopia 46 45 46
46 46 47 47
34th
Liberia
35 39 40 43
46 47 47
35th
Madagascar
59
60 57 50 47 46
46
36th
Cameroon 44
46 46 46 45 45 45
37th
Burundi
44 46 44 47
45 45 45
38th
Libya
53 52 53 52 50 44
44
39th
Togo
38 39 42 44 45 44
44
40th
Angola
35 36 39 41 43 44 44
41st
Congo
40 40 41 41
43 43 43
42nd
Guinea
39 38 35 34
40 43 43
43rd Nigeria
42 42 42 42
43 42 42
44th
E- Guinea
37
39 40 39 39 41 41
45th
G-Bissau 41 41 42 37
40 40 40
46th
Côte d'Ivoire
35 36 35 36 36 39
39
47th
Zimbabwe
33 32
30 32 33 34
34
48th
Central A R 28 30 34 32 32
34 34
49th
Eritrea 39
38 37 34 34 33
33
50th
Chad 31 30 27 29
32 33 33
51st Congo, D R. 31 32 32 32
32 33 33
52nd
Somalia
9
10 7 8 8 7
7
The key indicators in the statistics presented above
can be summarized as follows:
1. Nigeria’s
annual budgetary allocations to education (5.7241%) as indicated in table 1 are
significantly lower than the UNESCO recommended minimum (26%) for developing
countries.
2. Nigeria’s
percentage of the total annual budgetary allocations to education in table 2 is
significantly lower than those of the 20 World Bank sampled countries. Nigeria is
actually the worst of the all sitting far below other African countries that
are economically very poor.
3. Nigeria’s
score card on the Education Sub-category of Ibrahim Index for African
Governance is significantly lower than the average score of all African
countries. Of the 52 African countries, Nigeria’s position is 43rd
and no significant effort is being made to reverse the trend.
In
Nigeria,
qualified human capital remains scarce compared to the country’s development
needs. This situation in the polytechnic sector is worse and has continued to
hinder growth and undermine the foundation for sustainable development. Because
skills for the country’s technology are built at the polytechnic level,
improving the sector should be high on Nigeria’s development agenda to ensure
that our graduates are trained in an
ambience that enables them acquire the skills to compete, innovate, and respond
to complex social, environmental, and economical situations.
Our challenges in
the polytechnic sector in Nigeria
are many; and have equally hampered the creation of a more convenient platform
for the sector to grow and develop as is obtainable in the developed and
developing countries of the world. What we have at hand today represents the flipside to every
sustained effort in developing polytechnic education, and the results are
dismal and discouraging.
It
is disheartening to note that the discrimination against the polytechnic sector
is not only more pronounced in yearly budgetary allocations to the sector but also
in the classification of the lecturers and graduates from the sector. The
enormous effect of the discrimination has erroneously printed on the minds of
most Nigerians the impression that the polytechnic sector is inferior to the
university and this is largely responsible for why very few candidates aspire
to pursue their career in the sector.
The
recent release by JAMB indicates that in the 2013 UTME, 1,670,833 candidates
applied to the universities while 28,977 and 28,445 to polytechnics and
colleges of education respectively. These figures reflect the overbearing
premium Nigerians place on university education at the expense of the specific
contribution of other sectors of the tertiary to national growth.
|
SUMMARY OF BUDGETARY ALLOCATION TO
POLYTECHNICS, COLLEGES OF EDUCATION & UNIVERSITIES IN 2013
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
0517018001
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC ADO-EKITI
|
2,644,827,730
|
125,073,298
|
2,769,901,028
|
216,256,799
|
2,986,157,827
|
|||||
|
0517018002
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC BAUCHI
|
2,391,837,624
|
107,795,780
|
2,499,633,404
|
216,658,585
|
2,716,291,989
|
|||||
|
0517018003
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC BIDA
|
3,031,438,990
|
167,562,192
|
3,199,001,182
|
248,254,567
|
3,447,255,749
|
|||||
|
0517018004
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC IDAH
|
1,987,311,778
|
134,616,209
|
2,121,927,987
|
209,058,138
|
2,330,986,125
|
|||||
|
0517018005
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC KAURA-NAMODA
|
2,539,188,971
|
119,880,261
|
2,659,069,232
|
158,667,513
|
2,817,736,745
|
|||||
|
0517018006
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC MUBI
|
3,932,270,180
|
119,024,058
|
4,051,294,238
|
195,062,603
|
4,246,356,841
|
|||||
|
0517018007
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC NASARAWA
|
2,485,510,919
|
97,721,463
|
2,583,232,382
|
199,861,710
|
2,783,094,092
|
|||||
|
0517018008
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC UWANA-AFIKPO
|
3,689,865,822
|
112,953,195
|
3,802,819,017
|
182,663,049
|
3,985,482,066
|
|||||
|
0517018009
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC KADUNA
|
6,973,243,888
|
260,759,039
|
7,234,002,927
|
270,872,845
|
7,504,875,772
|
|||||
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC OFFA
|
2,626,791,433
|
103,277,409
|
2,730,068,842
|
214,430,932
|
2,944,499,774
|
||||||
|
0517018011
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC EDE
|
1,799,251,434
|
78,593,389
|
1,877,844,823
|
217,232,271
|
2,095,077,094
|
|||||
|
0517018012
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC AUCHI
|
4,312,072,779
|
152,457,444
|
4,464,530,223
|
218,484,452
|
4,683,014,675
|
|||||
|
0517018013
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC NEKEDE
|
2,958,518,202
|
92,014,648
|
3,050,532,850
|
263,455,460
|
3,313,988,310
|
|||||
|
0517018014
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC OKO
|
4,127,353,674
|
142,650,039
|
4,270,003,713
|
265,453,228
|
4,535,456,941
|
|||||
|
0517018015
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC DAMATURU
|
782,495,173
|
57,674,917
|
840,170,090
|
209,241,200
|
1,049,411,290
|
|||||
|
0517018016
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC HUSSAINI ADAMU
|
684,806,288
|
120,444,818
|
805,251,106
|
150,044,771
|
955,295,877
|
|||||
|
0517018017
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC GWANDU
|
2,648,791,357
|
110,784,350
|
2,759,575,707
|
202,261,263
|
2,961,836,970
|
|||||
|
0517018018
|
FEDERAL
POLYTECHNIC ILARO
|
1,698,203,767
|
67,169,692
|
1,765,373,459
|
187,462,156
|
1,952,835,615
|
|||||
|
0517018019
|
YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
|
3,622,387,572
|
212,128,467
|
3,834,516,039
|
235,281,327
|
4,069,797,366
|
|||||
Table 4: Federal Government Expenditures
Shares by level of Education, 1996–2002 in Percentages.
|
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
|
Tertiary
|
79
|
78.9
|
68.4
|
69.0
|
75.8
|
68.1
|
76.9
|
|
Universities
|
52.5
|
44.6
|
39.4
|
39.9
|
49.2
|
39.6
|
51.2
|
|
Polytechnics
|
16.2
|
23.2
|
17.0
|
18.5
|
17.0
|
16.6
|
16.0
|
|
Colleges of Education
|
11.2
|
11.1
|
12.0
|
10.6
|
9.6
|
11.9
|
9.7
|
|
Secondary
|
10.4
|
11.3
|
14.6
|
18.7
|
15.3
|
15.5
|
15.6
|
|
Primary
|
9.7
|
9.8
|
16.9
|
12.2
|
8.9
|
16.4
|
7.5
|
Source: Federal Government of Nigeria, Annual Budget (various
years). Reported in Herbert (2002) and Hinchliffe (2002)
While our nation
struggles to contend with government’s neglect of the polytechnic sector and
underfunding, the problem of wrongful perception and stereotyped underscoring
of the goals and objectives of the Polytechnic system in Nigeria remains
equally high. The constant changes in technological
development which require a continuous learning philosophy and a highly trained
workforce to design and operate the systems are absent. Commitment to constant
training and continuous learning opportunities which are crucial for the sector
to remain competitive and relevant are weak and creaky. The continued observance of dichotomy between
universities and polytechnics graduates has contributed to utmost underrating
of the entire sector. We are faced with enfeeble and moribund infrastructures
on most of our campuses, with no serious challenge to motivate research and
learning. Government’s budgetary provisions for the polytechnic sector in
Nigeria are not only a deep reflection of the deep neglect of the sector but the embarrassing extent to which our country has
continued to misplace her priority in her quest for technological development.
The situation we
have at hand has sadly encouraged brain-drain as most lecturers take the
polytechnic sector only as transit camp to the most preferred university
system. The frustration is even more imminent as lecturers in polytechnic
sectors are placed on the same salary scale with their non-academic
counterparts as against what is obtainable in the tertiary education set up all
over the world, despite the rigours and peculiarities of job schedules. These trends have obviously hindered
growth and undermine the foundation for sustainable development of polytechnic
education in Nigeria,
and as vital stake holders, we must rise in defence of the system.
It
is the position of our union therefore that the ongoing strike will be
sustained until government address all the contending issues and also take
appropriate steps towards repositioning polytechnic education in Nigeria.
Thank you.
Students Of Polytechnics To Perish Further At Home , Says ASUP President
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