Chairman of Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny, Rivers state, Senator Julius Ucha, yesterday disclosed that the mission given to them by President Muhammadu Buhari since June 2017 has been accomplished.

.Addressing newsmen while presenting the Council’s scorecards in Abakaliki, Ucha noted that the school, which was hitherto, non-functional was brought to full-scale academic activities under his chairmanship.

He further expressed happiness that he secured accreditation of five departments, confirmation of staff and superintendent over the appointment of substantive Rector of the school.

He gave insight on his scorecards: “I was appointed chairman governing council of Polytechnic of Oil and Gas Bonny, Rivers state. We met a very wonderful environment, magnificent buildings. Good structures were on ground. But unfortunately, we were shocked by what we saw. Apart from the staff, no academic activities were going on in the school.”

“It was difficult to know what they were doing because, in an institution of that nature, one would have expected students on ground because that was what would keep the staff. So we quickly called a meeting with the staff, addressed and admonished them.

“As a council, we made a promise that if within one year, we are not able as a council to secure accreditation, for some departments of the poly, that means that the council has failed on her responsibilities. Council swung into action and since then we have been working hard to ensure we change the situation on ground.

“Council had executives meeting to ensure we achieve success because we cannot be counsel for staff. We will be counsel for both staff and students. Council worked vigorously to ensure that some of the departments were accredited.

“In one of the council meeting, we were briefed by the management that they had some funds about 72 million naira. What we quickly did as a Council was to ascertain those facilities that will make it possible to secure accreditation for the institution. So when we were informed of the available fund, we quickly set a combined committee of Council and management.

“Having gotten the summation of what was required to secure accreditation for one of the core mandate, Electrical electronic, through the help of a joint committee headed by Olufunsho. The committee went to Lagos because we had a budget of about 46 million naira, secured direct purchase from three companies, Electrical electronic equipment.

“Then we Commenced interaction with the Nigeria Board of Technical Education in charge of accreditation in Kaduna. As we commenced the interaction, we also got another assistance from two Polytechnics; Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic and Federal Polytechnic, Nekede Owerri, Imo State.

“The two schools were very grateful to us and we will remain eternally grateful to them. When eventually we got ready for accreditation, there was a pre-inspection team from the NTBE and after that, Source Inspectors visited the school for inspection.

“We were able to secure accreditation for Statistics, Petroleum Marketing, Environmental Engineering, Electrical Electronics, and Computer Science. Five departments in one swoop and that was a school, established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo 17 years ago though not as a Polytechnic but as a Technical School.

“In 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan upgraded it to a Federal

Polytechnic with full-fledged management staff. Between 2014 and June 2017, there was no academic activity on campus with all the magnificent structures on ground.

“We sensitised the staff, the management and everybody worked assiduously well. As we speak, federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas that existed for almost four years before the inauguration of our council now has students on campus. And before then, the first thing the council did was to direct the management to confirm the staff.

“So the staff secured their confirmation as an incentive to work with us as a team to ensure that the school is arbiter for teaching and learning. The school had already advertised the position of the Rector because what we met on ground was an Acting Rector. We now inherited from the management, an advertisement of a position of a substantive rector where about 16 Nigerians applied.

“We now set up a committee to look at their records and follow due process to ensure that we met with all the requirements for the activity. And the search committee came up with four candidates who were qualified. Most of the candidates were disqualified on the basis of their age and some for not meeting up with the requirements as provided by the Act and guidelines for the appointment as the rector of the Federal Polytechnics.

“The four lucky ones were interviewed and scored. Council recommended the first three for the federal government for the appointment as rector. The business of the council is to recommend after an interview. The council is not the Appointing Officer. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the Appointing Officer through the office of the Minister of Education.”

The Chairman added that out of the recommendations made based on the scores of the three candidates, the Federal government appointed the first candidate who scores the highest mark in the interview.

He further added: “The council was so happy about that. Council also because there was an approval from the Federal Character Commission for appointment in readiness for the accreditation.

“Council concluded arrangement of employing staff. I will say that our council was divinely sent for a rescue mission to the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas and our mission has been accomplished because the school that was hitherto not functional is today fully functional with a substantive rector, students on campus, confirmation of staff that were recruited in 2014 and accreditation of five departments.

“By and large, the council of the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny, has accomplished the desired result, that the almighty God intended for our appointment. I do not know what the council should have done that was not done within the space of one year. This is June and we held our first council meeting on June 2, 2017.”

Ucha commended President Buhari for giving him the opportunity to serve the nation in uplifting the standard of education.”

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