From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
National President, Kaduna Polytechnic Alumni Association, Abba Anas Adamu has said that members of the association cannot afford to see the Polytechnic sinking over socio-economic problems.
In his welcome address at the weekend during the 2021 Bi-Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association, Adamu noted that technical education required huge capital investment which the Alumni could help to make Kadpoly great.
“Kaduna Polytechnic is the largest polytechnic South of the Sahara. We are proud graduates of the polytechnic. We cannot therefore allow it to sink. We must act to save it, and the time to act is now!
“Any institution’s alumni are the reflection of its past, pride of its present and its hope for a better future. And so institutions and their alumni often collaborate towards common goals. Education, and technical education in particular, require huge capital investment.
“Adequate funding is needed to provide the needs of institutions, like adequate human resources for teaching, learning and research activities; also infrastructure and instructional facilities play significant roles at great costs. Alumni can help greatly in this regard.
“My fellow alumni, let me use this opportunity to remind you that as members, you have the responsibility of supporting your institution, offer your experience and skills to the institution and younger members, give employment opportunities to members, and offer mentorship and scholarships to younger members.
“It is in this regard that we were able to identify some prominent old students of Kaduna Polytechnic and we are currently in liaison with some and determining our working relationship with others.
“It is this liaison that led to a national retreat of some stakeholders in Abuja in March this year. The meeting enabled us to identify problems of Kaduna polytechnic in a more structured nature and mapped out some solutions on the spot.
“A Strategic Plan committee was formed and has since submitted its report. The Plan which contains set goals, has charted steps towards their realisation. To ensure that the Association gives the Plan the paramountcy it deserves, we shall formally present it to members today so that we shall all be on the same page.
“You may wish to know that at the Retreat, decision was taken for the upgrading of courses offered in Kaduna Polytechnic: the retreat set up a committee headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu to liaise with the national assembly with the view to allowing Kaduna Polytechnic to run degree programmes up to professorial chairs alongside existing National Diploma programmes. This will strengthen the services offered by Kaduna Polytechnic and retain quality staff that ordinarily would move to university environments that offer better career rise.
“Already, Senator Adamu Abdullahi has presented a bill in Senate in this regard and it has undergone First Reading. On behalf of the National Executive Committee and the entire membership of Kaduna Polytechnic, I wish to show our profound gratitude to the Distinguished Senator for this effort.
“Steps like this will reduce the disparity between Polytechnics and Universities. Already the National Assembly has taken a giant step in that direction: the National Assembly just sent a bill for Presidential Assent which eliminates the higher placement given to degrees over the HND at points of employment. These are struggles that we are winning.
“But we must remain organised and steadfast. I can assure you that within the limit of resources available to us, we shall continue to do our best so that we can bequeath our successors a better Association. We have obtained land and designs for our permanent secretariat at the Tudun Wada Main Campus of Kaduna Polytechnic. We shall lay the foundation of the befitting secretariat during this Bi-Annual General Meeting.
“It is also in the same vein that we struggled for and obtained land for a Kaduna Polytechnic liaison office in the FCT which shall also house a liaison office for the Alumni Secretariat. We are also to source for funding for the liaison office.
“If we do not get involved, there may come a time when a leadership shall emerge that shall hijack the association for its personal interest. Participation therefore checks arbitrariness and anti-democratic tendencies”. The Alumni President said.