Entrepreneurship: Eight trades to commence at HUK – Rector

It has been two years since you assumed office as Rector of this polytechnic, how has it been? When I assumed, after critical study of what I met on the ground, I saw four critical issues that I felt were necessary to address for smooth take-off of my administration. The first thing was that the […]

It has been two years since you assumed office as Rector of this polytechnic, how has it been?
When I assumed, after critical study of what I met on the ground, I saw four critical issues that I felt were necessary to address for smooth take-off of my administration. The first thing was that the environment was porous, security wise. We sought audience with the governor over four projects, namely, fencing of the school, renovation of the students hostels, accreditation and staffing of the polytechnic. We were able to, within six months, had a fence of 11.5 kilometres, renovations was carried out for the six colleges of the polytechnic, classrooms, staff offices were fully renovated and rehabilitated, we dug underground and over head boreholes and water tanks. Now go round the hostels, water is available. The environment also was not really conducive. Street lights were provided. We entered accreditation for 22 courses for the first time and we got full accreditation of five years each.  
How are you improving teaching and learning?
The environment has been transformed and it has become more conducive for teaching and learning. Hostels are transformed into living places, like houses, the allocation is made to be stress-free, we only allow three students per room. In terms of the charges, all over the country our fees are the cheapest. In the North-west zone we found out that it’s only in HUK that an indigene can get a Diploma for N6,000 per session while non indigenes pay N14,000. Other states close to us, charge higher, students come from as far as the South-south, South-west and South-east, because they feel our certificate is almost free. However, we employ standard screening procedures as stipulated by NBTE so that we won’t compromise on standard and quality.
The capacity development of teachers is equally important, how far have you gone in that respect?
Capacity development is very important in an institution and we have done a lot in this area as well. In terms of training, we have a lot of senior staff on domestic and foreign sponsorships. Training is also given to even the lower cadre staff, those with primary schools certificate have acquired degrees, messengers have had avenues to further their studies and our in-house and outside training programmes have made a lot of our messengers who joined us with basics certificates to become degree holders. For the post-graduate development, Masters and PhD, within two years, inside and outside of the country, we have about 58 that went for masters and 28 scholars for PhD. For PhDs the programme is still ongoing because it is two-and-half and three years respectively.
There has been growing concern of inadequate classrooms to cater for the large number of students. What can you say about this?
Obviously, the problem I met on the ground was that there were classes but no furniture, a class for 100 students with no furniture to cater for more than thirty to forty students. We got intervention from the state government and Tetfund to address the situation. I was able to get a 250-seat capacity theatre. When I came, the largest we had was a 110-seater, but several classes made up of two blocks, three blocks, and more have been built. For our mass communication department, we installed equipment in the studio and hope to commence broadcast after getting approval from the government and NBC.
Students have been complaining about two thousand naira mandatory internet fee they pay but the internet is not available, isn’t this rip-off on the part of the management?
Internet service is something you have to subscribe to. Sometimes, we are told there is no service but we now have two different subscriptions, one from the state government which we have paid for one year, and the other from Tetfund. That of the state government we were made to understand of some technical issues that are being sorted out. But that of the Tetfund, they just finished installing the equipment, soon service will come up.
Recently, there has been emphasis on entrepreneur education, at what stage is your polytechnic?
We have been doing very well in that aspect. We have already established eight trades and purchased equipment and the centers are completed, it’s just for the students to register. We shall commence this semester all the ND-2, HND-2 and NCE-3 students will all undergo training in one of these eight trades-tailoring, shoe making, hair dressing, barbing, welding, and wood so that they can stand on their own after graduation. Our workshops are equipped and ready to start.
There has been this growing concern of disparity between polytechnic students, lecturers and their counterparts from the universities, how do you think we can remedy this?
This is a very simple issue since the universities are accepting polytechnic products. Many DE students go to universities. I was proud of this polytechnic even before I assumed work as its rector, I came across many of their products in my former university, and they are doing well. Dichotomy of classes of degrees can be made by aligning courses to harmonise them.
With regards to lecturers, people must understand that circumstances are what take one to where he is. The opportunities that people had in the universities were  lacking then at the polytechnics and colleges of education. In the university, there are so many senior colleagues that guide you to get Masters and PhD quickly, while in the polytechnics, in those days, they weren’t there, and finance to fund lecturers to universities to get such degrees were not there equally. So you find people taking years in polytechnics or colleges of education, taking many to grow, unlike in the universities, where there are such manpower to train and the finance.  But thank God, a lot of interventions have happened and you can see almost half of our lecturers would be postgraduates. I don’t think this should be of a concern, but we must learn to accommodate.  
You are half way into your tenure, what are the legacies you want to leave behind?
When I joined, I told the polytechnic community that I wanted to uplift the standard that I met on the ground. I want to streamline my blueprint for development and come up with a five-year plan. I hope that apart from the colleges of science and technology that have about eight departments, I’ll be able to create a college of technology education where all the technical hand work can be done.