Federal Polytechnic Adikpo: An appeal to President Tinubu

I must first of all congratulate His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, on his successful inauguration.  The timing of this letter might be considered too early due to the fact that Mr President has just assumed office. Nevertheless, I would like him to understand that as a father, he should expect his children to run to […]

I must first of all congratulate His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, on his successful inauguration. 

The timing of this letter might be considered too early due to the fact that Mr President has just assumed office. Nevertheless, I would like him to understand that as a father, he should expect his children to run to him with concerns at any time.

The issue at stake, like I mentioned in the heading, is that of the Federal Polytechnic in Benue State. I wish to proceed by stating that late former President Umaru Yar’Adua noticed that some states in Nigeria had little or no presence of federal tertiary educational institutions and so decided that each state should have one federal university, one federal polytechnic and one federal college of education.

When Yar’Adua died on May 5, 2010, his vice, Goodluck Jonathan, took over and saw how good the plan was and in the spirit of policy consistency, Jonathan went ahead and established nine federal universities in the states that had none in the first phase of the implementation.

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Jonathan’s desire was to implement the second phase of the plan which was the establishment of federal polytechnics and federal colleges of education in the states without any in his second term.

However, his attempt to win a second term as an elected president in 2015 failed after his first term which was between 2010 and 2015. 

A point to note is that each senatorial district in a state was to have one each of a federal university, federal polytechnic or federal college of education. 

It is quite disappointing and unfortunate that under the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, Yar’Adua’s laudable plan, which Jonathan started implementing, suffered inconsistency and was completely abandoned. Buhari’s reign witnessed the haphazard establishment of federal tertiary educational institutions contrary to the federal character principle.

A case in point is Benue State. Like other states, Benue has three senatorial districts; Benue North East, Benue North West and Benue South. Benue North East has no single federal tertiary educational institution. Benue North West has two, that is; Joseph Tarka University (formerly, Federal University of Agriculture), Makurdi and Federal Polytechnic, Wannune; while Benue South also has two – Federal University of Medical Sciences, Otukpo and Federal College of Education, Otobi.

The federal polytechnic located in Benue North West was initially located in Benue North East and referred to as Federal Polytechnic, Adikpo. Construction work at the polytechnic was on-going and had reached an advanced stage when suddenly it was shifted to the site of a privately owned polytechnic under construction in Benue North West. That was the doing of a few evil-doers.

Mr. President Sir, I stand in the gap between your good office and the people of Benue North East and appeal as follows:

Firstly; that the people of Benue North East are in tears over the gross injustice that has befallen them.

Secondly; that the people of Benue North East plead with Mr President to direct the immediate re-location of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune, in Benue North West back to Adikpo in Benue North East where it was initially located.

Thirdly; that the people of Benue North East plead with Mr President to direct the takeover by the federal government and conversion of the College of Education, Oju in Benue South to Federal College of Education, Oju and privatization of all other federal tertiary educational institutions in Benue South or relocating them to Joseph Tarka University to form part of the institution. 

Fourthly; that if the second and third appeals above are carried out, Benue North East will have a federal polytechnic, Benue North West a federal university and Benue South a federal college of education, which is in line with federal character principle.

We wish Mr President a successful tenure in office while looking forward to a response.

Your fellow compatriot

 

Donald Gaadi wrote from Abuja