Students of Nasarawa poly protest non accreditation of courses, extortion
Hundreds students including ex-students of Nasarawa state Polytechnic Lafia on Wednesday blocked the Lafia/Akwanga highway in protest over non accreditation of courses and extortion in the institution. The protesters blocked Lafia/Akwanga highway for over one hour carrying leaves and placards with different inscription such as; ‘We are tied of stories, No course is accredited, our […]
Hundreds students including ex-students of Nasarawa state Polytechnic Lafia on Wednesday blocked the Lafia/Akwanga highway in protest over non accreditation of courses and extortion in the institution.
The protesters blocked Lafia/Akwanga highway for over one hour carrying leaves and placards with different inscription such as; ‘We are tied of stories, No course is accredited, our certificate is not recognised among others in protest to their grievances
Speaking with newsmen during the protest, spokesperson of the students, Umar Abdullahi said the management is charging each student N2, 000 for accreditation since 2013 yet nothing happened, saying "we protesting this illegality and no lecture would hold until our demands are met."
Abdullahi said that all courses in the institution have lost their accreditation since 2013 and the government through the management was not making any efforts to address the challenge, "Those who graduated from the institution find it difficult to get admission or employment because the certificate is not recognise."
He also called for the immediate sack of the management of the institution and replace them with more competent persons.
It took the intervention of the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education Abdullahi Agwai, and security operatives that calm the protesters and open the highway
Agwai assured the students that the government would do everything possible to address the issue of accreditation of courses in the institution, adding that government is not happy over the attitudes of the management for charging each student N2, 000 for accreditation, "We would investigate and get to the root of the matter for prompt action,"
All efforts made to speak with the management of the polytechnic proved abortive at the time of filing this report.