From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Professor Mohammed Atureta has denied insinuations making the round that the management of the institution increased the students tuition fee this year.
The Rector also clarified that it was not the school fees that was actually hiked as being peddled but simply introduction of payments for three categories of services provided for the students as obtainable in other tertiary institutions across the country.
The Rector made the clarification during an interactive session with the members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at the weekend.
Professor Atureta explained that the newly introduced payments which is within N1,000 to N5,000 covers services provided by the institution’s Entrepreneur Development Center for skills acquisition, Students Health Insurance Scheme for medical care and Convocation fee which he said exist in all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“It is no increment in students fees as being rumoured. It is merely payments meant to cover services rendered for the students’ comfort. This of course is not only peculiar to Kogi Poly” the Rector affirmed.
The Rector who said that he just assumed office barely one year ago expressed his determination to make positive impacts that would enhance quality education and accelerated development in the institution.
He vowed to give priority to the fight against cultism and other forms of social vices such as examination malpractice, drug abuse and immoral behaviors on campus.
According to the Rector “Cultism is a serious monster ravaging virtually all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria but has been reduced to its lowest ebb in Kogi Poly. Our tradition is that any student caught in the act would not only be expelled but handed over to the Police for prosecution. In fact we are alive with Governor Bello’s directive to ensure total elimination of cultism and other associated vices. Already security measures have been put in place to checkmate the trend”
The Rector affirmed that as future leaders, the institution has not relented in moulding its students in both character and learning saying “we have qualified academic staff and enough human resources to achieve our goals. We also have a robust relationship with the Students Union Government on campus to cap it up”
On the allegation of admission of 4,000 students this session without facility capacity to accommodate such number, the Rector denied the rumour saying that only 3,000 students were actually admitted out of the 8,000 that applied.
On students accommodation, the Rector said that out of the three campuses of the Polytechnic, only the main campus in Lokoja is running off-campus system due to the ongoing renovations of accommodation facilities.
The Rector hinted that the management of the institution has set up convocation committee to plan for the five years backlog combined convocation ceremony billed to hold in April this year.
He challenged journalists on the need to always adhere to the ethics of their profession especially in ensuring objective and balanced reportage.
Earlier, the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Kogi (NUJ), Friday Idachaba had praised the Rector for the prevailing peaceful atmosphere on campus and uninterrupted academic activities since he came on board.
He solicited for collaboration between the Polytechnic and the Union in the area of information dissemination on the activities of the institution.
