– Dutse, National President (ASUP)
From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Comrade Usman Yusuf Dutse, the National President of the Academic Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), believes there is double standard on the part of government when it comes to handling issues concerning polytechnic education.
In this interview with Education Review, Dutse, from Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, bemoans the fact that government has continued to give greater attention to university education, at the detriment of polytechnics, thus undermining technical education and called for a change of attitude. He also speaks on the challenges facing polytechnic education in Nigeria and called on the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to take urgent steps to address them. Excerpts:
Priority as ASUP President
My immediate priority is to reposition ASUP and to make sure that the interest of our members is promoted and protected so that we speak with one voice, to make sure that polytechnics/technical education is given the due respect and recognition it deserves in the country.
In ASUP, we don’t pursue interests in isolation. We believe that whatever affects the members also affects the system and whatever affects the system affects the members so it is better you pursue the issues collectively. By implication, whatever you pursue in the struggle, your members will end up benefiting, directly or indirectly. That is why we don’t differentiate between individual interest of members and collective interests.
The Polytechnic Act
The Polytechnic Act is a pressing issue that needs to be reviewed. For more than 20 years it has not been reviewed. It has become obsolete. Most of the small and even major crises that we are having within the system is because of the overdue nature of the Act which needs to be reviewed. We have made several efforts to that effect but failed. The Sixth National Assembly made several efforts but it failed. The last National Assembly made attempts and even reached the stage of public hearing, second reading, what remains was for views to be harmonised but it died there. So it is one of the things we are pursuing and we believe when it is achieved, a lot of things will be achieved in the system automatically. Our members will benefit and the system will also benefit.
HND/Degree Dichotomy
The issue of dichotomy placed on our products needs to be addressed and removed by the Buhari government. Even during the last National Assembly, a bill was sponsored on the issue until it reached the second reading at the Senate before it died. Two committees, one during the President Olusegun Obasanjo regime and the second during Goodluck Jonathan regime recommended the removal of the dichotomy. When the dichotomy is removed at least our products will be motivated because Nigeria is a country where there is high need for technical education. But what you have on ground are products who are de-motivated even before they graduate because they are being regarded as second-class graduates. They are not being treated properly. Upon recruitment, they are placed lower than their first degree counterparts and, on the issue of promotion, they stagnate at a lower level. So how do you want them to put in their best? And, if you look at the curriculum, we say, modify everything. The reasons behind the dichotomy, which was introduced into the civil service through the Longe report, have been overtaken by events. They are no more in existence now. Entry requirements and all that are no more in existence. The only thing they are hinging their argument on, now, is the issue of JAMB cut-off points but entry requirements is the same. So where is even the JAMB cut-off points? We are agitating that that too should be harmonised so that there will be no basis for dichotomy.
Need assessment
Need Assessment exercise was conducted for universities. Already funds have been released and they are benefitting from it. Our own exercise was also conducted; there was a White Paper released but up till now, there has been no implementation of that White Paper. We have not started benefiting from the need assessment. Our institutions, our labs are outdated. Institutions that are affiliated need to be updated or refurbished. The immediate past government promised that they will do it but it has come and gone. We have engaged the current government and they are going to look into it.
The Need for National Polytechnic Commission
This has been implemented since 2009 but there is no financial backing. We are also calling on government to release the funds so that they can show how responsible they are because if you entered into an agreement you are to implement and we believe there is no vacuum in government. We have been pursing it and we believe that the current government will implement this as soon as possible. National Polytechnic Commission Polytechnic education is being regulated by the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, an omnibus agency that monitors and regulates almost all issues that have to do with technical education ranging from secondary school to entrepreneurship centres. They have a lot of issues it focuses on, hence polytechnic education is not getting what it deserves. So we feel that there is need for the polytechnics to have their own commission. Even Nomadic Education has its own commission. The same thing goes for primary, universities and colleges of education. It is long overdue for polytechnics to have a commission.
State polytechnics
Most of them are in sorry state because of the way and manner they are being run by the state governors. Most states will just establish polytechnics because of political reasons and not give it adequate attention. You find out that most state polytechnics don’t have adequate structures, no facilities, no motivation even for workers. The remuneration is not commensurate with what others are collecting in federal polytechnics. But that is not how they treat their state universities. They give them equal opportunities with the federal universities but in our own case it is different. They appoint rectors not based on competence but on friendship and other sentiments. So most of the state polytechnics are being mismanaged, under the cover of concurrency list. But concurrency only has to do with ownership, not regulation because although these state polytechnics are owned by the state, their courses are being regulated by NBTE, the federal government laws or acts and we don’t have a state diploma. We have a National Diploma, so there is no reason why a state polytechnic should be treated so poorly because when their graduates go to the job market they compete with graduates of federal polytechnics.