The outgoing Rector of the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, Moses Umobong has explained how the institution ranked 99th when he took over became the second best after all its programmes gained full accreditation.
Umobong said that by the time he took over in 2015, the Polytechnic was 99th out of a total number of 110 Polytechnics in the country, adding that it showed that “there was something professionally wrong.”
Speaking in an interview, he said that after two years, the ranking came again pointing out that “the third year of my tenure, we achieved the 18th position. And in 2023, We were ranked second best Polytechnic in Nigeria. The Polytechnic Illaro, Ogun State came first, we came second,” he said.
According to him, the ranking has to do with the number of variable factors, “part of which would be the number of programnes you run and the accreditations you have.
“I want to tell you that today, all the programmes in the Polytechnic have accreditation. We are not running any illegal programme,” he said.
“I came to meet some of them that have no accreditation, but I secure accreditation for all of them. And then secondly, what is very important to note is, the Department of Mechanical Engineering that only existed on paper.
“We have the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology, Mechatronics Engineering, Welding and Fabrication, no accreditation, we have secured accreditation for all,” he said.
The Rector, whose tenure ends in November, said that when he took over, he tried to sanitise the system by ensuring that staff members got higher academic qualifications and those in professional courses registered with their professional bodies, adding that in trying to sanitise the system, he stepped on toes.
“By the time I took over, we had some who were there for over 25 years or plus with first degree. They were not bothered to go for any other higher qualification. They were so satisfied with first degree. There was this indiscriminate, unmerited promotion; so, we wrote the governor and proprietor asking him to give us permission to invite the National Board for Technical Education, the Regulator to do academic staff audit and non-academic staff audit. Let’s see where we got it wrong, why we’re not growing?
“The governor granted the approval and we invited the NBTE and we discovered so many anomalies. Doing that, you necessarily must step on toes, ” he said.
Reacting to allegations that he was planning to influence the appointment of his successor from his ethnic group who are the majority in the state against the Annangs where the Polytechnic is located, he dismissed it as baseless. He said he has no powers to influence any appointment as it is the responsibility of the governor as the proprietor.
“My job is just to write officially to the governor, telling him when I’ll be exiting (which I have already done) and obtain permission to advertise.
“When that approval is granted; advertisement would be placed and council will conduct interviews. The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is the regulator, they have set up some guidelines for the appointment of a Rector, which must be strictly followed. So, how do I come in here?”
He however, said he would not be distracted by such speculations recalling how he was able to secure 100 percent accreditation of all the courses and programmes of the polytechnic since assumption of office; thereby placing Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic from the 99th ranking position to 2nd position as the best polytechnic in Nigeria.
