By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, North Central Nigeria, produces 12,080 graduates between 2014 and 2023,according to the Rector of the 31-year- old institution, Dr.Salisu Usnan Ogbo.
He made the disclosure on Thursday at the 200-seat twin lecture theatre of the polytechnic,Lokoja while briefing journalists on the activities marking the 4th combined convocation of the institution.
The Rector expressed the resolve of the polytechnic to pro duce graduates that can use their brain and hand for self-reliance as well as be employers of labour rather than looking for the elusive white-collar jobs in the country.
Our correspondent reports that 12,080 graduates will receive their OND and HND certificates on Saturday at the convocation ceremony, out of which 249 made distinction within the years under review.
He said the polytechnic had introduced a number activities aimed at strengthening the culture of academic excellence and improve the quality of it’s academic services.
These, he added, include the introduction of new statement of results format and fortified original certificate embedded with OR Code and other security features to protect the integrity of the polytechnic results and safeguard it’s corporate identity.
Dr.Ogbo also told the gathering that the polytechnic had strengthened regulation against indiscriminate production and sales of textbooks on the campus.
“This we did by empowering committee in charge with far more latitude to oversee, deliberate and make recommendations that would lead to the production of quality textbooks for students, among others,” he said.
The Rector also revealed that on coming on board , his management realized the need to establish some hitherto non existing directories to raise the bar of administrative and academic effectiveness and so upgraded some existing units to directorate status.
According to him, his administration has been able to achieve 100 per cent accreditation of 30 programmes of the polytechnic, establish new directories and units as well as made tremendous progress in the provision of physical facilities.
The physical infrastructure and environmental maintenance embarked upon by his management , he added, include, construction of a new security house, renovation of students’ hostels and return of students into halls of residence, after five years of off campus.
The Rector further disclosed that his administration had also carried out recruitment of new staff due to cases of retirement , resignation, termination of appointments and dismissal.
On security, Dr.Ogbo said the polytechnic, under his watch, fortified security architecture of the institution through effective intelligence gathering on the activities of cultists and other criminal groups and installed hidden CCTV camera on the campus to monitor unholy activities and act decisively.
Our correspondent reports that the Rector later led journalists and other invited guests to inspect a pavilion where students show cased the products they produced in the polytechnic as a drive towards self reliance.
