The House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Other Higher Technical Education has expressed shock over the discovery that Federal Polytechnic Ugep, Cross River State, spends over N600 million on personnel and overhead costs despite having only 142 students and 154 academic and non-academic staff.
This revelation came during a submission on budget performance and other activities by the Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Edward N. Okey, before the committee on Monday.
As part of its ongoing oversight functions, the committee had invited Federal Polytechnics and other technical institutions from the South-South region to appear. The institutions included: Federal Polytechnic, Orogun; Federal Polytechnic, Ugep; Federal Polytechnic Oil & Gas, Bonny; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi; Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe; Federal Polytechnic, Ukana; and the National Institute of Construction Technology Management, Uromi.
The Committee Chairman, Fouad Kayode Laguda, and members expressed anger over revelations that Federal Polytechnic Ugep had also spent N38 million on local travel.
In his presentation, the rector claimed that the management spent a N20 billion take-off grant to renovate the abandoned, dilapidated structure of Ugep Community Secondary School for use as a temporary campus and to develop structures on the site of the Institute of Technology Management (ITM), which they have since taken over as their permanent campus.
“Our school was established in 2021. When we went to Ugep in 2021, we were to start the school at a temporary site, the state Polytechnic called the Institute of Technology and Management (ITM). However, when we got there, we could not use the state polytechnic to start the school.
“So, the first challenge we faced was identifying a temporary site. That took us more than a year because Ugep is a local town. It’s a big town, but getting a school for us to start was not easy.
“When we started, we had 16 students. This year, we have admitted 63 so far, bringing our total to 79. We have also taken over the students and staff of ITM. In total, we now have 132 students,” the rector said.
However, the chairman interjected, correcting the rector by stating that the actual number of students is 142, not 132.
A member of the committee, after reviewing the institution’s expenditures, described the spending as wasteful and unsustainable.
He said, “It is high time we tell ourselves the truth. If you have 142 students, that’s like an elementary school. In my village, the primary school has over 500 students.
“A polytechnic—especially a federal polytechnic—with 142 students spending N496 million on personnel alone, almost N500 million, is unjustifiable. Your overhead is N159 million for a school with 142 students, and your capital is N25 million. What is the justification for all this spending?”
Chairman of the Committee, Laguda, addressing the rectors at the end of the sitting, expressed the committee’s disappointment with the poor presentations by the institutions.
“We called schools from the South-South for an oversight. Not one of them met the required standards or performed as expected, even though you had over a week’s notification. In fact, you’ve known for over two months that your turn was coming because we’ve been conducting this oversight function for a while. Out of seven schools, one didn’t even show up today,” he said.
