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By Stephen Adeleye.
The Kogi Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, on Friday says over dependence on governments and students for the funding of tertiary institutions is grossly unacceptable.
Osikoya told journalists shortly after her meeting with the management of Kogi State Polytechnic in Lokoja, that the tertiary institutions should task themselves on how to unlock and harness their stranded potentials.
The commissioner also said that the output of these institutions should also have practical skills, change people’s perception, and not to wait until the students became unproductive after graduation.
According to her, it is important to become more proactive; look at past events and the urgent need for all the institutions to re-strategise and refocus in terms of funding.
“In terms of funding, we need to rethink the whole idea of the institution of learning in the Nigeria’s context of just to impact knowledge and whether those knowledge are relevant or not.
“Or whether institutions themselves are viable giving the present economic situation. We need to rethink if schools are possible to exist in autonomy.
“It calls for improved management structure, collaborations, partnerships, and managing the institution to become productive, self-reliance and become impactful to the society.
“This is going to put a lot of demand on heads of institutions, school structures, replan of curriculum, readapt, and reduce the pressure coming to us at the state level.
“We must begin to think out of the box to re-diversify, re-adapt, and most importantly as a state to ensure that the promise of education is kept,” Osikoya said.
She said that the State Government’s guiding document of the New Direction Blueprint was clear, saying the state were through with some of the policy issues at the ministry level.
The commissioner added that ministry would do a lot of supervising work so that much of her institutions can begin to re-invest themselves in practicals ways.
She added that the government would fund in the area that would allow such funding to yield autonomy within the institutions; the idea to unlock the stranded potentials.
“I am hopeful and believed very strongly that it is possible because vocational education and training is the future for economic empowerment and development of the country.
“We have left for the management of this institution a longlist for checking, and with feedback we will like to have improvement in communication particularly strategic communication,” she said.
Mr Isah Mohammed, Kogi Poly Rector, commended the commissioner for the meeting describing the visit “as a strategic one and well expected, and we are happy.
“We have tried to tell honourable commissioner what we are doing here and how far we have gone and what we are having on ground.
“With God on our side, we will do our best as a Polytechnic,” Mohammed said.
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