By Seidu Ademu.
Kogi State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Hon. Wemi Jones, FCIB, has commended the Acting Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Dr Salisu Ogbo Usman for his landmark achievements in the institution within few months of assuming office.
Jones gave the commendation when he led a team from the ministry on an official visit to the Rector’s office at Kogi State Polytechnic on Tuesday.
The Commissioner congratulated the acting rector for his giant strides in project execution, saying, he has demonstrated great leadership for those landmark achievements within a short period of time.
He promised to present their requests in terms of challenges facing the institution to Gov. Yahaya Bello for appropriate action.
Jones stressed that he would do everything needed to be done to ensure that the desired result was achieved, while urging the acting rector and his team to keep up the good work.
“I want to assure you that we would do our best to ensure that the school and education in the state is moved forward. We must as matter of urgency take education to the next level in Kogi State.
“The challenge of moulding the future leaders is from the foundation; we urge bigger institutions in the state to accept responsibility and take the matter very urgent.
“I am glad that we received report from Kogi State University that cultism has become a thing of the past as directed by the governor,” he said.
He, therefore, urged the management of Kogi Polytechnic to ensure that cultism is also stamped out completely from the school.
Jones further enjoined the management and staff of the institution to ensure proper discipline among themselves in terms of punctuality and commitment to work and serve as good examples to the students.
He charged both academic and non academic staff of the institution to continue to support the acting rector to achieve greater things with good legacy.
Earlier, the Acting Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Dr Salisu Ogbo Usman, commended the Commissioner for the visit, describing it as ”all important and memorable one”.
The acting rector explained that within his few months of assuming office, through team work, they had been able to resolve some lingering issues among the management and staff of the institution, saying everybody now have a sense of belonging.
“We did the appointment of the executives of the school seamlessly without rancour which reflected the ‘Ebigo’ agenda of His Excellency; we have been able to carry everybody along.
“About 26 Committees had been set up which involved everybody including the students, and everybody in the institution is happy with it”, he said.
He added that they had also embarked on six various projects that were currently going on simultaneously in the school premises, such as construction of a befitting security building, medical centre, school beautification, among others.
He commended the Governor for considering him fit to be appointed as the acting rector of Kogi Polytechnic, and promised never to let the governor and the good people of Kogi State down.
He explained that the ongoing security building project was a joint and collective efforts of everybody in the school which had shown a sense of acceptability.
He noted that they had taken strategic steps to ensure adequate security in the school and its environs, and also put measures in place to ensure that the school get constant electricity.
“We are going to spend more on security to ensure adequate safety and totally eradicate cultism from the school in order to have environment that is peaceful for learning.
“We have put all our ideas in place, and all we need from the Government is motivation and support for us to succeed,” he said.
He, however noted that the major challenge of the institution, was the encroachment on the school land, and appealed to the State Government for intervention in reclaiming those land.
He added that another major challenge was the low level of ICT education for staff, which according to him required funds to carry out training for the staff to be ICT compliance.
He further requested for the support of the State Government for the construction of flyover bridge in front of the school to ensure safety of staff and students of the institution.
Similarly, the Commissioner also paid a working visit to STETSCOM where he charged the new Board members on commitment to revamp the state’s education sector.
The Commissioner promised to synergize with the Commission in the area of school monitoring, strengthening of Guidance and Counseling Unit to addressing the several cases of girl-child abuse as well as training and retraining of teachers, tackling of examination malpractice, among others.
In his response, the Executive Chairman of STETSCOM, Hon. Cecilia Cook, expressed the joy of the Commission over the Commissioner’s visit, describing it as a morale booster.
Cook noted that the Board under her watch, had brought the lingering process of merger of the TSC and STTEB to an end, saying the two had been fused into one entity, among several other notable achievements.
