August 2012

By Saidat Alausa

Rector of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Dr. Abdulazeez Lawal, has called on all stakeholders in the country to give equal employment opportunities to polytechnic graduates.
Speaking at a briefing in Lagos to mark the one year anniversary of his administration recently, Lawal affirmed that the quality of programmes being put in place in the polytechnic could compare favourably to those of any university in the country.
His said: “most of our students, when they enroll for professional examinations, they win prizes and we celebrate them. This is an indication that graduates of the polytechnic can compare favourably with graduates of any university.”
Lawal explained further that the initiative of the federal government to convert polytechnics to Universities was a good one. But he advised that polytechnics should not deviate from its goal of providing technical education.
On his achievements in the last one year, Lawal thanked the Lagos state government for its support and prompt release of funds. He said there were some capital projects on the Ikorodu campus of the polytechnic, that are being undertaken by the state government. On academic excellence, the rector said the management has invested in its human resources through training and retraining of staff, quality assurance and provision of enabling environment for learning.
In addition, He said the polytechnic recently took delivery of Mechatronic Equipment donated by the National Automotive Council, Abuja, which, according to him, would enable the students acquire new technological skills. On welfare of staff, Lawal said his administration has been committed to improving on the welfare package. The conditions of service, he said, are being reviewed and shall become operational once the review is completed. Besides, cadre elongation has been done for some categories of staff, while more than 60 members of staff have been sponsored to various seminars and conferences, both within and outside the country.
He also explained that security has been beefed up on all the polytechnic campuses, which, he affirmed, has been able to checkmate the activities of cult groups. On accreditation, the rector said all programmes being run by the polytechnic have been duly accredited by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE). He stated that in April this year, an accreditation Team from the NBTE visited the polytechnic to accredit 36 academic programmes, all of which scored a pass mark.
On funding the institution, Lawal said the management of the institution was trying to sustain development in the polytechnic through Internally Generated Revenue. He said: “It is our position that the government cannot do everything for us and if private Polytechnics can succeed without government intervention, then we should also look for ways of achieving success by managing whatever we get from the government. That is why we want to start generating funds from within. We about to look in the direction of consultancy and linkages with various industries within our environment.