Chief Austine Edeeze, a former chairman of the Ebonyi State Universal Education Board (EBSUBEB), has called on the Federal Government to prioritise polytechnic education by injecting more funds into it.
Edeeze, who served on the board of EBSUBEB between 2002 and 2006, stated this on Wednesday in Abakaliki.
He said polytechnics are suffering from poor funding leading to incessant strikes by their academic and non academic staff unions.
He pointed out that proper funding of the polytechnics in the country was imperative for the growth and economic diversification of the country.
Edeeze, who is the chairman of the Governing Board of the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, explained that proper funding of polytechnic education would launch Nigeria into the league of technologically and scientifically developed nations.
“Present global economy runs on science and technology and there is no limit to what we can achieve using science and technology hence we must give attention to our polytechnics and ensure that they are properly funded,” Edeeze said.
He explained that polytechnics were structured to train and supply middle manpower requirements of the economy.
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“Our polytechnics are crying for funds because the polytechnics are not properly funded and we have raised this issue severally in our forum that there is need for proper funding of the polytechnics.
“More of our technology manpower comes from the polytechnics and proper funding will enhance and strengthen the sector to boost capacity of our graduates.
“Strengthening our polytechnics will also enhance the speed at which the country will develop because countries develop in line with the technological and scientific advancement,” he explained.
He noted that the issue of graduate unemployment in Nigeria would be resolved if polytechnic education received proper funding.
“No nation has ever risen beyond the level of its technological and scientific advancement and Nigeria will not be an exception.
“Hence it becomes imperative that government prioritise the polytechnic education, fund the sector efficiently in order to place the country on a sound footing technologically,” he said.
Edeeze applauded the federal government for ending the dichotomy between the Higher National Diploma (HND) and the Bachelors of Arts or Science Degree (Bsc or BA), awarded by polytechnics and universities respectively.
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“Polytechnics train middle manpower technicians, which are more beneficial to the society, so creating a dichotomy means believing much more on paper work or paper certificates.
“And you can see a lot of our children with paper certificates when they come for interviews, you will wonder which schools they attended.
“But those who are from the middle class developers, that is the polytechnics, they are taught the practicals and they are the ones that will render services practically.
“So, the dichotomy has been long abolished and should remain like that and the federal government should be commended for mustering the political will to do so.”
He said the country’s budgetary allocations for the education sector in 2017, 2018 and 2019 had dropped below the 15 per cent and 20 per cent benchmark of UNESCO recommendations for developing countries.
Statistics revealed that the country in 2017 budgeted about N396 billion in education, the figure increased to N605 billion in 2018 billion and was raised to about N620 billion in the 2019 budget.
The 2019 allocation to the education sector represented about 7.05 per cent of the nation’s total budget. (NAN)
