Save us from ‘Commercial lecturers’ at Federal Polytechnic, Offa

Please permit me to use your widely read and respected newspaper to appeal to the Honourable Minister of Education and the Chairman of the National Board for Technical Education to please come to the rescue of the suffering students of the Federal Polytechnic Offa, from wicked, sadistic and utterly corrupt lecturers in the polytechnic.

Although people believe that the issue of corruption in our higher educational institutions is a general thing the situation at Federal Polytechnic, Offa is exceptional. Perhaps, it is only in Offa Poly that well-known unserious students, who will only surface during examinations after being away from the campus for the most part of the semester will come out top in examinations. How such students achieved the ‘remarkable feat’ is not far-fetched. In many departments at Offa Poly, marks are awarded according to a student’s financial ability.

Every grade has a price tag. A student only needs to ‘settle’ very well at the end of each examination to be rest assured of a good result. These lecturers maintain a list of students who have ‘settled’ either through purchase of overpriced handouts or other materials.

Of course, not all the lecturers are involved in these dastardly acts. The problem is that the good ones seem to have been subdued and they cannot call the corrupt ones to order. The management is also powerless. The fear of the management is that the lecturers have become powerful and can cause problem for the authrities. One lecturer recently boasted that the management cannot do anything to them. as the issue of the immediate past Rector of the polytechnic has taught everyone a lesson. The rector’s untimely exit from the polytechnic was linked to his determination to stop academic corruption in the institution.

A lecturer came to our class and boasted that his next car must be a Jeep and we, the students, are going to pay for it. As we conclude the second semester examinations, their time has come again to milk the students dry. One part-two Higer National Diploma student in one of the institution’s department complained recently that his project supervisor demanded between N15, 000 and N30, 000 from each of the students under his supervision. The money is to produce a project in their names; written, approved, bound and submitted without the students doing anything! It becomes more worrying when one recalls that most of these corrupt lecturers do not even come to class to each.

My appeal to the Federal Ministry of Education and the NBTE is to send secret observers to the institution to carry out a thorough investigation on this issue. Many of us who are students of the polytechnic are serious-minded; we do not want to agree to cutting corners to achieve our academic goals. But the system that is currently reigning in the institution does not encourage hard work and dedication to studies.

Shola Babatola,
(Calculus),
sbabatola@yahoo.com
5, Station Road, Offa’
Kwara State.

EFCC and justice in Ekiti State

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has a lot of questions to answer on Ekiti State. This is in view of the inability of the commission to bring the former governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, to justice, after about two years of Fayose’s inglorious exit from the Fountain of Knowledge State. What is stopping the EFCC from further investigation and prosecution of Ayo Fayose? By now, he and his cohorts should have been made to face the music over the allegations of corruption, money laundering, mismanagement of the state resources, killings and so on.

The EFCC should also do something about those group of people misinforming the people of Ekiti State on the supposed developmental projects executed by the Fayose administration in the state. In fact, the producers and agents of such misinformation, either in publications, in printed journals, books, handbills, posters etc should also face trials for aiding corruption.

The EFCC still has a lot to do about on Ekiti State. How can EFCC tell the world that only three people, Ayo Fayose, Gbenga James and Goke Olatunde, perpetrated the whole scam for four years, what of others who assisted in defrauding, and accomplices who benefited from the deals? They should also be investigated thoroughly and be made to face the wrath of the law. If the EFCC does not pursue this Ekiti saga to the end, then, it is nothing but a toothless bulldog that can only bark but not bite. Or betterstill, we can conclude that it is just interested in investigating perceived enemies of the federal government as many hold.

It is indeed a surprise that EFCC cannot get to the bottom of the Ekiti scam, when we all know nothing can hinder the EFCC if it is really determined to do the job. EFCC should, therefore, do what is right as the whole world is watching us as a nation. And they should not forget that they can only sweep the case under the carpet now, but not forever.

Okunola Olayiwola,
Ekiti South,
Ekiti State.