Open Letter to the Rector
I have observed with rapt attention your éclat since you assumed position as Rector of this great Polytechnic. And I have been wondering that it takes a whole lot of complex wit to steer the affairs of a Nigerian higher institution.
The developments that have sprung up in the polytechnic tell us more about the good omen you have in fold. It is as a result of this I have decided to make my opinion known on this matter that burdens my heart.
I watched with utter pity on March 1, 2016 when my colleagues were pushing one another at the MAPOLY Microfinance Bank located in the school premises while they tried to make payments expected of them by the different quarters in the polytechnic. At a point, they resorted to the use of abusive words against one another whenever one of them tries to jump the queue as captured in my report titled ‘STUDENTS FIGHT, GET INJURED TO MAKE PAYMENTS’ and published by PRESS CLUB MAPOLY.
This kind of scenario is prevalent at MAPOLY at the various school offices for both full-time and part-time students, offices of Heads of Department, Point of Sales centres all scattered around the campus. Queues all of length can also be found virtually everywhere on campus. One would not be wrong to say that is one of the characteristic features of 37-year old MAPOLY.
But this kind of scenario is avoidable. Yes! It is. I ask why do we pay all these money (dues in this case) required of us in trickles? Why can’t we pay them all at once just as it is being done At Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Federal Polytechnic Ilaro (FPI), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), University of Osun State (UNIOSUN) and other institutions around? Why are the dues being separated from the tuition? I guess it is not to suffer the students.
At a point in time, there was a controversy over the payment of SMS alerts which insiders from the Management say shouldn’t have been paid by students. It was from the same SMS alerts funds that the Segun Glorious-led Students’ Union Government was alleged to have siphoned not less than N2million. All of these can be averted if all of these dues are incorporated into the tuition and as such, the institution would direct whatsoever quota to the Students’ Union, Centre for Part-Time, Entrepreneurship Department, Academics as due to them.
Or have we forgotten that students miss a lot of academic activities to make these densely separated payments. They miss lectures, tutorials and library sessions just to do these things. I believe one of your desires for us is to eliminate such things that may want to hinder our academic success in this great citadel of learning.
Even though it is a means to an end and not an end in itself, shall we continue in this manual and queue-laden system, that good academic performance may abound? ‘Ka ma ri’ (never). I think with the age of MAPOLY – 37 years – we should have left the era of manual this, manual that. It’s time to go electronic. Yes! Electronic, it will save us all the stress.
How will this proposal be achieved? Incorporate all of these dues and minor payments including SU due, SMS alerts (if we still need to pay), Insurance, EED, Commonwealth, Matric gown, Centre Development fee, (for Part-Time students) into the tution.
These dues will be calculated and arrived at along the lines of programmes offered by such student. For the fresh full-time students, dues that would be included in their tuition would be SU, SMS alerts, Insurance, ID Cards, Commonwealth and Matric gown while their part-time counterparts would have ID Cards, Commonwealth, Matric gown and Centre Development fee included in theirs.
For returning full-time students, SU, SMS alerts, Insurance, ID Cards, Commonwealth and EED due would be incorporated in their tuition. And the inclusion of ID Cards, Commonwealth, EED and Centre Development due in the tuition of returning students who are on part-time programmes.
This means there would be a general list of all students who have paid and this list would be replicated both in hard and soft copies for different quarters for verification. And their documents including; ID cards, exam cards would be gotten from the school offices on presentation of their receipt.
With this development in place, should one fail to retrieve his documents at the school office, the Polytechnic will be aware of such students (names and identities) who have not completed the registration.
If this is accepted as the first phase, payments such as IT letter, statement of result, convocation, alumni Etc. for those in final year can then be considered later.
Nonetheless, should this proposal be accepted, the Polytechnic should state this and that dues will make-up the tuition and how much is being allocated for what due i.e. the breakdown of the whole tuition. This the polytechnic should see as a responsibility and not as a duty.
Ifedayo O. Ogunyemi,
Department of Mass Communication