The management of Federal Polytechnic Bida was encouraged by the House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education to maintain academic standards and prioritize quality in spite of the increasing competition from other institutions during a recent oversight visit.
After the Rector, Dr. Baba Aliyu Haruna, the Bursar, Sidique Ma’arufu, and other management personnel appeared before the Committee on Monday, the Chairman and Committee members gave their advice.
During a budget performance presentation by the Bursar, the Committee members saw a decrease in the institution’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which prompted their remarks.
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Hon. Emil Inyang voiced concerns during the Committee’s meeting over the institution’s internally generated income (IGR), pointing out that it had dropped short of expectations. The Rector replied that the main cause of the revenue drop was the heightened competition from both well-established and up-and-coming universities that were providing comparable courses.
As a result, fewer students are being admitted, which has affected the school’s bottom line.
“As I mentioned before, the school’s enrollment is declining,” he remarked. Since the school is more than 39 years old and there are a lot of new schools opening up near Bidda, they are offering courses that previously required you to travel to Bidda.
“Accreditation of sister institutions in the Bidda area has begun. I will give you an example: before I arrived at that institution and started teaching, there were only two or three polytechnics in northern Nigeria that offered Chemical Engineering; today, there are over twelve.
Nasarawa is our nearest neighbor; I taught there for many years, and they currently hold their HND. As early as ten or fifteen years ago, individuals were traveling to Bida to study chemical engineering at Lagos State Polytechnic. Excellent pupils, and Bida is like a miniature Nigeria.However, all schools are now striving for and obtaining accreditation. The second reason is that universities are increasingly sprouting up close to Bida.They all visited Bida before to it. You now hold an HND, which is to say that you have a degree from Minna and numerous programs in Lapai. Lapai wasn’t present before.
Nevertheless, the Rector told the Committee that in spite of the difficulties, the administration is trying to do better by adding in-demand courses and making improvements to already-existing ones.
“We are attempting to make up for it and introduce other courses that are not in Bidda,” he stated. We have received inspections of the resources for eight new programs. We received accreditation for 29 programs two or three weeks ago. We’re attempting to catch up as well.
However, Hon. Inyang underlined that they should adhere to upholding standards even as they work to increase their intake and support IGR.
“All of your excuses are positive excuses in my opinion,” he replied. They’re not bad. However, the standards will be better if there are fewer people in each class. because you used to be 20,000. Some were undoubtedly waiting to hear lectures. Therefore, you should focus on standards as long as you are citing these causes for your population decline. People will recognize that this is the place to go because of the standards.
Rep. Dalladi Suleiman, the Committee’s Deputy Chairman, instructed the Rector and the other management personnel to update and clean up some of their documents following the presentation.
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After finding disparities and some expenses that exceeded the authorized budget, the Committee unanimously instructed the Federal Polytechnic Bida management to update information on capital and overhead allocations. The Polytechnic’s rector clarified that the Ministry of Education had given the institution permission to make these out-of-budget expenses.
The Committee responded by reminding the Rector and the other management personnel in attendance that the National Assembly alone has the jurisdiction to authorize and distribute government money, and the Ministry of Education is not an appropriating body.
