By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Chairman of Governing Council of Waziri Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic, Kebbi State, Arc Waziri Bulama, has called for more security for the tertiary institutions in the country.
Speaking with journàlists in Abuja, Bulama, who was among the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Board members inaugurated last two weeks, explained that the board members had not met to know the challenges in the Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic, through he stated that security of students would be a priority to the board members.
He said as the Chairman, he would leverage on his relationship with the Governor of Kebbi State and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Atiku Bagudu, Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, former Minister of FCT, Senator Haliru Aliero, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), etc, to give the Polytechnic a favorable administration.
Asked to appraise the challenges faced by the institution and how he intends to tackle them, he said, “first we thank God that at the moment we’ve not received or heard of any involvement of the students of the Polytechnic in any case of violence or banditry. We thank God for that but on the other hand, we need to pay special attention to the laws governing security of lives and properties on the campuses.
“There are laws that govern students’ conduct, laws that allow and prevent, some certain things and the conduct and behavior of students on the campuses will encourage the management of the Polytechnic to work closely with them. To ensure that there is discipline on the campuses and that there is zero tolerance for all acts of indiscipline that may result in any threat to peace, within the campuses, students, staff and management staff and as well as the host communities of the polytechnic.
“So we are going to work with the polytechnic authorities to ensure that there is zero tolerance for indiscreet behavior and zero tolerance for bad behaviors.
“We will also work very closely with the communities, the security authorities, particularly the police and other institutions of State intelligence gathering and the traditional leadership and so on close to the school to ensure that they work and help the Polytechnic authorities to ensure no bad behaviour is tolerated and that any miscreants or bad behavior coming from the students would be nipped in the bud.
“In any case, we also will work to ensure that we don’t allow idleness on the campus, we will ensure that the students are occupied and monitored round the clock for the period that they are in the campus, that everything or anything they do is productive and something that can contribute to their education and orientation on the campus.
“We will keep the students occupied, giving them less time to engage in any anti-social behaviour. For me, along with our Council members we will walk along these lines to ensure that we prevent and when we see we eradicate any threat to peace on the campus or within or, around the community that hosts this Polytechnic.”
Bulama also said vocational studies of which Polytechnic education was meant for, would be emphasized by the Board members.
