• Upper class, greatest enemy of polytechnic education, says Adegoke, OSCOTECH Rector
From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Dr Samson Adegoke Rector, Osun State College of Technology (OSCOTECH), Esa Oke. He doubles as Chairman, Committee of State Rectors (COSREC). In this interview, he spoke about the future of polytechnic education and blamed the society for its retardation.
What can you describe as impediment to the success of polytechnic education in Nigeria?
The greatest impediment is societal perception of the polytechnic education. We see it as secondary, whereas, university and polytechnic are two parallel lines, with different objectives and focuses. The society doesn’t see it as such. So, when you see anybody very brilliant, whether lecturer or student and the way he or she discusses, which has happened to me, they say, why are you in the polytechnic? As if it’s for the dullards. Society is the greatest problem. And that’s what affects every other thing.
I keep telling them that it is the way. Where there is will, there is a way. We’ve always been thinking wrongly that it is a paucity of fund. But it was after we are not given money that University of Ilesa started and it was funded in billions. You see that it is the will. It’s not the lack of fund per se. And it’s not the fault of the government per se. It is the society. Because the trend is that we don’t want it. And I call it elite conspiracy.
Our educational system is supposed to be 6-3-3-4. Six in primary, three in junior secondary school, three in senior secondary school and in senior secondary school, it goes to two factions. Those who are inclined towards academic go to secondary school.
Those who are inclined towards engineering and skill go to technical colleges. Today the society has killed technical colleges. They killed it. It’s supposed to be a feeder school to the polytechnic. So it was killed. That’s the problem, the society.
The dual policy of the Federal Government on federal colleges of education will start in September/October. Has the polytechnic not been left out?
We are working on that. We’ve been on it. Unfortunately for us, the rijig of the cabinet by Tinubu affected our activity in that regard.
I’m the chairman of all state polytechnic Rectors. And we have been canvassing it. The former Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, bought into the idea. He has gone to Singapore. He has gone to Germany. I think South Africa. He has perfected everything. They were to take a bill for dual mandate.
Our Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje, is compassionate about it. But, immediately Sununu was removed. It is like beginning again. We are still on it and we are on course. We believe sooner or later, polytechnic will have dual mandate. I have about three or four papers I’ve written on that.
We don’t have problem with ND. The problem is with HND. Everybody cannot be degree holder. Electrician, fitting the refrigerator, no, those that should do that, people graduate from fitting and something from technical colleges. Those who study cooling and refrigeration in polytechnic do that. ND. After ND, go and do three years to take B.Tech, depending on your course of study.
That will solve the problem permanently. And you know what? It will do a double solution because more people will now go to polytechnic because they know with their ND, they will advance to their B. Tech. So, it will solve the problem.
What will you say about university of technology offering conventional courses?
Let me tell you, they are Federal University of Technologies by name. Ninety per cent of them are running conventional systems. How do you talk of Law in a College of Technology? How do you talk of Accounting in a University of Technology? It is because that is where they see population.
If they want to give dual mandate to polytechnic, I will be an apostle of that, Faculty of Business and Management Studies should be removed. Let it be science, core science. Faculties of Applied Sciences; ICT; Environmental Studies; Engineering as well as Arts and Design.
These are the core courses needed to solve our problem. We are only postponing the evil days by neglecting the polytechnics. We are doing more injuries to our system than the polytechnic itself, because everybody is paying for it.
You need to go to neighbouring countries, these are the things they should be doing in technical colleges. And part of certification that can be done in the polytechnic at ND level. Because when you are doing building or you are doing civil in polytechnic ND, tiling, plumbing, furniture making, all these are part of it.
That’s why I talk of certification and stacking, then micro-credentials. After your course on plumbing, you can take a certificate. After your course on cooling and refrigeration, you can take a certificate. Start them together. You are better then. That is the way the world is going. The world does not look at the degree as a whole.
Now we can look at the degree as it happened in the music industry. Most people don’t release albums again. They release tracks. You can do your own track. If OAU is good in visual design, you can do certificate in visual design and go to ABU to go and do interior design. Have your certificates together. Get to the industry. You are on fire. You rise fast. Before those who are doing their degree come back, you are already gone.
How do you compare funding by TetFund in polytechnic and university?
It is a wife that we love that her children get more attention. We are the wife that the husband doesn’t love. University is the wife that the husband loves. He takes care of the children and the mother. But in our own case, both the mother and the children suffer. That’s the case with Polytechnic, because they give them priority.
We were in existence before UNIOSUN. About 40 per cent of their staff were from OSCOTECH. Go to UNILESA, go to UNIOSUN, go to FUOYE, you will see our staff, administrative and teaching. Somebody argued a very terrible argument at the bilateral discussion, a permanent secretary.
He said yes, the reason they don’t respect Polytechnic is because our cut-off is low compared to universities. I asked what of private universities? Many private universities take cut-off lower than what we take, are they less a degree holder? He could answer. And I asked her, how many of your children are in polytechnic? She said none. So you killed it, and all of us will continue to pay for it.
You’ve had the opportunity of working with three governors, what kind of politics have you been playing to get funds?
I’m not involved in any politics with any of the governors. Because one, we didn’t get funds. The only fund we get from our government is our salary. The only time we got funds during Aregbesola gave us N80 million when we want to do one accreditation.
Don’t forget Aregbesola slashed our tuition without consulting us, and he said every month he will be giving us the difference. He never did. When we were to do accreditation, we didn’t have money. He gave N80 million. Subsequently, until last year, when we were about having very tight corner and the governor promised us N90 million, but today we have got N15 million out of it. Apart from salary, since 2012 to date, we got N130 million from the government.
How were you able to maintain a peaceful coexistence between the academic community and the Esa-Oke community?
We thank God. We have what we call town and gown, and we do meet occasionally and we create rapport with them. We did one unique thing that most people don’t know. During COVID-19, we identified nine communities surrounding the college. We staff contributed money, our money. We bought rice, beans, garri and we distributed to those nine communities.
They couldn’t go for their daily work because of lockdown and these are people that earn a living from daily earnings. We have a lot of goodwill based on that. We were at Ijebu, we were at Ere, we were at Esa-Oke, we were at Eti-Oni, we went like that and we distributed food items to them from our own money, not from government money. Though there were occasional skirmishes between us but God has settled it.
If you are made the Minister of Education in Nigeria today, what policy will you pursue for the advancement of knowledge and technology?
If I am the Minister of Education today, and the President allows it, because it has to go as a proposal, number one, the last admission of HND has been done, there won’t be another admission. And all our polytechnics will start from next academic session. They have to prepare for transition, no admission. Then they will have to get NUC accreditation and NBTE accreditation. We have been clamouring that they should have what we call the Polytechnic Commission, that will have the proper type of people to accredit it, whether degree or HND.
The ones who have dual mandate, they fall under two bodies, and two of them will be accredited. Ours will be that of polytechnics. We will follow Ghana format. We will have a Professor in the polytechnic, we will stop awarding HND, we will continue with ND, then we will start certification and micro-credentials, because apart from diploma programme, there could be a lot of certificate programmes.
For instance, I’ve marketed this in the media before. You have a Mass Communications department. I don’t know how many of us listen to the argument between Oseni and some other people including Dele Momodu and Lere Olayinka. The man said they are not journalists. Yes, he’s right. That you stay in the car park does not make you a car. You study Yoruba. You are doing journalism. But you have no formal certification. Are you a journalist? No.
Those people don’t have to cry for too long. Let him come for six months diploma certificate programmes in Journalism, Script Writing and different aspects. Certification can help them. It’s not too late. You can still go to Institute of Journalism. But truth be told, he is not a journalist. And we have so many people like that. I use that as an example.
Let me give another example. Somebody is a chartered accountant. He’s posted to the credit department in the bank. They put in valuation before him to grant a mortgage. He has to study, understand that valuation, whether he will grant it or not. He doesn’t know anything about valuation. He can do his certificate course at Esa-Oke. Just the valuation for mortgage, and he will get his certificate.
That is stacking I’m talking about. If they take him to the department on Insurance, he can do certificate on Insurance. It’s that easy. These are the way to go. This is the global trend. We can’t continue insanity. He’s doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results. This society is not making doing things different. We expect different results. No, it won’t work.
Do you think that will reduce the Japa syndrome?
If we do what I just proposed, all these Japa will Japada (return). Go to China, most Chinese they receive here and they call experts have technical school certificate. All those things you are importing, if you see where they are producing them, if we give skills to our youths, they can do wonders. We have intelligent youths.
Don’t mind the president that said they are lazy no they are not. Somebody of average brain cannot do Yahoo and get results. They are top-notch, brilliant, cerebral youths, let us harness and give them opportunity. In our agricultural sector alone, we can make things done.
The problem America is facing, all these Filipinos and the blacks, they have sent them away. They are complaining. Inflation in America now is about to increase. So nobody is an Ireland. I want to tell you, our problem is not as complicated as we paint it. The real problem is that you are not asking the right question. So, you are not getting the right answers.
After your retirement, what’s next?
I’m going to delve into politics. I don’t have a plan for politics. The only thing I can do in politics, if any government finds me relevant, they want to use my intellect and they want to give me an appointment. Where they will allow me to do the right thing.
I’ve spoken to one of my friends who is a top-notch politician. If he wants to make me a commissioner, a minister, or advisor, he must assure me that you allow me to use my intellect and my capabilities. Otherwise, why do you have to put me there?
Apart from that, I’m a chartered estate surveyor and valuer. I’m a chartered town planner. I’m a chartered environmental manager and auditor. I have a practice office. I never close my office. All I will need to do is to rest a bit and dust my office. I consult for many banks on their mortgage finance, mortgage lending. I do valuation for them I acquire sites for them.
Do you subscribe to the retirement of professors at age 65, 70?
It depends. In America and UK, professors don’t retire. They go where they want to go. They are like old wine, the older the better. All this regimental retirement age, what do they do? So many of them cannot do any other thing than academics.
They don’t have to be teaching. They can supervise PhD thesis, master’s thesis, attend seminars. They’d be able to groom other professors. It’s not about retirement. And maybe even after certain age, even the salary can be reduced and make it part-time so that they continue to teach until they cannot do it again.
You were affected by the executive order of Governor Ademola Adeleke with some other Rectors, how did you return to the office?
How I return back, I don’t know. It’s God who knows. I keep saying that. I said by the magnanimity of the governor, it was just God. How God touched their hearts after the preliminary investigation and they said I should come back. I cannot ascribe it to anything than God.
What is the level of cultism you are leaving behind in OSCOTECH?
We thank God. Cultism is dead in OSCOTECH. Since 2012, we don’t have cultism in our college. But, occasional, they clash in the town, because unknown to a lot of people, cultism has grown more in the community than the school. A lot of indigenes were involved. But, by the grace of God and by prayers and all the rest, in OSCOTECH today, we are sure that if your child or ward is there, you don’t have anything to fear. You can never.
Now we are doing our second semester exam for ND/HND, in the past, that is the most critical time. We hire police and other securities because of exam. Today, God has taken care of that.
In which area would you advise the state government to focus more for technical advancement in that polytechnic as you are leaving?
There are three areas: Increase funding, recruitment of staff (proper staffing) and the regulatory body should free polytechnic to do non-diploma certificate programmes. All those ones make us
What are do you want the person coming behind to sustain?
By our law, it is the governing council that recommends to the governor. But what I wish anybody who is succeeding me, is that God will help him to do far better than what I am able to do. Because I did far better than my predecessors. And I wish anybody that succeeds me, same thing, so that when he is going like I am going, he will be able to say I did better than my predecessor. So I pray for them.
You remember the story of animals killing their parents? Is it dog or tortoise that keeps his own? And anytime they see him, he will run back to his parents and he will become a wise person.
We are still available for whosoever takes over. Because I still enjoy the benefits from my own predecessor. He is life. I run to him, I seek advice, I get ideas.