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Sep 01, 2023

Why Nekede poly ranks among 6 best in ICT development 

7th March 2023

7th March 2023

From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

The eighth rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State, Dr. Michael Chidiebere Arimanwa, has in the last four years provided transformational leadership that is consistent with the 14 goals and 72 targets that he set prior to his emergence as rector.

In this interview with our correspondent, he explains why the institution has continued to be adjudged the best in the country as well as reeling out other achievements that stand them out. Excerpts:

How has the journey been so far and how did you maintain this academic standard in the institution?

We have redefined leadership with my disarming charisma, meekness, humility, brilliance and innovativeness. My achievements as the rector is comprehensive, integrated and embraces all sectors of life in this foremost polytechnic. Essentially, I have made the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, achieve and maintain the status of the best-performing polytechnic in Nigeria, according to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). My administration has made tremendous achievements. Let's look at the area of infrastructure: we constructed the School of Engineering Technology Office Complex, the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering, we constructed the Engineering Technology Classroom Complex, School of Engineering Technology Classroom Complex, School of Business Management Technology Classroom Complex Construction of the School of Environmental Design Technology Office Complex. Look at our School of Environmental Design Technology Classroom Complex, Building Technology Department Workshop. It was my administration that remodeled the Fine Arts and Design Depart, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mass Communication among others.

We also established a fish farm estate and constructed internal and external roads, handling floods and gully erosion. Another area that will interest you is upgrading our research. When we came in research was nothing to write home about, so we intensified our effort and today we’re glad that our research is one of the best now in the country, although it did not come easy. A total of N400,000,000 research funds has been spent in the last four years as provided by TETFund and that has, in turn, yielded a lot of results for us. It was through our research that we invented the electric car; we are hoping that someday we experiment with it as our shuttle bus on our campuses but we need the assistance of the Federal Government to make it a reality. We have already submitted our proposals to the National Automobile Car Manufacturing Assembly. At the last exhibition in Abuja, of all the institutions that participated, we came third and first in all the polytechnics that competed.

We also had the construction of a gas-fired crucible furnace, the invention of rice de-stoning machine, the invention of coconut the de-husking machine, the construction of a palm-kernel cracking and separation machine, construction a palm fruit digesting machine, the construction of the presser machine, construction of a cassava-grating machine and development of a surveillance aircraft and drone, and just recently we have invented a generator that will be operated without fuel.

In achieving all these, do you get external help?

Yes, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to enable students quickly get chartered after graduation; we also signed an MoU with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) to enable our students quickly become chartered bankers after graduation. These linkages with these institutions and organizations won us laurels, such as the best linkage institution in the South East, award of excellence in banking education. We also got a smart 160-capacity auditorium bequeathed to the institution by CIBN. We equally signed a MoU with the Dispensing Opticians Registration Board of Nigeria to eliminate quackery in the system and promote professionalism. We signed an MoU with Lofty Farms LTD, Lome, Togo, to establish South East's first tilapia fingerlings farm. We have an MoU with Sir Emeka Offor Foundation from which we got books and journals for our library. Our ICT also got a boost through our MoU with Zinox Technologies, which provided subsidies for the supply of HP laptops to staff.

Our school now has an incubation centre because of our MoU with the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI). Currently, we’re training 33 students of our school in Mechatronics Engineering, courtesy of our MoU with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company. Our students will gain a lot from the partnership, especially in the area of manufacturing vehicles. I can go on and on; we signed an MoU with the Occupational Safety and Health Association, United Kingdom, as a result of which our institution is a certified Safety Training Centre, the first in South East. We signed an MoU with FOCUS BISCON Manitoba, Canada, from which we have had a lot of educational materials donated to us.

I must also mention that our MoU with Jamie Pajoel International has so far enabled our students to get N400, 000 in scholarships trained in Business Administration and Management

The poly prides itself in the area of ICT, what have you done differently from others?

We don't just brag about it but we give you evidence of it. Recently the school board had a paperless meeting which means no paper was used anywhere, just ICT throughout. We hope to apply it to other meetings in the school such as with the student unions. We have put in place ICT to have electronic voting in the school, you can be anywhere in the school and just vote for anybody of your choice, INEC can do the same thing, it's easy. This we have done by laying optic fiber cables across the polytechnic, we have launched an ambitious Smart Campus Initiative that has mid-wife an ICT revolution witnessed in the operations of the polytechnic. This has made us attain the status of being among the best six polytechnics in ICT development according to the World Webometric ranking

Nigerians are waiting to know the outcome of the panel investigating the female student in a viral video that claimed to have graduated with her genitals, is she going to be expelled?

About the lady that made the unfortunate video, I have received calls from people everywhere. We have set up a committee to look into that, I don't want to preempt their outcome; they will interact with her and get back to the school management. But I want you to know that the school has been the best for nothing, I started schooling at Nekede poly in 1982, and I did my ND and HND here before I became the rector, somebody can not just come and spoil the image of the school.

But be assured that we are going to make our findings, we are not going to victimize her but we would follow the rules and due process. Our school is known for morals, if any student or lecturer is found wanting against our moral standards, the offender would face disciplinary action. Two lecturers were sacked in the past after they went against the moral principles of the institution. We have removed heads of departments, downgraded some, and barred some from promotion. Those who go contrary to the policies such as sexual harassment; exam malpractice would be dealt with.