Govt not utilizing polytechnic potentials to tackle unemployment – Diran Odeyemi

Tunde Adeleke, Osogbo

The Chairman of Governing Council of Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Diran Odeyemi, has disclosed that the government is not utilizing the potentials embedded in polytechnic to address the issue of unemployment.

He added that polytechnic education should be given a pride of place because that is the only institution where skills are acquired for self-development, adding that many students goes to university to acquire theoretical knowledge without skills.

Speaking at a ‘News Point’ of the Osun Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),  on Wednesday, Odeyemi held that if Nigerian governments give adequate attention to polytechnic as given to university education, Nigeria would not be where it is today.

He said, “The world is moving away from where we are focusing. Every day you give license to 10 universities, now we have more than 200 and what are they doing? Literary arts, Economics, among others. But the technology area, for me, if they want to change the tragedy of our progress in terms of development, if everybody wants a certificate, then let us convert polytechnic to polytechnic-university and let us erase all management courses from polytechnic, let’s concentrate on science and technology, then this country will know where it is going.

“The truth is that nobody is looking at Polytechnic education in Nigeria. If we give  the attention we give to the University to Polytechnic, we won’t be where we are.

“In as much as we continue to pay little service to technology, we will be moving around the circle, and no matter how you travel on the wrong route, there is no other solution than you have to turn back.

“We must know when to turn back and refocus our education priority. We made enough of writing. What can people do with their hands?  skills are the global things now.

Corroborating the view, the Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Samson Adegoke, stressed that the polytechnic is not receiving the required attention.

In his words, “For instance in our school, these are the current renovations that we have. Under Mechatronics, we have Electric Jack, Bluetooth Control Fan, Weight Control Wheel Barrow. Under Electrical, we have Smart Home Automation, Biometric Attendance, Rfid Smart Security Gate, Programmable Load Shedding System With Remote Unit, Android Fan Control System, Access Restricted Integrated Power Monitoring And Control System, and Smart Traffic Light.

“We have Bluetooth Control Fan, a fan that can be controlled by Bluetooth or by GSM. We have a generator that is GSM-controlled so if you are not even in the country and you to give people the impression that you are around from there you can send a message to the generator and your company can be on light for some time before you  off it, this has a dual purpose, particularly in the era of security threat, we noticed that some people in an attempt to go down and off their generator, are kidnapped , you don’t need to leave your room to put on and put off your generator, you send text message,” Adegoke said.