Abia State Polytechnic, located in Aba, will finally hold a combined convocation ceremony for the first time in 12 years, where 28,000 students who graduated between 2010 and 2022 will be conferred with their degrees.
The Rector of the institution, Associate Prof Hagler Okorie, revealed this at a press conference in Aba, stating that the ceremony was necessary to clear the convocation arrears of over a decade and reposition the institution for greater public recognition.
During the press conference, Prof. Okorie expressed his displeasure with the de-marketization of Abia State Polytechnic and its resultant low student enrollment figures in recent years.
He remarked, “The problem we have in Abia Poly is de-marketisation. Discussions and narratives around Abia Poly are in a prejudiced form, with a lot of people that also do not have information.” Prof. Okorie emphasized the need to push positive narratives about the institution to create public awareness and attract potential students.
He also highlighted some of the strengths of the institution, including its personnel capacity, with over 85% of lecturers holding PhD degrees, and its state-of-the-art equipment in various faculties, which he claimed was unmatched by other polytechnics in the region.
He said, “Abia Poly has the capacity, capacity in terms of personnel, it also has a little above 85 per cent of PhD holders as lecturers and non-lecturers; we have in our Faculties, equipment that you cannot find in any South Eastern polytechnic, in any polytechnic in Aba.”
Prof. Okorie promised to address the issue of salary arrears owed to staff after the convocation ceremony. He explained that the school would need to seek alternative sources of funding to tackle the salary arrears’ headache, such as establishing businesses and partnering with corporate bodies.
He stated, “An institution should think out of the box and create or galvanize other alternative sources wherein the money will come from and it will be able to solve some problems, including salaries.”
Regarding the controversy over overstaffing in the institution, Prof. Okorie attributed the issue to the lack of student enrollment, rather than an excessive number of teachers.
He appealed to the public to help increase the student population of the school, saying, “My worry now is not about staffing, the student decimation, and the population of students.”
The Rector also disclosed plans to establish an Aba Business School, which he claimed had already gained widespread acceptance among the Aba business community.
The convocation ceremony is set to hold on Friday, May 12, 2023, and is expected to attract both human and vehicular traffic to the institution. Prof. Okorie hopes that the event will help put Abia State Polytechnic back on the map and attract more students to the institution.
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