The Leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has bemoaned the deplorable state of infrastructure and the neglect of students in the Federal Polytechnic, Kaduna.
They also called on the Federal Government and other relevant authorities to wade into the issue to ensure that all basic amenities due to the students were adequately deployed.
The Vice President, External Affairs of NAPS, Lawal Muhammed, made this call during a press briefing, with the theme, ‘State of Nigeria Polytechnic Hostel Facilities: Kaduna Polytechnic As A Case Study’, in Abuja, at the weekend.
Muhammed expressed regret over the poor percentage of budgetary allocation for the educational sector,  stating that the fraction of it that was channeled to putting in place infrastructure in polytechnics, has yielded very little to providing habitable hostel facilities for the students.
Muhammed said: “Therefore, the leadership of the NAPS feels it’s very important to set the records straight for the public and the concerned authorities’ both ICRC and the Federal Ministry of Education to know that, it is no longer news how students are being neglected without the basic amenities that warrant a conducive atmosphere for learning.
“Revealing the very essence of this press conference has become an urgent task as it connects to accommodation problems and hardship being faced by a large number of Nigerian students, especially in Kaduna Polytechnic, as an effect of those who are opposing the right decision to be implemented.

“Despite allocating just a fraction of the little percentage of the budget to Education, the lean resources and under-funding of the Educational sector, the present Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Ibrahim Bugaje, who was the then Rector, had initiated the idea of Public Private Partnership (PPP), with the aim of raising the quality of the hostels to a more befitting standard and habitable.

“It is on record that a construction company, “Markpoint”, was awarded the contract but couldn’t meet up with the expectations, then came KYC Interproject, a reputable company with professional record in the construction sector, who acquired Markpoint.

“At this juncture, KYC Interproject advised that based on the initial agreement with Mark point, the earlier presented bill was to produce a low quality job, it therefore advised that, the entire process be revisited with the aim of raising the bar and changing the face of the hostels to an international standard.

“We want the government of Nigeria to know this, having presented the required BOQ to the present  management of Kaduna Polytechnic under the leadership of Dr. Suleman Umar, has suffered a serious setback.

“It is clear that even when he was a Deputy Rector before ascending to the position of a Rector, he was always opposed to the wellbeing of Nigeria students and preferred to be using such projects as a conduit pipe to drain resources.

“We want to opine in strong terms that, the present Rector must be compelled by the appropriate quarters to submit for onward review the BOQ submitted by KYC interproject, to Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministry of Education inorder to help meet up with the shortfall of students accommodation, to curb the problem of transportation, insecurity and rent outside the campus.

“The hostels to be renovated and upgraded with state-of-the-art aesthetics is Eighteen blocks with four thousand bed space (capacity).

“NAPS is calling and appealing in strong terms to NBTE, the federal government and Federal Ministry of Education, on the urgent need to call to a roundtable the contractor KYC interproject, to revisit and focus it’s lens on the plan submitted and, allow the company to move to site, since it has been sinking it’s personal funds based on PPP concession.

“Personal interest by the leadership of Kaduna Polytechnic mana