Federal Polytechnic Ugep: House Committee Uncovers Imbalance in Staff and Student Numbers.
The House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and other Higher Technical Education has raised concerns over the Federal Polytechnic, Ugep, in Cross River State. The institution, established in 2021, currently has only 142 students but employs 154 academic and non-academic staff, with expenditures exceeding N600 million.
This revelation was made during the committee’s oversight visit to Federal Polytechnics in the South-South region. The Chairman of the Committee, Fouad Laguda (APC, Lagos), criticised the institution’s operations and described its spending as unsustainable.
The Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Edward N. Okey, explained the challenges faced since the institution’s inception. He revealed that the polytechnic initially struggled to secure a temporary site in Ugep, a small town with limited infrastructure. Eventually, the management renovated dilapidated buildings of the Ugep Community Secondary School, abandoned for 25 years, to serve as a temporary campus.
Professor Okey detailed that N2 billion from the institution’s take-off grant was used for renovations and construction projects, including a perimeter fence, a guest house, and a school of engineering. Despite these efforts, the institution continues to grapple with low enrolment, which the Rector attributed partly to a lingering historical stigma attached to Ugep.
He stated, “Even my Council members initially refused to hold meetings in Ugep due to old myths about the area. However, those beliefs are long outdated. We’ve been working tirelessly to erase such stigmas and attract more students.”
The polytechnic started with 16 students and now has 142, including those absorbed from the state-owned Institute of Technology and Management (ITM), which previously had only 63 students since its establishment in 2012.
Despite these efforts, committee members expressed dissatisfaction with the institution’s financial management. One member remarked, “A federal polytechnic with 142 students spending nearly N500 million on personnel and N159 million on overhead is unjustifiable. This is not sustainable.”
Chairman Laguda also criticised the poor preparation of institutions for the oversight review, stating that none of the invited schools from the region met expectations. “Out of the seven schools invited, only three submitted partial reports, while others were underprepared. We will recall these institutions for a follow-up review,” he said.
The committee has requested a detailed budget review and additional clarifications from the polytechnic’s management, with a follow-up session expected within a week.
This development highlights the ongoing challenges facing some newly established institutions in Nigeria, raising questions about resource allocation and sustainability.
