WE HAVE ACHIEVED A LOT SINCE ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE, THANKS TO GOVERNOR LALONG ...TETFUND HAS BEEN A SAVING GRACE TO TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS - DAWAM, RECTOR, PLAPOLY

After the inauguration ceremony of the Executive Council of the Plateau State Polytechnic Alumni Association at the Lecture Theatre of the Polytechnic,the Rector of the Plateau State Polytechnic, Engr.John Dawam was cornered by the Publishers of the NewsGate Magazine, the NewsCrest Newspaper, Parrot Newspaper and Jat HotNews Newspaper for a media interview. He obliged and listed his achievements since assumption of office as well as the challenges of the Polytechnic which requires urgent intervention.
The Rector thanked Governor Simon Bako Lalong for the approval to employ 190 Academic and Non Academic Staff for the citadel of learning.

The Excerpts:

The NewsGate Magazine:What do you have to say on the  approval by the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Rt.Hon Dr Simon Bako Lalong KSGG for the Plateau State Polytechnic Barkin Ladi to recruit staff to replace the dead,retirees and searchers for greener pastures?

Engr John Dawam:I thank His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Plateau State Rt. Hon. Barr. Dr Simon Bako Lalong for giving the approval for the recruitment of 190 academic and non academic staff in the Polytechnic. In 2006, we had a staff strength of 1200 and since then the staff number has been declining till date.To fill the gaps we asked for approval for appointments and His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Plateau State granted the approval. I think he has done more than that, he granted approval for the employment of 6 core ICT staff employed to run our ICT center.

Newsgate Magazine: Sir, we just celebrated democracy day, the Governor celebrated five years in office and you celebrated about a year in office. What have you been able to achieve since your assumption of office?

Engr JohnDawam: I have done a lot.When we came in,we were tasked with so many responsibilities and challenges, but thank God we were able to make some impact and the first impact was the renovation of the students hostel. Secondly, the renovation of the Jos campus which was previously messy, in the sense that, there were no drains to channel water out of the campus, so we have embarked on the renovation of drains, culverts and landscaping of the Jos campus. In addition to that we have renovated quite a number of chairs for the students.When we came the students had issues of seatings in the class, so repaired the  seats and we have equally gotten more chairs to relive the students population.We are looking forward to fencing the girls hostel. In most tertiary institutions the girls hostel is usually being fenced but that of Plateau State Polytechnic Barkin Ladi is opened to all kinds of hazards, attacks from outside and non privacy.

Newsgate Magazine: By way of encouragement, we understand that, where ,we just inaugurated the Alumni Association is called TETFUND village, what do you have to say to TETFUND for coming to the aid of the Plateau State Polytechnic?

EngrJohnDawam: I think TETFUND has been a saving grace to all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.I keep wondering if TETFUND were not available,I would have wondered how most of the institutions would look like. Even though it is a government organisation, whoever brought the idea is a laudable idea.

Newsgate Magazine: Where do you expect the Plateau State Polytechnic Barkin Ladi to be by the time your tenure expires?

EngrJohnDawam: When I came in at the inaugural ceremony,we have a five year plan and within the five year action plan, we expect to have put certain things in place to achieve and by the time we follow this five year plan, which we have started in order to take the Polytechnic to another level. I think by the time I leave this place, the Polytechnic would be one amongst the top ten Polytechnics in Nigeria. Presently Plateau state is no where to be found in the ranking of 2018, so before I leave this Polytechnic, it will be amongst the best in Nigeria.

Newsgate Magazine: Sir, talking about security, we understand that a lot of your staff and students are being kidnapped, its painful and worrisome, what is the school doing to curtail this type of thing?

Engr John Dawam: These cases of kidnap has defied both state and federal efforts. We have tried to put a lot in place, when we came in, there was no security system in place, the vigilante which helped protect the school are no longer on ground, so when we came in, the first thing we did after the first kidnap was to bring the vigilante group to help with the internal security  in curbing the menace of kidnapping but even after bringing the vigilantes,we still had problems and therefore we had to apply for the police intervention. We asked the Commissioner of Police for intervention, and he has granted approval for some Policemen to guard the Polytechnic where they come over every evening through the DPO.

Newsgate Magazine: Have you called on the State Government  by erecting a fence round the school?

EngrJohnDawam: That was my first consideration. I and the Governor met and I told him about this problem and we articulated the problems with the porous nature of the Polytechnic, with building a walled fence around the school. He has passed it to the Ministry of Higher Education and they have asked us to produce a memo for approval and I hope they will receive attention.

Newsgate Magazine: Do you have any issue that is bothering you,that you feel it should be addressed?

EngrJohnDawam: I have quite a number, partaining the Polytechnic, like the problems of funding which is a general problem, it is not adequate.As a technical institution, it is capital intensive and also labour intensive, we need a large outlay of capital and labour, with huge overheads  and these are the areas we need subvention of Government.  The school fees paid by the students today,is nothing to write home about and the students' demands are so many to handle.With adequate funding, we will be able to solve quite a number of those problems. Infrastructure is delapidating, including the state owned infrastructure, they have deteriorated beyond repair and the government should come to the aid of these structures before they all collapse.