Students of the department of mechanical engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger state have designed and constructed a chicken feed milling machine.

The Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Abubakar Abdul Dzukogi, broke the cheering news at the combined eighth convocation ceremony of the institution.

The rector proudly announced that the products of the institution had distinguished themselves in terms of scholarly researches.

He said one of the students from chemical engineering department, Miss Ogwu Oluchi Gift, won the 2015 national essay presentation competition organised by the Chemical Engineering Society of Nigeria, a division of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE). Gift beat contestants from seven universities to clinch the first position.

He added that Alhassan Musa and Yakubu Yunusa, both of the chemical engineering department came second at the national quiz competition organised by the Chemical Engineering Society of Nigeria in Benin, Edo State.

Similarly, Samson Oyetunji won gold medal, while Buhari Dauda and Whyte Chiamaka won bronze medals at the third national students mathematics competition organised by the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja.

Dzukogi disclosed that the polytechnic would by the next academic session, introduce courses in information and communication technology as well as agricultural technology to leverage on the unique agricultural potentials of Niger state.

LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that for over eight years, the polytechnic did not hold convocation for its graduating students.

From available records, eight sets of the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes of the institution who had graduated from the polytechnic had not received certificates, since no convocation took place within the period.

Consequently, it came as a relieve for the graduands that the institution’s authority under Dzukogi, decided to hold the convocation and issue original certificates to them.

Some of the graduands who spoke to LEADERSHIP Sunday confirmed that they did their ND and HND within the period and which meant that they were graduating as National Diploma holders and Higher National Diploma holders at the same time.

Preparatory to the convocation ceremony which took place on April 2, 2016, the rector told a news conference that in the past, attempts were made to hold the convocation but the idea was always marred by paucity of funds.

He said that he decided to break the jinx this year, even though the funding situation has not changed, and added that now that he had taken the gauntlet to conduct the backlog of the convocation in the combined 14th convocation ceremony, subsequent academic sessions would witness no carryover of convocation.

The rector hinged his decision to break the jinx on the fact that he was a deputy rector when previous attempts were made to hold the convocation but to no avail and viewed it as a challenge and that immediately he was appointed, he listed the need for convocation for all the eight sets in order to give the polytechnic a better image.

He enthused: “I am particularly delighted because the eight year old jinx of deferring convocation is broken this Saturday; henceforth it would become an annual event.

“When I came on board about a year ago, I directed that enough non-personalised certificates must be procured from the Nigeria Minting and Printing Company to enable all outstanding certificates be prepared.”

He, therefore, stated that unlike in the past eight years, graduands of the institution can now collect their certificates after paying the stipulated fees.

At the ceremony, 995 students at both ND and HND cadres bagged distinction.

The breakdown of results showed that 687 ND graduands had distinction while 308 HND graduands also had distinction.

In all, a total of 24,279 students graduated from the Polytechnic in the period under review.

It was obvious at the convocation that the graduating students felt highly elated for witnessing the convocation after waiting for so long.

The rector had earlier made known his reservation about the dichotomy between HND and university degree.

According to him, the dichotomy is not good for the nation’s economy and unnecessary, noting that in developed economies, the HND graduates drive the economy.

He, however, disclosed that the polytechnic would enter into collaborations with the Federal University of Technology, Minna and Kenyatta University, Nairobi, to run degree, post graduate diploma and Masters programmes.

Dzukogi said that they would await the necessary accreditation before commencing the programmes.

In his address, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said, the federal government was appreciative of the maturity of the staff unions in handling trade disputes that do arise from management/staff relationship in the polytechnic.

The minister who was represented at the ceremony by the executive secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr Masa’ud Kazaure, pointed out that polytechnics have the capacity to provide solutions to the challenges of food shortage and its attendant crisis in Nigeria, while commending the Federal Polytechnic, Bida for planning to introduce new courses in agricultural technology.

He also stated that efforts of the management, staff and students of the institution to maintain a peaceful academic atmosphere were commendable and urged the management of the institution to be transparent, fair and just in handling its affairs.

“You will agree with me that corruption is the bane of our society as this has eaten deeply into its fabric. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will not relent in using every instrument available to it to totally extricate this vice from our nation; this administration expects you to exhibit a high sense of probity, accountability and above all, display of integrity in all spheres of the institutional management,” he declared.

The deputy governor of Niger State, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Kesto, who represented the state government, said Federal Polytechnic, Bida has emerged as a centre of academic excellence in Nigeria as a product of strategic planning and development, which progressively exists to serve specific needs of the changing times and the state.

He stressed the need for all to pay more attention to functional and entrepreneurial education that polytechnics are known for, adding that, “there is no doubt that entrepreneurial education is the bedrock of socio-economic development and societal transformation.”

According to him, “once the polytechnic remains focused and receives the desired attention, the disturbing high-level of unemployment being experienced in this country today, would be drastically reduced.