The Rivers State Polytechnic Levy

The situation at the Rivers State Polytechnic is regrettably pathetic. At the time other higher institutions across the country are struggling to acquire state- of- the- art equipment and facilities to secure accreditation of their programmes in order to produce graduates that can compete in the labour market, a huge damage is being done to available and hard-earned facilities at the campus of the institution in Bori. The students’ riot which was a fall-out of the failed election of the National Association of Akwa Ibom Students, Rivpoly chapter on October 1, saw to the wanton destruction of some key facilities of the institution, including its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre and a life-support ambulance.

Undertaking steps to address the unfortunate incident, the authorities of the polytechnic had set up two committees, one of which was charged with the responsibility to unravel the immediate and remote cause of the incident while the other committee was charged with the duty to examine the extent of damage on the institution’s facilities. Prominent among the recommendations of these committees is the payment of a controversial levy of N20,000 on every registered student of the institution. The rector of the institution, Sir Obianko Elechi, on a Radio Programme (view point) on Saturday, December 27, 2014 said the management of the polytechnic has designated a bank account where students can deposit the contributory levy which he described as a “deterrent rather than a punitive charge”.

But the announcement of the mandatory levy on the over 9000 students of the institution had elicited widespread condemnation from different quarters. One of the controversies surrounding the choice of the levy is the fact that the authorities of Rivpoly have maintained that investigations into the crisis were still on-going. One wonders whether it will not be hasty or premature to impose levy on students if investigations into the crisis were yet to be concluded.

Again, now that the authorities of Rivpoly have insisted that students of the institution would not resume classes unless they have paid the compulsory levy, one wonders how long the institution would have to remain closed. Another side to the Rivpoly crisis is the refusal of the management of the institution to engage an external valuer to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the crisis or determine the extent of damage allegedly done on the institution’s facilities by the irate students, at least, to give the entire process an unbiased rather than the clandestine outlook it wears.

Making the Rivpoly crisis more complicated is the choice by the authorities of the institution to include students who were not on campus, especially those on internship, in the contributory payment. Students awaiting final clearance and those having an extra year due to the failure of some courses which are regular academic processes are also joined in the controversial levy. Would the authorities of Rivpoly punish the righteous and unrighteous equally?

Greg Charles God, charlesgodgreg@ yahoo.com