Dr. Surajo Abdullahi Shinkafi, the Rector of Abdu Gusau Polytechnic Talata Mafara in the state of Zamfara, has made an appeal to Governor Dauda Lawal’s rescue mission for infrastructure and human resources, claiming that the institution has been neglected for years by the state’s successive governments.
When Shinkafi received the visitation panel from the Zamfara state government at the institution in Talata Mafara town in the state, he made this statement in his office.
He clarified that the institution has been severely impacted by a lack of manpower because it is currently experiencing an unprecedented scarcity of skilled human resources.
He claims that despite the institution producing three governors, engineers, legislators, and corporate icons both inside and outside the state, it has been neglected for years by succeeding administrations and that as a result, “we are lacking in infrastructure and human resources.”
“Most of our staff have left because of poor remuneration, welfare and dilapidated structures as I speak to you now, we lacked manpower in all the departments and units of this institution,” he said.
He maintained that in the security unit, they have only 11 permanent staff, “we had to engage casual staff to improve security at the institution.”
He also bemoaned the death of no fewer than 21 institution staff, among them Mallam Ibrahim Jafar, the former registrar.
Abdu Gusau Polytechnic “has many challenges both vertical and horizontal, and we need financial autonomy,” the rector revealed.
He praised Governor Dauda Lawal for his efforts to save the school by issuing an emergency declaration in the field of education, and he said that the panel that visited the school was the first of its kind to do so since the state’s founding.
He lauded the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund) for executing multi-million naira projects in the polytechnic.
“If not for the intervention of the Tetfund, the polytechnic would have not been where it is now.”
Professor Jafaru Abubakar-Sadiq, the head of the visiting panel, stated in his remarks that the committee’s purpose was to evaluate the institution’s state in order to improve its capabilities and organisational structures.
“We are here on a fact-finding mission, we are all committed to supporting the government’s efforts to improve the quality of education in the state.”