The Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti on Friday raised the alarm over alleged invasion and subsequent destruction of the institution’s farmlands by persons suspected to be Fulani heardsmen.
The Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr. Taiwo Akande said at a pre- convocation press conference in Ado Ekiti that the institution had lost several millions in monetary terms to the menace.
She called on the federal government to intervene in the crisis, as the police and eminent Nigerian like Aare Afe Babalola, whose university is located directly opposite the polytechnic, had tried to curb further damage but to no avail.
“This menace of Fulani cattle rearers has been most destructive to many of our demonstration farms and pilot plantations
“It is most painful to also disclose that some of the pilot farm projects, academic, research demonstration farms and recently established plantations on which we pinned our hope of future revenue enhancement have been destroyed one after the other by the Fulani cattle rearers
“They will bring their animals to the campus environment and eat up every green thing in sight”, she said.
According to the Rector, those systematic destruction of the institution’s farms and project sites had been on since over two years.
She said another major problem confronting the polytechnic was the activities of land grabbers and illegal settlers.
Akande also listed continued dwindling resources arising from low funding by the federal government and poor patronage by the private sector in terms of endowment as part of current challenges of the polytechnic.
She pleaded passionately with the federal government to make polytechnic education more attractive to Nigerian admission seekers and sponsors alike by removing the age-long dichotomy between it and the university.
The Rector said that that the 16th combined convocation ceremony which holds next week would involve graduating sets of 2010/2011,2011/2012 and 2012/2013 academic sessions.
Giving a breakdown, she explained that they will involve a total of 11,558 made up of full and part-time 3,855 HND and 7,882 OND graduands.
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