The Governing Council, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, has appealed to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, to resolve the land dispute between the college and University of Lagos.
The council Chairman, Iheanacho Obioma, made the plea on Thursday at the 37th Convocation and 50th Anniversary of the institution in Lagos on Thursday.
Obioma was a member of the fourth National Assembly, representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Constituency of Abia State on the ticket of PDP between 1999 and 2003.
He said that a firmly and appropriate intervention of the minister on the matter would bring into fruition the actualisation of the college’s vision of expansion of physical structure and academic programmes.
“As a college, we genuinely desire to expand across the adjoining canal ceded to the college in 1967, where a little parcel of land is available.
“Unfortunately, our sister institution, UNILAG has also shown interest in the parcel of land.
“It is now obvious that the physical growth of the college is being curtailed because there is no more land space.
“This has resulted in many of our physical structures being put under stress, squeezed and cramped into the little available space with attendant accommodation and poor teacher-students interaction,’’ Obioma said.
The college governing council chairman listed other constraints hampering the seamless administration in the college to include inadequate funding.
He said Vocational and Technical education by its nature was capital intensive which requires generous funding, noting that staff and students population were increasing with attendant huge outlay of funds.
“Unfortunately, the fund is either inadequate or not available; this has created uneasiness between the management, members of staff and the students unions.
“The living conditions of the students due to congestion and deplorable state of the hostels can be better, as virtually all aspects of this facility require urgent rehabilitation,’’ he said.
Obioma, however, congratulated the graduating students for their lofty academic achievements, urging them to put to use the knowledge and skills embedded in them while in the college.
Also, Prof. Bappa Mohammadu, the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), said that the institution, as a foremost College of Education, had produced quality teachers for the nation.
Mohammadu, who is also an alumnus of the college, said: “This ceremony is of personal significance and joy.
“It is a homecoming for me as well as for everyone who has graduated and those graduating today.”
He urged the graduands to always remember the core values of knowledge, skills, discipline, moral rectitude expected of professional teachers and demonstrate these virtues wherever they find themselves.
Also, Dr Sijibomi Olusanya, Provost of the college, listed the challenges facing the institution to include inadequate funding, land constraint, Internal Generated Revenue, epileptic power supply and agitation for improved welfare by workers’ unions.
Olusanya said that 5,522 students from all the programmes offered by the college graduated and conferred with appropriate certificates.
He named the overall best graduating student as Mr Arile Josiah of the Department of Office Technology and Management Education with a Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate of 4.62.
According to him, Josiah is the best of the three graduating sets of 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017.
