NBTE urges support for Buhari’s anti-graft war

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), has tasked educational all institutions in the country to buy into the President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration fight to rid the country of all forms of corrupt practices.

Speaking at a recent workshop organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), the training arm of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Executive Secretary NBTE, Dr. Mas’udu Kazaure, said NBTE has been partnering with both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the ICPC in the areas of fighting financial and non-financial corruption within the polytechnic system and inculcating change in our value systems.

At the workshop, which theme was “Academic Integrity in Nigerian Polytechnics and Monotechnics,” Kazaure informed that the board in collaboration with the EFCC and ICPC has commenced monitoring of activities of Anti Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Units (ACTU) in federal polytechnics to ensure that they comply with the standing order for the operation of ACTU’s enacted by the ICPC.”

ACAN Provost, Professor Sola Akinrinade, in his welcome address said corruption in any form was unacceptable, but corruption in our tertiary institutions strikes at the very heart of the future of this country.

He explained that the report of the University System Study and Review, conducted in three institutions through a collaborative initiative by the ICPC and the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2012, by the supervising board member of the academy, Professor Olu Aina, revealed that corruption has manifested itself in the operations of our universities.

His words: “More troubling, however, is that the identified major areas of infraction are not limited to the universities but they manifest across all segments of our tertiary education system.”

Akinrinade explained that participants at the ICPC-TETFUND National Conference on Transparency, Accountability and Ethical Values in Tertiary Institutions for Sustainable Development in May 2014 agreed that the findings were applicable to our polytechnics and colleges of education, adding that the need to address the problems posed by the findings of the report was a major reason for this programme.

According to him, the programme, which is targeted at the leadership of our polytechnics and allied institution, is of great significance given the crucial role of our polytechnics in manpower development and knowledge generation in this country.

Our polytechnics and allied institutions constitute a crucial segment in the tertiary education system, and it is important that we must do everything to properly position these institutions to achieve their mandates,” he added.

In his presentation titled “Integrity in Admission and Enrolment Processes,” Registrar/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, lamented that tertiary institutions in the country were in the habit of flouting admission guidelines, adding that corrupt practices were taking place in almost all institutions where large number of candidates would apply for a programme in a university where limited spaces were available.

Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, who was represented by the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Elvis Oglafa, noted that the aim of the programme was to impart knowledge and enhance skills, by generating new ideas and practices for strengthening the institutions.   Nta added that the commission would support the aspirations of the present government in making sure that corruption was nipped in the bud.