The Federal Government has approved 30 billion naira for polytechnics and colleges of education across the country. This is coming as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP is agitating for better welfare for members.

Minister of Education Adamu Adamu announced this at a round table organized by ASUP in Abuja, with the theme, “Repositioning Nigeria’s Polytechnics for National Relevance and Global Competitiveness.”

Adamu, who was represented by the Executive Secretary, National Board of Tertiary Education, NBTE, Idris Bugaje, explained that the money is intended to ease the challenges facing Polytechnics and Colleges of Education. He however assured that his ministry was working hard to ensure the release of the money to the respective institutions.

In his welcome address, ASUP President Anderson Ezeibe, advised the Federal Government to discontinue indiscriminate proliferation of polytechnics and focus on funding and development of existing ones. He also noted that Polytechnics are fast becoming mere constituency projects established to satisfy political convenience rather than for educational development and the growth of the nation.

Ezeibe however, decried the discrimination of polytechnic graduates which he blamed on ignorance and poor funding for the institutions that has resorted in infrastructural gap, making polytechnics less attractive to students.