The Chairman, Governing Council, Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, Prof. Taiwo Olaiya has said the council has the process to fill the vacant positions of principal officers of the the institution.
He also disclosed that promotion of staff has been taken care of and that the staff would soon start to enjoy the benefits.
Prof. Olaiya made the disclosure on Wednesday at a press conference shortly after the inaugural meeting of the governing council of the institution.
He said far-reaching decisions have been made to fill all vacuum created the absence of a governing council in the institution.
“Our heath felt gratitude to the President of Nigeria, Ahmed Tinubu, for finding us worthy of occupying this position to come and add value to this institution.
“We are very much grateful to the management of this polytechnic for starting well with us, and we believe we are going to enjoy their support to perform this important role, ensuring that this school runs smoothly.
“During the course of our inaugural meeting, we have taken far-reaching decisions on many issues. We have taken decisions on vacant principal positions in the polytechnic, which will soon become a thing of the past because we have instituted the process of ensuring that there are no vacancies, so that administration will run smoothly.
“The promotion of staff that have been in limbo due to the absence of a governing council has also been taken care of, and many of the promotion exercises have been confirmed, and staff will soon enjoy the benefits of their promotion. We have also gone round to see the projects going on in the campus, Prof. Olaiya said.
Speaking on the suspension and rustication of some students found culpable in a protest that led to destruction of some property, the chairman said, the council would consider the appeals from some well-meaning Nigerian, and take a second look at the matter to see how justice could be tempered with mercies
He said “We have taken decisions on the lingering issue of suspension of students that the school management found guilty of some riotous acts of vandalism in the name of protest, where some were rusticated and some were expelled.
“Consequent upon that, we had appeals from well-meaning Nigerians on how we can temper justice with mercy. We met with student leaders, who also appealed to us to wade into it.
“We have discussed it, and we can see that what happened on that day is condemnable and you should never happen in any way and we will look into it.”
Prof. Olaiya also spoke on the mark he intend to leave behind at the expiration of his time as the chairman of the governing council of the institution.
Responding to the question of when the institution would finally move to its permanent site, the chairman said, “I can tell you that the polytechnic is doing everything within its immediate disposal to move from the temporary campus to the south campus.
“As we speak, about four campuses have moved to the site fully, and we are hoping that in the immediate future, we will also move there as soon as possible.”
“The polytechnic has a history of crisis in recent times before our advent. One of the things we hope to leave behind is a rancor-free polytechnic. We recognize the fact that without peace, there can be no progress, and since that is our watchword, we have to do anything within our disposal to ensure that we achieve this.
“The first thing is to ensure that laws and regulations are strictly followed, because where we follow the law, there will be peace, because all laws are detailed to us as smooth and peaceful coexistence within a particular society. We will ensure that all of the projects on the ground will be completed, and we will come up with new ones. We will commence and complete them during our time.
“We also intend to utilize community engagement; we wish to breach some of the gaps between the institution and the community, such that there will be peaceful coexistence and development-oriented engagement with the immediate community of the polytechnic” he added.
