How commitment to service delivery boosts RAMPOLY’s enrolment

Before now, Ramat Polytechnic (RAMPOLY) Maiduguri, Borno State has suffered neglect from the successive administrations in the state.

The institution, which is owned by the state government was established in 1973 as a technical college, awarding City and Guilds certificate to meet the middle level manpower need of the state before it was upgraded to a college of technology in 1978 and renamed with its current name two years after.

Up till the period it earned the polytechnic status and a few years after, the institution enjoyed some levels of attention from the state government.

The college, like many of its contemporaries elsewhere in the country and especially in the northern region, paraded the basic facilities and other infrastructures that made it conducive for learning and teaching.

National Mirror also gathered that lecturers were regularly been trained and retrained both locally and internationally and the students on their part were exposed to quality training.

But somehow along the line, as government changes, the story changed and most of the facilities hitherto enjoyed were no longer available to both the students and workers.

The building structures, especially hostels and staff quarters as well as classrooms became dilapidated and left unattended to. Safe water for use became a scarce commodity for people on campus and the internal road network also became almost impassable for motorists.

To worsen the situation, there was no perimeter fence to prevent intruders from entering the school leaving people in fear of hoodlums’ attacks.

These are just a few of the problems which the school contended with for many years until the current Rector, Dr. Babagana Umara, an engineer and astute administrator came on board three years ago. Now, things have changed for better.

The institution has worn a beautiful look and now on the path of reclaiming its lost glory. Some blocks of classrooms and hostels have been refurbished and equipped to standard and some new ones have been added.

Similarly, a new bursary complex which cost about N26 million was inaugurated about a month ago by the state governor, Kashim Shettima and the school can equally boast of a new staff quarters built from the internally generated revenue at the cost of N33 million.

Moreover, seven new courses including Computer Engineering, Computer Sciences and Management, which are more relevant to the economic need of the country had been introduced and accredited by the National Board for Technical Education.

Now, the total courses offered by the institution have increased from 26 to 32 across departments. And all these developments according to a senior lecturer at the Urban and Regional Planning Department, Mr. Ali Sani Ahmadu have increased the students’ population from around 6,000 to 13,000 despite the security challenge confronting the state.

Speaking further, Sani, who expressed happiness just like his colleagues as well as students of the institution over the development, noted that training and retraining programmes are now being organised for them at home and abroad.

He listed countries where some of them have gone to for one training programme or the other in the last two years to include but not limited to the US, UK, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ghana, saying the essence of such progranmmes is to expose them to world best practices on the job for better service delivery back home.

“We are now also enjoying study leave and better cordial relationship with the management staff and students and all these are already yielding positive results,” he noted.

He recalled that he had wanted to resign his appointment and leave Borno State entirely, especially as a result of security challenge which he claimed had driven away many of his colleagues but for the encouragement and motivation he received from the new rector.

“And I thank God I didn’t leave. Now, lots of improvements have taken place. The management is no longer playing politics with staff welfare and conditions of service. So, I don’t have a course for regret being a lecturer at RAMPOLY,” he stressed.

Similarly, a Diploma II student of Quantity Survey, Mr. Abba Usman Mohammed also expressed happiness over the leadership style of the new rector.

He said it was a paradox that when the school had fewer students, many of them were unable to secure accommodation on campus because rooms were just grossly inadequate. “But now, majority of us are staying on campus just because of the additional and cheap hostel fees,” he noted.

He pointed out that unlike students in many other higher institutions in the state including the University of Maiduguri who are always in fear of possible attacks by the insurgents, RAMPOLY students feel more secure on campus, as the school is located opposite the headquarters of the Borno Police Command in the heart of Maiduguri metropolis. “We could move around in the campus unhindered to read and do other things as there is steady electricity,” he noted.

Speaking also on the development, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mallam Mohammed Badamasi Adamu told National Mirror that the management had resolved not to rest on its oars but to continue to provide necessary facilities that will make the school globally competitive.

He however called on both the students and staff members to reciprocate the development through their respective engagements so as to jointly move the polytechnic to the next level.

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