Part-time students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, are set for show-down with the school management’s failure to regularize their studentship with JAMB for
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
The affected students had threatened to embark on five days protest. Recall that the school management had earlier said all necessary requirements had been submitted to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and NYSC, in compliance with a directive from the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa.
Speaking with journalists on Sunday, a leader of the affected students and an alumnus of the Institution, Victor Olowoyo, popularly known as Gigabyte, accused the Rector of the institution, Dr. John Alake, of not doing the needful.
He alleged that the Rector had instructed Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) officials not to attend to part-time students who visited JAMB office for enquiries.
Olowoyo further alleged that the Rector failed to declare the total number of part-time students at the polytechnic to JAMB and also refused to pay the required fees to the board an obligation which he claimed other institutions had already fulfilled, thereby putting the future of over 10,000 students at risk.
He stressed that Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, appears to be the only Institution affected by such treatment, despite its part-time students having duly paid all prescribed fees and charges to the school.
The students’ leader maintained that the JAMB regularisation exercise demanded of them by the Institution was not the solution but for the Rector to officially declare part-time students to JAMB as legitimate, to enable them to be mobilised for national service.
His words, “We, the part-time students of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, are calling on the school management over the lingering issue affecting us since 2022.
“The management and JAMB have continued to describe us as illegal students. We do not understand why we are being labeled this way despite fulfilling all requirements as legitimate students. This is what has brought us together, and it is the reason we are staging a peaceful protest tomorrow.
“We want to know our fate. We want to know whether we are truly recognized as students of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti. Every one of us here has a matriculation number. We paid our acceptance fees. We did our medicals in the school. We have paid our school fees consistently and kept all our records updated.
“Yet, when we go to JAMB offices, their officials ask us which school we attend. The moment we mention Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, they dismiss us and say: “We do not recognize Federal Polytechnic part-time students.” We do not know why this is happening.
“We even sent delegates to the Director, but she has not given us any genuine or convincing explanation. For two years, all we have heard is: *“We are working on it.”* Till today, there is no result.
“From reliable sources, we have discovered that the real delay is not from JAMB but from our own school. Federal Polytechnic has failed to declare the total number of part-time students to JAMB Council and to make certain required payments. This, we are told, is what is holding back our recognition.
“Other institutions with similar cases have complied and their part-time students are being processed for NYSC exemption. Why is Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, wasting our time? The situation is disheartening and unacceptable.
“We are therefore calling on the Rector and the entire school management to do the needful immediately. They must go to JAMB, disclose the number of their part-time students and settle whatever payments are required. After all, we, the students, have already paid our dues and entrusted the funds to the school.
“That is why we are staging a peaceful protest beginning tomorrow, September 1, 2025, through September 5, 2025. The protest will be held at the main campus of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti. We demand recognition, we demand clarity, we demand justice”.