Students march on Adamawa Polytechnic over course accreditation, others
Some graduates and top level students of the Adamawa State Polytechnic Yola (SPY) have protested at the main campus of the institution and at the main gate of the Government
Some graduates and top level students of the Adamawa State Polytechnic Yola (SPY) have protested at the main campus of the institution and at the main gate of the Government House in Dougire over the delay in course addrecitation and going for youth service, demanding swifter moves by the polytechnic management and intervention of the state government.
The protesters, who comprise graduates from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 sets, expressed frustration over the failure of the institution to upload their accreditation details on the portal of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), thereby leaving many qualified graduates unable to participate in the mandatory national service.
Students doing their higher national diploma (HND) programmes and those who completed their programmes this year are particularly apprehensive that they may suffer this fate.
The protest was driven largely by students from the Science Laboratory Technology (SLT) and Biochemistry departments who are worse affected.
The Nation gathered that the HND SLT programme has been running since 2021 without full accreditation from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
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This accreditation gap has rendered many graduates ineligible for NYSC mobilisation, as only graduates from fully accredited programmes are cleared for national service.
One of the protesting graduates, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “We have written letters, asked questions several times, and sought answers from the school management. The only response we keep getting is, ‘We will do it soon.’ Nothing changes and our hard work is being wasted.”
The protesters, who had initially gathered within the school premises, later marched to the Government House, hoping to see Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, but they were turned away.
The frustration of not getting a hearing from the government was, however, allayed when, in a turn of events, the Rector of SPY, Prof Mohammed Toungos, who was not on campus when the protest began, turned up and received the demonstrators.
Toungos commended them for their peaceful conduct and assured them that the management had heard their grievances and would expedite action to resolve the lingering issues of certificate issuance and accreditation.
