By Obansa Ibrahim, Lokoja
History was made at the weekend as the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja held its maiden inaugural lecture 32 years after establishment
The First Inaugural lecture titled: Manpower Resourcing and Productivity Management in The Public Sector: The Cacophony of Paradox, was delivered by Dr. Joel Akowe, immediate past Dean of the School of Management Studies.
Dr. Joel Akowe in his lecture, declared that the mandate of government at all levels to deliver public goods and services to the citizens, depended on the canons of effectiveness and efficiency.
The Chief Lecturer affirmed that the quality of the workforce is fundamental to the realisation of this goal, noting that the process of acquiring these workers must be objective, fair and transparent.
He warned against the use of public office by the political class and their strategic bureaucrats to satisfy private, political, ethnic or family interests.
He enumerated the consequences of the above in the state’s public service to include employees inflow which he said is usually more than the absorptive capacities of the MDAs.
According to him “Many of those employed have often demonstrated lack of requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes for the job they were employed for; There is usually widespread cases of ‘Protected’ indiscipline as a result of god-fatherism, disloyalty to constituted authorities, increase in training needs and poor servicing of employees’ entitlements resulting to consequent industrial cases amongst others.
As a result of the observed consequences of violation of the resourcing procedures in the Nigerian public service, Dr. Akowe advocated for regular staff auditing in MDAs, due process protocol in declaring vacancies and making their recruitments open while selection of candidates should be strictly based on predetermined criteria.
Also he recommended that orientation agencies, civil societies and NGOs should embark on deliberate education/enlightenment of citizens and other critical stakeholders across the country to awaken their consciousness to demand for fair participation in competitive employment as well as process accountability and transparency of the relevant agencies of employment.
The Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Dr. Salisu Usman Ogbo in his welcome address, said that the Maiden Inaugural Lecture is yet another significant milestone in the academic development of the institution since his assumption of office.
The Rector noted that the Polytechnic under his leadership has made its mark in the areas of security architecture, successful hosting of the 4th combined convocation ceremonies of the Polytechnic, full accreditation of 30 programmes by the National Board for Technical Education.
Similarly, the Rector stated that the Polytechnic under his administration embarked on construction, renovation and rehabilitation of students hostels and perimeter fencing of the female hostels, construction, renovation and rehabilitation of lecture theatres, classrooms and office blocks,Remodeling and Reconstruction of old library complex to a 30 bed medical Centre as a replacement of a 3 bed sick bay inherited by his administration.
Aside equipping the Polytechnic library, the Rector said that his administration also ensured zero tolerance for unethical practices and introduction of CBT Centre for the conduct of General studies examinations for ease of conduct and prompt release of results.