Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja
The Rector, Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Alhaji Isah Muhammed, has warned certificate forgers to stay clear from the institution, adding that those holding forged certificates of the institution but claim to have completed any of its programmes should immediately turn them in or face the full consequence that go with such criminal act. The rector, who gave the warning during a press conference at the polytechnic auditorium recently, also described all those claiming to be awaiting certificates of the institution years after graduation as ghost students who never passed through the system.
The rector was reacting to the information that some persons used forged certificates of the institution to secure civil service job in the state as revealed by the ongoing staff audit.
While defending the integrity of the institution’s certificates, he said “any of our products that is not performing, I can tell you he is not from Kogi State Polytechnic because right now this staff audit that is going on has revealed so many things.”
He advised students with carry-over they have written not to conclude that automatically they have passed. “That somebody graduated in 2003 and is yet to get his certificate, this is not true. If you have a carry-over in 2003 and you did not pass it, is it possible to graduate in 2016?
“We keep on telling them if you have carry-over and you came to write it come back to see the result because it is an exam that has to do with probability.
“If you investigate that student he has something in his cupboard; he must have had one or two carry-overs that he or she has not written. If he graduated after 2002 and he has not complained, it is obvious he was not a student.”
According to Muhammed, experience has shown that most of the OND graduates of the institution who went to other schools for their HND always excelled; that he said is the only yardstick to measure the integrity of the polytechnic’s certificates.
He explained that most staff’s children are enrolled in the institution because of their faith in its certificates. “As a rector I still teach because I cannot compromise the little experience I have because I want to transfer it. I have been encouraging my colleagues to do their best because our major duty is to contribute to humanity.
“When I get to class I tell them that I am not teaching them to pass but to get the knowledge so that they also can be of use to future generations.”
He said the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of government will not be practicable in tertiary institutions giving the peculiarity in running their affairs.
