The Board and Management of The Polytechnic, Ibadan has held the ground-breaking ceremony of the 72-room Seyi Makinde Office Complex, on Monday.
It was gathered that officials of the state government, governing council members of the school, the project construction team, students and other stakeholders of the institution attended the foundation-laying ceremony.
Describing the development as epochal, the chairman, governing council of the polytechnic, Prof. Kunle Akinyemi said, “It was the first time such a massive project aimed at giving maximum comfort to lecturers of the institution, was embarked upon.
“This is a very special day, we rejoice and we are happy in it. I am happy to see the bulldozer work on the site to pave the way for the construction. It is well that ends well; when the construction of the complex is completed, it would bring convenience and inspire the lecturers to do more”, he added.
He noted that the project was one of the achievements of the school’s governing council under his leadership, adding that taking care of staff and their office accommodation is very important and symbolic.
“How can staff be squatting with one another? By the provision of this type of office complex, staff would be free to run their affairs in their offices. This will boost academic performance of the students”, he said.
Also, the rector, Prof. Kazeem Adebiyi, who expressed gratitude to the state government and the governing board of the school for their support, remarked that the project would also help to fast track accreditation of courses by the National Board for Technical Education.
“This is the first of its kind to my knowledge. The project has provision for standard 72 offices for chief lecturers. The project is to solve the problem of allocating offices to lecturers. This is one of the requirements for accreditation. To get accreditation, you need adequate offices for members of staff. That was why we conceived the idea and approached the government. They supported the idea through adequate funding.
He asserted that, “The cost of the building is N458million. The project is expected to be completed within 36 weeks; that is about three months.”
Adeola Ademuyiwa, who represented the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Rahmon Abiodun-Raheem, lauded the initiative of the institution’s management towards improving the welfare of its staff.
Ademuyiwa, who is the deputy director in charge of higher education, described the development as the beginning of greater things to happen in the institution.
Others present at the occasion include, Olori Moji Adeyemi, wife to the Alaafin of Oyo; Registrar of the institution, Modupe Fawale, Jide Ojolowo, members of the governing council of the institution, deans of faculties and heads of departments.