Bayelsa govt calls for high standards in tertiary institutions

Bayelsa Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has urged tertiary institutions to restore lost standards by producing quality graduates both in learning and character.

Ewhrudjakpo made the call when the Governing Council of the Bayelsa College of Health Technology, Otuogidi, visited him on Tuesday in Yenagoa.

The deputy governor lamented that the institutions had allowed the high standards they were known for in the past to go down the drain.

He called on the management of the college to restore and maintain enviable standards to avoid churning out products that would dent their image.

His words: “The College of Health is designed to train qualified manpower, with skills suitable to our environment.

“Standards were quite high, but it is no longer so. The problem with our institutions, today, is that we are now interested in quantity and not quality. But you must not forget that the graduates you produce, deal with life.

“So, there is so much work to be done. We must rejig and reinvent the lost standards in our tertiary institutions.

“If our school products have bad character, then it is a reflection of the school system that they had passed through.

“Concerning your demands, I will draw the attention of the Governor when he is back in the state.

“But I can assure you that government will take immediate action to address the encroachment issue you also raised as part of your demands,” he said.

Ewhrudjakpo called on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to complement the state government’s efforts by completing its abandoned projects in the institution.

Earlier, Mrs Victoria Denenu, Chairman, Governing Council of the college, said that the college needed more hostels, classroom blocks, staff quarters as well as ann auditorium and perimeter fencing.

Denenu informed the government that five of the College programmes were due for re-accreditation by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) this year, and appealed to the state government for funding support.

She urged Governor Douye Diri to give his assent for a substantive Provost for the College, adding that three nominations had already been sent to him for approval. (NAN)