By Aminu Ahmed Garko
The Federal Polytechnic, Bida in Niger says arrangements have been concluded to introduce degree programmes in the institution.
The Chairman of the Governing Board, Prof. Mohammed Yahaya, made this known when he led members of the board on a visit to the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar in Bida on Saturday.
The polytechnic began in 1977 following the decision of the Federal Government to move the Federal College of Technology, Kano, to Bida with first Prof. J. W. Brooks, a Canadian, appointed on Sept. 5, 1977 as the first Principal.
The Bida College of Technology as it was called then began the first academic session in April 1978 with 211 students and a staff strength of 11 senior and 33 junior staff members.
The board chairman said all the relevant agencies of government had approved the undergraduate programmes.
Yahaya, who described the polytechnic as one of the best in the country, said the new board had resolved to take it to greater heights.
While assuring the Etsu Nupe of the council’s readiness to work with the host community, he pledged to improve on the achievements of the institution.
He thanked the host community for the cordial relationship it had established with the institution since its inception.
The Etsu Nupe and Chairman, Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, Abubakar, urged the board to live up to its billing and promised to sustain the support of the council toward the growth of the school.
The Federal Government had in May inaugurated new governing boards for its tertiary institutions.
