Power tussle grounds Adamawa state polytechnic Yola

Academic and administrative activities in the Adamawa state Polytechnic, Yola SPY, is gradually being grounded as the Rector and the Registrar, two principal officers of the institution engaged in power tussle.

Sources within the institution revealed that unless urgent steps are taken by the Adamawa state Government, to resolve the faceoff between the duo, the institution might be forced to be closed down as all ancillary services have virtually stopped.

The Rector, Professor Ibrahim Umar, who was recently appointed by the state Government, was believed to have ran in to troubled waters with the Registrar, Hajia Mariya Adamu Nyako, when , he sought and got approval from the polytechnic governing council to effect a change of the signatories to the institutions account removing the Registrar as one of the signatories.

The source further disclosed that the Rector was forced to streamline the signatories to the various bank accounts of the institution following disclosure in a management meeting that over N28 million was missing from one of the accounts, which holds students departmental fees and charges, and in which only the Registrar and the Bursar are the signatories.

Another issue of tension between the duo was the appointment of new departmental heads and directors by the Rector, which was to have been challenged by the Registrar, as some of the old directors were believed to have been her loyalists.

This particular case was said to have culminated in two students protests in the institution, which resulted into the invitation of department of state security by the Rector, where the Registrar was forced to sign an undertaking to maintain peace.

Only two months ago, the Registrar, Nyako was appointed a permanent secretary, in the state civil service, by the state Governor and duly sworn in. But 60 days after, she still continues to hand over her old office as Registrar of the institution.

She was also said to have recruited over 148 staff without recourse to the Rector.

The Rector, professor Ibrahim Umar .admitted that there were some differences in opinion between the two of them, but that it was a normal in the running of a complex institution like the polytechnic.

He further confirmed that he was aware of the appointment of Nyako as permanent Secretary in the state civil service but since he was not part of the process of the appointment, he cannot ask her to hand over as Registrar.

He also admitted that some recruitment of staff was done before he resumed office.

When the Head of the state civil service, Sir Louis Mandama. Was contacted on why a permanent Secretary duly sworn in , was still occupying the office of a Registrar , contrary to the edict establishing the institution, he confirmed that she has been dropped as a permanent Secretary, since she prefers to be a Registrar.

“She has not reported to the office of head of service, since her appointment, for posting and consequently, she has been dropped by the Governor.