Maurid Polytechnic, Mbiaso, has cleared the air on the recent controversy surrounding its Public Health Science Program. The institution said some unscrupulous elements were capitalizing on a normal administrative setback, failure of one of its affiliates, to tarnish it’s hard earned reputation.
According to a statement on Friday by Dr. Tom FredFish, Maurid Polytechnic Registrar, the Institution wouldn’t have bothered to join issues with those on a mission to embarrass the Chairman of the Governing Board and the Institution, but for the innocent and unsuspecting public, parents, sponsors, and friends of the great Institution who may be swayed by the viciously offensive publications on social media.
The statement reads in part:
“The Maurid Polytechnic, Mbiaso wishes to clear the air on allegations going around on social media against the Management and Chairman of the Institution’s Governing Board, Dr. Godwin Umontuen.
“We wouldn’t have bothered to join issues with those on a mission to embarrass the Chairman of our Governing Board and the Institution, but for the innocent and unsuspecting public, parents, sponsors, and friends of our great Institution who may be swayed by the viciously offensive publications on social media.
“In the first place, Maurid Institute of Management and Technology is licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and is listed on the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for admission into the Institution. Thus, having acquired the legal status to operate, the Institution has, over the years, admitted and graduated students from its various approved departments.
“The current controversy about one of our programs: the Department of Public Health Science, where students who were admitted to study for a National Diploma in Public Health as well as a Higher National Diploma in Public Health Science began when one of the Institutions we were affiliated to for our top-up degree program, Gregory University, informed us that they will no longer issue the degree as stipulated in our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) because of their low quota.
“Our Institution immediately informed the students of the new development to keep them abreast and aware that it intends to offer them ND and HND as contained in their admission letter; to facilitate the quick indexing of students into the National Association of Public Health Science for their Council Examination and subsequent licensing.
“While working to ensure the speedy actualization of the process, the Institution was surprised to see spurious publications against the school – many of which were in pseudo names and from disgruntled students who had dropped out of the Institution, had graduated without writing their final year projects, or still owing the Institution a large amount of fees.
“Since the disappointing discontinuance by Gregory University and the need to ensure that students from the department graduate with their qualifying certification, the Institution has taken solid steps and made great leaps to ensure that graduating students from the department are licensed and inducted into the National Association of Public Health Science. The Institution, after a preliminary investigation, suspended two of its staff who were culpable of misinforming, misleading, and misdirecting the students on the issuance of a degree certificate in public health science. We thereafter moved swiftly to acquire provisional approval from the National Association of Public Health Science to recruit and present students for the award of National Diploma in Public Health and Higher National Diploma in Public Health. We also scheduled our students to join their counterparts in other higher institutions in the country to write the bi-annual examination on December 2nd and 3rd, 2024, and have called on students to turn up for the registration/documentation on Saturday, 23rd November 2024.
“The Institution is alarmed and embarrassed by those baseless allegations and is by this release warning some of the students who chose to toe the paths of self-destruct and are bent on frustrating the efforts of the school and that of other students from graduating, that it has taken steps to ensure that they are made to face the law. The Institution will not sit back and allow errant students to destroy its hard-earned reputation.
“Copies of the MOU between Maurid Polytechnic and Gregory University, the Provisional approval letter from the Public Health Council, and other documents are available for public view.”
