Authorities of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede Owerri, Imo State have warned against co-habitation of male and female students which leads to illegal marriages and unwanted pregnancies.
The Rector of the Polytechnic, Michael Arimanwa gave the warning at the 44th matriculation ceremony of the polytechnic held on Monday.
Arimanwa, an engineer said parents of the students did not send them to school ‘to become illegal wives or husbands and end up with unwanted pregnancies or babies’.
He told them that they were sent to school to acquire requisite skills that would help them navigate through life successfully.
The rector also urged the students to avoid late nights which result in rape and other avoidable consequences.
Similarly, he admonished them to be wary of night parties which are breeding grounds for all manner of immorality.
Moving forward, the rector charged the new students to take advantage of the excellent facilities of the Polytechnic to add value to themselves.
He referred to his Smart Campus Initiative which has digitized every operation in the institution as one area which students should key into.
The rector further hinted that in less than two weeks, the total internet coverage of the polytechnic would have been completed which would lead to a 24-hour internet service in every nook and cranny of the institution, a feat which would offer a robust service for research and profitable digital operations.
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He, however, added that students should avoid the temptation of using the services for pornography and other forms of internet fraud.
The rector announced that the Polytechnic Library which is fully digitized is well equipped to offer e-library services to students, urging the freshmen to take advantage of the facility.
Accordingly, the poly chief declared that with the e-library in place, “no student of the institution has any excuse to fail an examination for research or reading materials because the resources for success are already available.”
Similarly, the rector hinted that the polytechnic has a well-developed entrepreneurial centre which is there to inculcate the spirit of self-reliance into students.
To this effect, he charged the matriculants to strive to acquire a skill before they graduate in order to add value to their personalities, a factor that would prevent them from becoming educated liabilities to their families and social milieus.
The rector made a case for parents to form the habit of monitoring their wards as a means of living up to their parental responsibility.
According to the rector, parents “can help us by checking on your wards frequently and unannounced. Always monitor their academic progress. The records are available in the departments. Do not indulge them no matter how you love them.”
Dignitaries present at the historic ceremony included the Acting Chairman of the 14th Governing Council, Sqd. Ldr. Chima Idika Chima (Rtd) and some members of the Council.
There were also representatives from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other institutions. Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, which earlier in the year signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the polytechnic also sent a representative who in his goodwill reaffirmed his company’s commitment to the MoU.
Highpoint of the event was the offer of scholarship to five matriculating students of the institution by the Rector, Engr. Dr. M.C. Arimanwa.
One of the students, Jennifer Eleaka, a physically-challenged student of Mass Communication read an address on behalf other matriculants. Some others were given scholarship for daring to read courses that were presumably for a certain gender.
One of the scholarship recipients said the rector’s kind gesture was an answer to her prayer as her parents would no longer shoulder the responsibility for her tuition payment, praying that God would bless the rector for his kind-heartedness.
