Starrays
By Benedict Iorgyer and Moses Agbe – National Assembly
The House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Other Higher Technical Education last Friday expressed dissatisfaction over the poor turnout of federal polytechnic rectors at the 2026 budget defence.
The committee, which scheduled Friday, February 20, 2026 to scrutinize the budget of federal polytechnics felt disappointed at the poor turnout of rectors, describing the development as as disappointing and unacceptable.
Hon. Fuad Kayode Laguda, the committee chairman, faulted the absence of 10 rectors out of the 14 federal polytechnics invited to appear before the committee for the session.
Laguda observed that out of the 36 federal polytechnics across the country, only 22 submitted their budget reports at the time of the exercise, a situation he described as worrisome and indicative of weak institutional compliance with legislative oversight requirements.
He noted that even among the 14 invited institutions that submitted their reports, only four were represented at the session.
Those present were the rectors of Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa and Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, as well as the bursars of Federal Polytechnic Bauchi and Federal Polytechnic Bali, Taraba State while those absent were said to not be in attendance due to restricted movement in the FCT on Saturday, 21st February as a result of the FCT elections, which they said could possibly hinder their return over the weekend.
The session was adjourned to the following week as the chairman and committee members cautioned against none turnout in the rescheduled session.
