The management of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, has reassured students from the Faculty of Management that they will soon be mobilised for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme.
This development comes in response to earlier concerns raised about the non-accreditation of certain courses at the institution, which had left some graduating students uncertain about their NYSC mobilisation.
In a report published by NewsNows on July 12, 2024, affected students who had graduated from the Faculty of Management had expressed their worries about the college’s failure to acquire accreditation for their programs, ultimately preventing their NYSC mobilisation.
In a press release, OYSCATECH’s Rector, Prof. Akinola Akinlabi, explained that the delay in the accreditation of some programs was due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The Rector explained that the lockdown prevented the previous college management from inviting the NBTE, the supervisory body for polytechnics in Nigeria, to visit the institution and conduct the necessary accreditation exercise at that time.
“The Rector, Prof. Akinola Akinlabi explained that the delay in the accreditation of some of the programmes was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the past Management from inviting the supervising body over polytechnics in Nigeria from visiting the institution for the accreditation exercise then,” the statement read
However, the college’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs Opeyemi Olawore, stated that the new management under Akinlabi’s leadership had since secured the NBTE’s accreditation for the Higher National Diploma programs in the Faculty of Management. Efforts are now underway to resolve the shortcomings resulting from the delayed accreditation.
Akinlabi further revealed that students of OYSCATECH had been receiving prompt and regular mobilisation for the NYSC scheme since 2014. He appealed to the affected students to exercise patience, as the management’s efforts in this direction would soon yield positive results.
He promised to update stakeholders as soon as the management’s efforts yielded positive results, assuring the affected students that their mobilisation for the NYSC scheme was imminent.