BY AUGUSTINA OKINEDO
The Ondo State House of Assembly says practical use of acquired scientific and technical knowledge can fast-track socio-economic development.
To this end, the house of assembly emphasised that Polytechnic education must be given priority to ensure this.
The House Committee on Tertiary institutions led by Mr Chris Ayebusiwa stated this during a visit to the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO).
The lawmakers re-echoed that technical institutions played a crucial role in providing excellent education and vocations.
The committee pledged the commitment and support of the House in ensuring that successes were recorded at the institution and appreciated the efforts of the Acting Rector and his Management team in their quest to make the institution a leading one through the recent initiatives.
The Committee also appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic of the institution who intended to embark on strike over unpaid backlog of salaries, not to downtools in the interest of the students as plans were already underway to address it .
The Committee were later briefed and presented a memo by the union Chairman, Nafiu Okoro.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Acting Rector of the institution, Simon Adegun thanked the committee for the visit and support, maintaining that the mandate of the Polytechnic was to be the first among equals in the country.
While highlighting some of the achievements recorded, Mr Adegun said the vision and mission of the institution was to stimulate the spirit of excellence in teaching and research, promotion of creative and innovative thoughts that will stand the test of time.
He said the management would leverage on the visit to request the committee to assist and ensure that more resources were deployed to the institution.