The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, at the weekend, lampooned the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education, Aminu Suleiman, following his threat to close down the federal polytechnic located in Ekowe, Bayelsa State.
The Chairman, IYC, Central Zone, Mr. Tari Porri, asked Suleiman to apologise to Ijaw people for his provocative remarks about the institution.
Suleiman, who represents Fagge Federal Constituency, Kano State, threatened to facilitate the closure of the school after his committee’s oversight visit, claiming that the institution had been taken over by rats and lizards and not students and staff.
But Porri insisted that the statement of Suleiman was not a true picture of the institution, describing the federal polytechnic as one of the best in the country.
The IYC derided Suleiman describing his statement as disparaging comments, unfortunate, wicked, unthinkable and misplaced.
Porri said: “I want to disagree with the statement of Suleiman in its entirety and also warn that the quietness of Ijaw people, the peace that is currently prevailing in the Niger Delta region should not be taken for granted, especially the people of Ijaw extraction in the Central Zone.”
He, however, appealed to the government to increase the allocation to the polytechnic, wondering why N7.7bn should be allocated to Kaduna Polytechnic and others in the North, yet only a paltry sum of N1.1bn was allocated to Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe.