NBTE asked to close down satellite campuses run under Novelty Poly

Novelty Polytechnic, Kishi, Oyo state, has refuted the claim of establishment of satellite campuses in some selected states in the country and asked the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to close them down as a matter of urgency.

A member of the governing board of the polytechnic, Prince Lanre Ogundipe, who disclosed this while speaking to journalists in Abuja, on Sunday, said some of the satellite campuses, which were established in Ibadan, Minna, Lagos and Abuja were being run by fraudsters and not the school management.

“One of the staff we employed as a canvasser changed the nomenclature that we gave him to an MD and established satellite campuses all over and directed the proceeds into his personal account,” he said.

He said all the students in those campuses in Ibadan, Minna, Lagos and Abuja are not known to the school and do not have any file with the school.

Ogundipe demanded that the NBTE should carry out their due diligence and separate the shaft from the grains adding that they should do the right thing by investigating the satellite campuses and close them to stop them from extorting and defrauding innocent Nigerians.

He however, explained that they have written to the Board on the development and are waiting for their action.

In a letter written by the management of the Polytechnic to NBTE on 28th April 2023, tagged: “Request for Urgent Closure of Illegal Satellite Campuses of Novelty Polytechnic, Kishi being Operated by Fraudsters” and made available to Journalists stated that the groups are still running the illegal Campuses cunningly established through forged letters.

“We are not an approving authority hence, “How could we ever give what we didn’t have”.

Not only did we not direct the owners of these outfits to close down, we also, reported to NBTE and requested for support to shut down the, Abuja, Suleja, Bida, Mowe, Igando, Ibadan, Lagos, Agege etc, expecting Madiu AbdulBakai (former staff)and his collaborators to be sanctioned,” the letter reads.

“He also forged my signature, giving approval to several educational institutions which initially requested to canvas and populate Novelty on commission. They used this avenue to establish campuses of Novelty Poly. Novelty never applied to NBTE for Satellite campuses outside of Kishi nor does she have any approval to run any, hence we quickly did a public disclaimer on discovering the illegality,” the letter reads.

Another Governing Board member, Mr Dele Fanimo said: “We want to retreat from the fact that it is not within our purview to close down satellite campuses but it is the regulatory body that should enforce that and we want to let NBTE know that, since the locations are known to them.”

He said the satellite campuses that are not known to NBTE or any regulatory authority have started offering HND programmes when the bona fide Polytechnic has not even graduated OND, saying, “we have to publish a disclaimer letting the world know that whatever certificate that emanated from those schools are null and void.”