BENPOLY-BSUTH Medical Synergy: A Timely Gift For Ugbokolo Community

As part of mandate for the Benue State Polytechnic (BENPOLY) Ugbokolo to impact positively on lives, management of the institution has undertaken a medical cooperation with the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) Makurdi.

The synergy guarantees very healthy living conditions, not only for the polytechnic's population but also the entire Ugbokolo community.

Rector of the institution, Dr. Henry Ojobo disclosed the packaged synergy to Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Benue State Council during a recent working visit to the institution led by its Chairman, Comrade Bemdoo Ugber.

Ojobo (Ph.D) disclosed that the institution's medical clinic was upgraded to the status of a full hospital for rendition of medical service to Ugbokolo community.

He added that the decision to sign agreement with the management of BSUTH to establish BENPOLY-BSUTH facility was conceived genuinely to avail people of the community opportunity for enjoying enhanced medical service delivery.

The Rector acknowledged that when he took over affairs of the institution, the need to give priority for healthcare service was deliberate.

Ojobo explained that contact with the BSUTH management succeeded and people enjoy medical healthcare today in the community.

The upgrade according to Dr. Ojobo has fulfilled part of the institution's corporate social responsibility for happy life of the people.

No government approved medical facility has ever been established in Ugbokolo to address any emerging health challenge and so, Ojobo said, the polytechnic possessing the infrastructure to make the deal possible persuaded the BSUTH management to approve the healthcare facility.

Dr. Ojobo clarified that the Chief Medical Director of BSUTH, Dr. Stephen Hwande became convinced to approve the request to elevate the clinic to a full hospital.

Ojobo said, the collaboration has turned the former clinic into a mega extension of BSUTH in Ugbokolo offering remarkable healthcare service delivery worth appreciations.

Ojobo said "benefits are many and we appreciate Governor Hyacinth Alia for his support to the success of the project."

According to him, aside the general medical service the larger community enjoys at moment, other cases require quicker and comprehensive medical interventions. Past experience showed recent happenings as some students of the polytechnic suddenly struck by ill health received medications from the facility on the campus.

Another recent example of benefits from the hospital according to the Rector were the incidents where some of the applicants for the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) had in institution. 

He stated that the applicants developed serious health complications during the examination and were rushed to the BENPOLY-BSUTH for emergency medical attention where they also recovered on the campus! 

There are indications that the facility may soon become the centre for medical tourism arising from value the facility is adding to the economic wellbeing of the population.

On another development, Rector Ojobo told NUJ that digitalization of services in the institution introduced by his management successfully eliminated the procedures that promoted corruption.

He lamented that when his management team took over the institution, the cases of certificate racketeering, pilfering of property belonging to the institution and others became noticeably clear! 

He said "when we came on board, we found that people collected certificates without going to school properly." For Dr. Ojobo, the people did not attend lectures while others never wrote the examinations yet, passed those same examinations.

Ojobo lamented that amidst the worries, many who never paid tuition fees came after they graduated and received their certificates. He raised the alarm that fees not paid became lost revenues that ended up into the pockets of dubious staff and other touts! 

The Rector remarked "many issues surrounding corruption and the rest were identified." For Dr. Ojobo, those issues justified the introduction of computerized system to stop direct contacts of the human beings with cash in terms of physical transactions.

Ojobo lauded the elimination that it reduced the tendency for corruption denying the government of legitimate revenues.

Other benefits from the digitalization according to the Rector included the students admission that prioritized only genuinely qualified applicants for the admissions. He said "the new system rejects applications from unqualified applicants in line with our set standards." 

That the management has introduced other measures to curb corruption according to the Rector sounds good since the policy demands that those students ready must provide evidence of payment of fees to sit for the examinations! 

Insistence on showing the receipts gave the rogues no space to operate again and the Rector cautioned those who paid through third parties to hold accountable the doers of the act! 

He expressed satisfaction with the sanitization process that has eliminated corruption from the system and warned the fraudulent miscreants who insist on corrupting the institution to leave the scene.

About physical infrastructure Ojobo lamented the rot but said, management has made commendable effort towards addressing the situation. 

According to him, many of the government structures in the institution were maintained poorly, therefore, suffered lots of rots.

Water facilities for example had collapsed due to neglect or inappropriate digging of the boreholes worsened by the vandalism of the equipment! 

Ojobo disclosed equally that management has reversed the ugly situation by making water available to all parts of the campus and that repairs of damaged fleet of vehicles for the polytechnic neared completion levels.

Dr. Ojobo commended the management of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TET-Fund) for intervention in the areas of infrastructural provision among others. He provided samples of many contracts awarded by the TET-Fund to reduce the state and federal governments of the burdens for maintening their various institutions in need of assistance.

According to the Rector, the two hundred and fifty unit of computers donated to the institution by TET-Fund has facilitated establishment of the Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre on the campus where the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) 2026 examination was written by applicants.

The CBT Centre according to Dr. Ojobo gave opportunity to the applicants from the other neighbouring Local Government Areas to participate easily.

Aside relief from the hardship, the CBT Centre has equally enhanced the visibility of the institution to applicants who have identified the school as suitable and best destination for studies.

Other TET-Fund facilitated projects in the institution mentioned by Dr. Ojobo were the science laboratory hall, the hospital block and boys hostel among the rest added to sponsorship for academic and mon academic programs for staff to access studies in the higher cadres and related support to the low cadre. 

Other interventions included dragging of those contractors to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for having abandoned those projects after taking the payments from TET-Fund. Dr. Ojobo confirmed return of the contractors to the site for the projects completion.

Dr. Ojobo stated also that, himself as an architect saw the need for the contractors working on ongoing projects to prioritize landscape not only for beautification but also to promote greening of the environment.

On renovation of the declining physical infrastructure, Ojobo confirmed that the science laboratory hall, the block housing the BENPOLY-BSUTH 

facility and hospitality block as well as the boys hostel among others progressed as required. He stated also that the current management has undertaken repairs of the Polytechnic's fleet of vehicles. According to him, out of the seven vehicles, five of the have been fully repaired and put back into use. 

On a related development, Ojobo disclosed that his management has planned to plant the improved variety of palm trees on all available spaces of the campus. 

According to him, one thousand stands were planted during the world environment day last year and would be supported by another one thousand stands this 2026 World Environment Day commemoration.

Other accomplishments according to the Rector included the partnership the management has had with the Opay financial institution. He clarified that the institution set aside the sum of fifty million naira only as grant for twenty students every year while the synergy lasts for ten years, targeting those from the North Central of Nigeria.

Management has encouraged the students aldo to patronize the Federal Government loan scheme for students known as Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NEL-Fund) to address their needs.

Notwithstanding success made by management of the polytechnic, paucity of funds hit the Ojobo administration and affected smooth work thereby desiring intervention urgently by the government of Benue State! 

In the area of manpower for instance, Dr. Ojobo disclosed a troubling fall in population of staff tending threatening the performance. 

Reeling out the record, he disclosed that the staff strength of 289 academic in 2012 for the institution has been reduced in the following proportions:- 128 retired and 19 died, leaving 142 only to teach the large population of students.

The Rector lamented also that the situation has compelled his management to depend largely on part time teachers to carryout the teaching job.

In the case of non academic staff, Dr. Ojobo disclosed that 196 available on the payroll in 2012 has gone down by 131 due to retirement and 21 died leaving the administrative with only 44 to carryout the support duties. Under the situation, the state authorities could intervene urgently for improving service rendition.

Similarly, the Polytechnic has been preparing to celebrate her gold jubilee later in year 2026. According to Dr. Ojobo, convocation of the institution comes up later in the year so also accreditation process for the courses amidst paucity of funds. The ugly development posed threats to the whole exercise to worry oneself about! 

Other areas of great concern extend to the dearth of roads in the institution. The Rector acknowledged that while the polytechnic cannot depend effectively on one road as the access into the campus, the only existing road has broken beyond the imagination.

 The situation remained applicable to every other road in the polytechnic authorities of the state need to intervene!