At a press briefing held in Benin City, the National President of NAPS, Comrade Eshiofune Ogbayan, alongside other national executives, called for immediate intervention to ensure academic activities resume by September 8.
He also appealed for adequate security for both the students and the institution’s Rector, Dr. Lukeman Agbabiaka, who he said is currently facing threats from members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP).
According to Ogbayan, the hostility against Dr. Agbabiaka stems from ethnic sentiments, as some staff and community members reportedly object to his leadership due to his Yoruba background in an Ijaw community.
“The Academic Staff of Polytechnic (ASUP) is neither on strike nor in rebellion. Their communique of July 6th 2025, raised safety concerns, not mutiny. They expressed readiness to resume classes immediately once guaranteed security coverage to prevent further physical confrontations like those unleashed by NASU thugs in the past,” Ogbayan stated.
He further urged theFederal Government to initiate a staff audit at the polytechnic, raising concerns about what he described as an overwhelming number of non-academic staff compared to teaching staff.
“How does an institution of learning survive when its teaching arm is so heavily outnumbered by clerical hands?” he asked.
The NAPS President also alleged that some individuals within the host community were collaborating to disrupt academic activities. He claimed that non-academic staff had improperly benefited from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), with some travelling abroad on sponsorships and failing to return to the country.
He made a passionate appeal to the Ekowe community to protect the polytechnic, stressing its importance to future generations.
“We call and humbly address the stool of Ekowe and the indigenes of Ekowe community that this polytechnic is your pride, your legacy, your covenant with posterity. To allow it to collapse is to betray not only the management or the government that established it, but your own unborn children,” he said.
NAPS also emphasized that the institution’s Governing Council must not sweep allegations made by the Rector under the rug and called for a thorough conclusion of the ongoing investigative process.
The students’ union maintained its position that classes must resume by September 8, insisting that anything short of this would be unacceptable to the student body.
