The Polytechnic, Sokoto on Saturday conferred Fellowship Awards on six prominent personalities in the country.
The awardees include the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Gov. Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III.
Others are Dr Mas’udu Kazaure, Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education; Prof. Lawrence Atepor, Rector, Cape Coast Polytechnic, Ghana, and Alhaji Namadina Abdulrahman, the Chairman, Sokoto State Task Force on Water Supply.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Polytechnic bestowed the awards on the personalities at its maiden convocation ceremony where it graduated 21,062 students.
Speaking at the occasion, Wamakko said that the Polytechnic had, since the appointment of its Rector, Prof. Bashir Garba in 2012, recorded tremendous achievements.
“The institution is also one of the most peaceful Polytechnics in the country due to the diligence and dedication of the management, students and members of the academic board,” he said.
Wamakko promised to do more in the provision of adequate funds and facilities to the Polytechnic to enable it record more successes.
On the fellowship awards, the governor pledged that they would continue to be good ambassadors of the Polytechnic.
The Chairman, Board of the Governing Council of the Institution, Amb. Muhammad Sani, commended the state government for its tremendous support to the institution.
He also lauded the National Board For Technical Education (NBTE) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for their unrelenting efforts to the development of the institution.
The Special Adviser on Higher Education, Prof. Gajam Ardo also stated that the state government recently donated buses, computers and other facilities to the Polytechnic.
“This is why the polytechnic has grown very rapidly and it has 16 National Diploma and 13 Higher National Diploma programmes,” he said.