About us

 

Welcome Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Bori

Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, was created to fill a vacuum, which is primarily to produce well-trained, practically-oriented, professional manpower for the numerous establishments that abound in Rivers State, in particular and Nigeria, generally. The purpose of a Polytechnic is inherent in its name, which simply means Many Arts or Many Skills. The emphasis of Polytechnic Education is vocational, covering a wide range of professional teaching of skills which should be relevant to contemporary working life. Graduates of our Polytechnic are therefore expected to become professionals in all spheres namely; engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, accountants, managers, technologists, technicians, teachers and so on.

The Polytechnic was established by the Rivers State Government in 1988. The Military Governor, Colonel Anthony Ukpo inaugurated the provisional Council on May 13, 1988. The Edict establishing the Polytechnic was signed into law by Group Captain Ernest O. Adeleye, Former Military Governor of Rivers State on March 25, 1989. He also performed the Formal Ceremony of the institution on May 19, 1990.

The Polytechnic was established to provide the courses of instruction, training and research in Applied Sciences, Technology, Commerce, Business Management and such other fields of learning as maybe determined from time to time with regard to the work force needs of the State in particular and of the Federation in general, especially the development of middle-level power.


The Polytechnic In History

The historical circumstance that gave rise to the establishment of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, took place 24 years ago. The occasion was the 5th Convocation Ceremony of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Oroworukwo, on the 19th of March, 1988.

As the then Military Administrator of Old Rivers State, Lt. Colonel Anthony Ukpo (now retired Brigadier General Ukpo) was about to deliver his address to the convocation, he reached for his pen and inserted something in the address. This is something as the Governor's address went on, later turned out to be the promise of a Polytechnic to the people of Rivers State. From that time, the stage became set for the unfolding of the events that led to the creation of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori.

A quick succession of events followed. Within two months, the then Ministry of Education prepared planning options for the take-off of the Polytechnic which led to the setting up of a seven-man Provisional Governing Council on 13th May, 1988 with Professor D.M.J. Fubara as Chairman.

On 7th July, 1988, the State Government concluded and signed contracts for the supply of Science and Engineering Laboratory and Workshop Equipment and on 20th July, 1988, the then Military Governor laid the Foundation Stone of the Polytechnic and appointed its first Rector and first Registrar.

On 28th March, 1989, the succeeding Military Governor, Group Captain Ernest Adeleye, signed the Edict establishing the Polytechnic into law, and the Edict, which was gazetted as Edict No. 2 of 1989 gave a permanent and legal identity to the Polytechnic as a corporate entity.


Re-Naming Of The Polytechnic

The Rivers State Polytechnic (RIVPOLY), Bori, has officially been renamed Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, in honor of environmental activist Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa.

An executive bill by the state governor, Barr Nyesom Wike, renaming the institution was passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly on Wednesday, 29th of July 2015.

Ken Saro-Wiwa, in full Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa (born Oct. 10, 1941, Bori, near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, died Nov. 10, 1995, Port Harcourt), Nigerian writer and activist, who spoke out forcefully against the Nigerian military regime and the Anglo-Dutch petroleum company Royal Dutch/Shell for causing environmental damage to the land of the Ogoni people in his native Rivers state.

Saro-Wiwa was educated at Government College, Umuahia, and at the University of Ibadan. He briefly taught at the University of Lagos before joining federal forces in the civil war of the late 1960s. Afterward he worked as a government administrator until 1973, when he left to concentrate on his literary career. His first novels were Songs in a Time of War and Sozaboy (both 1985); the latter, written in Pidgin English, satirized corruption in Nigerian society. He reached his largest audience with Basi and Company, a comedic television series that ran for some 150 episodes in the 1980s. He was also a journalist and wrote poetry and children's stories.

From about 1991 he devoted himself full-time to the causes of the Ogoni, a minority ethnic group that numbered about 500,000 people. In mid-1992 he broadened the reach of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, an organization he led. In particular, he focused on Britain, where Shell had one of its headquarters. He criticized the destructive impact of the oil industry the main source of Nigeria's national revenue on the Niger delta region and demanded a greater compensatory share of oil profits for the Ogoni. As a result of mounting protest, Shell suspended operations in Ogoni lands in 1993.

Saro-Wiwa was arrested in 1994 after the deaths of four Ogoni chiefs at a political rally. In a trial by special tribunal that was denounced by foreign human rights groups, he was found guilty for alleged complicity in the murders. His execution by hanging, along with those of eight fellow activists, aroused international condemnation and led to calls for economic sanctions against Nigeria, which was suspended from the Commonwealth a day after the executions. Shell later announced its commitment to a natural gas project worth nearly $4 billion, one of the largest foreign investments in Nigerian history. In 2009 Shell paid $15.5 million in an out-of-court settlement intended to resolve a lawsuit brought against it in 1996 on behalf of members of Saro-Wiwa' s family and others. Shell, accused in the lawsuit of being complicit in human rights abuses in Nigeria and in the 1995 executions, denied any wrongdoing.

Address: Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori PMB 20 Khana LGA,

Get In Touch

You can always reach us with the details below

  • Add: Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic,
    • Bori Box 20,Khana LGA,
    • Rivers State
  • Email: info@kenpoly.edu.ng
Top
We use cookies to improve our website. By continuing to use this website, you are giving consent to cookies being used. More details…