The House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Other Higher Technical Education has expressed displeasure over the poor turnout of rectors at the 2026 budget defence session.

The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Fuad Kayode Laguda, faulted the absence of 10 rectors out of the 14 Federal Polytechnics invited to appear.

According to him, out of the 36 Federal Polytechnics across the country, only 22 had submitted their budget reports as of the time of the exercise, a situation he described as worrisome and indicative of weak institutional compliance with legislative oversight requirements.

“Even among the 14 invited institutions that had submitted reports, only four were represented at the session”, he lamented.

Those present were the rectors of Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa and Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, as well as the bursars of Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and Federal Polytechnic, Bali, Taraba State.

The Chairman noted that several of the absent rectors cited the forthcoming FCT election and the restriction of vehicular movement from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. as reasons for their inability to attend.

He, however, stressed that such explanations were inadequate given the importance of the budget defence process.

“We invited 14 polytechnics here today; only four showed up. While some have cited the election taking place tomorrow in the FCT and the restriction on movement of vehicles from 8 p.m. till 6 a.m. as reasons, we believe institutions of this magnitude ought to plan better. These are national assignments, and attendance should not be treated lightly,” he noted

Laguda emphasised that budget defence is a critical component of the National Assembly’s constitutional responsibility to ensure transparency, accountability, and effective utilisation of public funds.

He warned that failure to honour such invitations undermines the seriousness of governance and institutional responsibility.