By Kenneth Ehigiator
Management of Federal College of Chemical and Leather Technology, FCCTL, Zaria, Kaduna State, has appealed to the Federal Government to change the institution’s name to reflect its mandate, saying the present nomenclature was denying it of the desired allocations for research and capital projects.

The management said the college could only draw N35 million from the Federal Government in the 2010 budget. It noted that with N100 million annual funding for three years, it could generate enough funds to sustain itself and no longer rely on government’s subventions.

Director-General/CEO of the College, Dr. Isuwa Adamu, who made the appeal in a session with newsmen in Zaria, said the present name of the college, which clashes with the National Research Institute of Chemical Technology, NARICT, at Bassawa, also in Zaria, gave the impression of duplication of functions.

He said the college is a training and research institution for leather and allied products and had nothing to do with chemicals.

Dr. Adamu said the paltry allocation to the college by the Federal Government for capital projects and research was informed by the chemical affixed to its name, stressing that this had deprived the college of adequate finances to conduct research and expand the scope of its training.

He said: “The present name of the college is a misnomer because it is not doing any chemical technology. The college is mainly a training and research institution for leather technology.

“Our budgetary allocation in the 2010 budget was N53 million, and this was reviewed downwards to N24 million.”

The situation was not different in 2009, as only N35 million was given us for research and capital projects.

“When we appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, the members wondered how we were able to carry out our mandate with this sum.

This is largely caused by the name of the college, which gives the impression that we are doing the same thing as our sister college at Bassawa.  It will help us a lot if this name is changed because we don’t have anything to do with chemicals,” Adamu said.

He said the college’s financial dire straits was largely responsible for its inability to acquire new machines, adding that it was still relying on equipment bought in 1964.

Dr. Adamu said the college was in a position to create jobs for teeming unemployed Nigerians, if it could muster sufficient financial muscles to veer into mass production of leather and allied products, such as shoes, belts and leather bags for local use and exports to other parts of the world.

He said activities at the college would have ground to a halt by now, but for support from the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP; Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO; and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO.