‘IUO breeds job providers, not job seekers’

Kunle Awosiyan, Lagos
Professor Eghosa Osaghare,
Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University,
Okada, Benin

In this interview with ADETUNJI ADELEYE AND SULAIMON ADESINA, Professor Eghosa Osaghare, Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, reveals why students rush to Okada Wonderland, to have a taste of the first and best private higher institution of learning in the country. Excerpts:

UNIVERSITIES, the world over, are known for some particular ideologies, what ideology is Igbinedion University known for?
Igbinedion is the first private university to be established in Nigeria and by clear distinction, the only truly private university in the whole country. Others are either missionary universities or faith-based institutions, and when they are not directly faith-based, they have one thing or the other to do with one organisation or the others.

The university was founded by Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, the Osama of Benin, who had a long dream of how to transform a lot of people in this part of the world. He has pioneered many businesses and made successes of them. But he was convinced, especially after he established the Igbinedion Teaching Hospital in the 1980’s, that the only way to sustain all these things will be to build capacities, intellectual and manpower, that will be able to run all of these things.When the Igbinedion Teaching Hospital was established, the basic driving force was to see that people no longer went abroad on health ground. So, he created a facility at the state for ailment that were considered beyond the capabilities of the existing hospitals. It was his desire to develop capacity in many areas of national development during the period of educational downturn in the country that led to Chief Igbinedion’s intervention in education.

Secondly, Chief Igbinedion was convinced of the need for alternatives, such that will provide healthy competition and provide people with choice. So, historically, Igbinedion University began from the desire to build capacity to drive development process. As a foremost entrepreneur, the Chief’s vision was to present a model, a success story in the private education sector, as he had already done in the aviation sector and engineering sector. He introduced the primary and secondary education centre, which soon became the reference point in Nigerian education. So, by the time the university was finally licenced in 1999, the impetus is already built. The idea is to impart entrepreneurial skills with quality education.

Not only that, in many parts of the world where cultural values are very strong, to have an icon in Chief Igbinedion as the proprietor of the university means that every student who goes through Igbinedion University has flowing in his/her veins something from Igbinedion’s gene which is entrepreneurial in nature. Looking at the graduates from this school, you couldn’t have made a mistake, in anyway, so, if you look at our mission and vision, we simply want to affect the world positively through entrepreneurial experience.

What are you doing to leave an enduring legacy of continuous production of the best graduates in Nigeria?
It is always a challenge to do things differently. Many who come to this university like other private universities have only one frame of mind, the public sector frame. Private university is different ball game. Part of the problem is that many people want to run the private universities the way public universities are run. It is difficult for people to make paradigm shift from a public sector orientation to private sector orientation. Behaviour modification, even with the best therapist in the world is something that is difficult. We have been doing that in IUO and I am sure that if other private universities acknowledge it, there’s a lot that they can come here to learn from us.

Here, our basic philosophy is to be the very best in whatever we want to do. There are many things that distinguish this university. For instance, we are the first private university in this country to get our medical programme accredited and the first private university in Africa to produce medical doctors, a feat that was achieved in 2007. We have first set of graduates of law now and one of them, who had also made a first class here has made same in the law school. It is a quality assurance to see that a first class student here is first class anywhere in the world.

Most of our medical doctors are there in the University College Hospital,Ibadan. You also find few of them at the National Hospital Abuja and in Lagos University teaching Hospital. They have become role models. People now talk about Igbinedion School of Medicine. They are able to do that because we have established something that is entirely a benchmark for others. We want to create a model that people will emulate. In terms of what we are doing to build capacity in students, you will find Information and Comunication Technology (ICT) centres all over the place here on campus where you are launched directly on the internet highway. We have also introduced the student self-empowerment programme, whose basic precept is age-long principle of dignity of labour.

The whole essence of the student self-empowerment programme is to energise students to be growers of wealth and destroyers of poverty. The student themselves can fight poverty using the entrepreneurial spirit and capacity . So, we have students who are employed while in school, some who set up their own companies while others are helped with loans to set up small businesses. We have also have the entrepreneurship program which is compulsory for all our students. This is something we did, using technical expertise from United Kingdom, long before the National Universities Commission made it compulsory.

Also, from next session, we are introducing the programme called the Community Service Programme. Some people asked me that the whole of Okada town is a university. It is difficult to differentiate Okada town from the university. We represent the future of this town and we are introducing the community service programme so that staff and students of this university can build Okada into a total university town. Students could depend on the programme to pick a project that they want to do for the town and do it on their own.It is a compulsory course for al our students.

We need to build models and icons that young people can emulate. So we have been selecting people that the university has had to follow over the years. Some people said we have eyes for picking the very best. We do this because we want them to be icons and role models for our students. On the list of our honorary graduands are Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Mariam Babangida, Ooni of Ife, King of Zulu and many others. We have those people that are well respected worldwide. We are building networks and solid partnerships all over the world. Most importantly, we have also entered into smart and creative partnerships with institutions abroad.

Now, we have the first telemedicine and teleconference facilities that can be find in any university in this country, which is to be commissioned in May this year. If our partners from US are able to make it on time, we shall do the commissioning. With telemedicine project, it wll be possible for us to carry out operation simultaneously in our theatres here and theatres in US. It is a way of bringing the most modern techniques in medicine to our students that we may not be able to bring physically.

With teleconference facilities, if anyone has a conference to attend in Ireland and he is not able to make it you can tune and link up with the conference site and you can participate in it without being there. They will see you and you will see them. We are very proud of all of these things. If you go all round the university you’ll find digital centres, we set up a company called the IUO digital limited, its a joint venture with our technical partner.

We’re doing these things and we’re also trying to strenghten the capacity of our staffs to deliver on many challenges that confront us. We’ve a very robust staff development programme. Many of our lectures are at their various stages of there post-graduate training. We’ve had to begin post-graduate training in many of our departments and programmes. In 2005, we ha ve the best masters graduate in this university. They also became the first post-graduate people in any private university in the country.There are many challenges facing us inspite of our resolve to be the best in the world. The deficiency of the rural country side, the inability of the state to provide basic services which have been seriously challenging. We look for ways to overcome them. In all of these things, If you don’t have a conducive environment, you can not go very far.

How do you make your graduates employable?
We must begin to think of graduate whose sole concern after graduation is not to seek employment but create jobs. Recently, some undergraduates of UNILAG have a project producing CDROM that contains all the law reports in Nigeria, they must be millionaire. These are the type of graduates that we want. How do we make these graduates employable? They have total entrepreneur capacity, managerial abilities. All this things must be fully blended. And that is what we are working very hard to do in IUO. To see that even before they go into the world of employment, they are ready for it.

For example those in Accounting are encouraged to take those professional exams. We have the career and placement unit, where from time to time, we get people from the industry to come and do these things. But if you really want a way out of graduate unemployment, we must synergise between the tertiary education sector and the industrial sector.

Today’s graduate should be computer savvy. He must also has managerial skills among other things. The days of road learning are over. If you find a person who graduates with first class degree from any university, he must have practical knowledge and competencies that are required for today’s workplace and wealth generation.

What are you doing to attract financial donors to the university?
I remember two years ago,I was attending a donor meeting in Sweden and the point was why should we support the private universities, just as we have said earlier on that it is for the rich people.Education is a public goods.When we produce lawyers, doctors or engineers, we don’t say don’t treat poor people, don’t go to represent people who are poor. We cannot stop them from serving both the poor and the rich. I am able to point out that the history of the private university, is the history of necessity.We came to compliment and to strenghten capacity and this has began to yield some fruits. We hope to attract multitaterial agreements that are very governmental in orientation.There are many things in pipeline, unfortunately none has really materialised in term of development project.

talking about NDDC entrepreneurship project that is a major thing and delighted that, what can happen, the impression most people have is that you have the capacities (money) if you don’t have capacity why going to private university so we dont have a kind of sympathy that public sector university have but again. many of these things require to prove your method . Why should somebody come to put money in a place where you have not laid major resource discovery.

Gowon, Ibru, Akunyili inspire students at 2008 national yearbook

Kunle Awosiyan, Lagos

THE presentation of the second Annual National Yearbook, two weeks ago was another defining moment in the history of the country’s education.

As usual, the event witnessed the gathering of distinguished Nigerians who have excelled in their various fields. These role models had come to speak to Nigerian students on what it had taken them to stand out and how the students could also toe the same paths.

Beside the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (RTD), the Director General, National Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Professor Dora Akunyili and the Chief Executive of the Oceanic Bank International Plc, Dr. (Mrs) Cecelia Ibru who graced the occasion, the event also paraded 15 outstanding role models.

Top on the list of the role models was the astute entrepreneur and the Director Lagos Business School, Professor Pat Utomi, Others were the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun, Managing Director UAC Plc, Mr. Larry Ettah, Chief Executive Jaykay Pharmacy, Mr. Jimi Agabaje and Super Eagles captain, Mr. Kanu Nwakwo.

the event became more glamorous when Dr. Ibru publicly announced that Gen. Yakubu Gowon was her role model. Though the audience was excited but yet disturbed that the renowned banker could pick a soldier as her model.

“My role model is here. He is Gen. Yakubu Gowon. I cherish his humility. I have chosen him as my role model because he is humble”,Ibru has explained.
To many people, humility is a value and it is not compulsory that everybody should be humble. But to Dr Ibru, she had found in Gen Gowon a modesty that all the money in her bank could not buy.

She spoke to the over 2000 students of secondary school from the six geopolitical zones of the country to add to their education humility, self respect and moral values.

As she put it,”We are determined to develop a generation of young men and women who are not only educated, skilled and disciplined but also imbued with strong leadership qualities and high moral values. This is because we believe that a resilient young community will contribute positively to nation building. This is one of the reasons why we have set up Oceanic Leadership Academy “.

Dr. Ibru stated that it had become imperative for her to announce her role model so that she could encourage the youth to be patriotic. She added,” To encourage these youth, we must infuse patriotism in them, celebrate the present role models before them and promote sound judgments among them”.

She urged the pupils to shun deviant behaviours that are antithetical to societal orderliness, national cohesion and development.

“You should therefore imbibe the culture of self-respect, respect for others and love for your country, and above all, the fear of God in all your actions”, she said.

Though dazed by Dr. Ibru’s public proclamation, Gen Gowon could not hide his humane character as his speech glaringly revealed it.

In his speech, the ex-soldier thanked the organizer for inviting him to chair the occasion. He said, “What a pleasurable honour. I thank you for it and because the invitation has to do with youths, I have accepted it with joy and honour and the expectation to meet with this special group of youths, the future of our country.”

Gen Gowon advised the youths to guard against all manners of temptation that could bedevil the elders and society, saying,” What is required of you, our youths, is to be correctly and morally guided and brought up and eschew all the wrongs and evils in our society, be it corruption, greed, selfishness or avarice.

In her usual eloquent manner Prof.Akunyili had charged the students to be committed to nation building, adding that the hope and future of the country rests on their shoulders.

She said, The ultimate is not about making money. Actually to fulfill destiny is to make a difference in your world. At this point in our country’s history ,we need people who are willing to make the difference.

In her comment, the Publisher of the book, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde had described the yearbook as a message designed to make the students realize that the future of Nigeria lied in their shoulders.

According to her, the book has three core objectives, which include inspiring patriotism, celebrating role models and promoting unity.

Under the inspiring patriotism, Mrs Ogunde said that students all over the country were directed to write on a topic, If I were to lead Nigeria with the aim of tasking the students to proffer solutions to the country problems.

On the selected role models, the publisher said that they were invited to showcase their credibility to the students who would love to emulate them.