Ogun is raising world-class IT experts - Rector, Gateway poly

By Sulaman Olanrewaju

Dr. Gabriel Onalaja, Rector,
Gateway PolytechnicThe Information and Communication Technology polytechnics introduced in Ogun State by the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel will produce a generation of ICT experts who will be world class citizens.

Disclosing this in a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, the Rector of Gateway Polytechnic, Saapade, Ogun State, Dr. Gabriel Onalaja, said with the way the polytechnics were pursuing their programmes, every graduates of the polytechnics would be adept both in the use of computer with an international certification to boot as well as being adept in their core courses.

“The way the programmes of the polytechnics are run is such that every student undergoes a Cisco certification training programme as well as a particular National Diploma course. That means that every student of this polytechnic will have expertise in two major marketable areas”, he explained.

According to the rector, who holds a PhD in Physics and was a Deputy Rector at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, the Cisco programme would ensure that the students become experts in computer hardware engineering which would make them employable in any part of the world.

“Apart from being employable, they will also be able to create employment. Instead of waiting for a white collar job, a graduate of this polytechnic will be a job creator”, Onalaja said.

Explaining how the polytechnic has been able to get staff to teach the Cisco programme, being new in the country, Onalaja said the government sent some people for the training in South Africa. “They are the ones teaching the students. Another batch will soon leave for the training.”

He said further that with the success already recorded by the four ICT polytechnics, the government of the state had gone a step further by allocating at least one ICT teacher to each of the secondary school. According to him, the objective of this step is to ensure that the students get hooked on ICT early in life.

Onalaja explained that what Otunba Daniel was doing in the state might not be appreciated immediately but in another five years, “when the fruits of the governor’s efforts begin to manifest, it will be clear to all that we have a visionary governor in Ogun State.”

Talking about the rationale behind the establishment of four polytechnics in a state, Onalaja said, “I can tell you that it makes sense. Last year, about 30,000 candidates qualified for admission into Moshood Abiola Polytechnic but less than 5,000 could be offered admission. Imagine what happened to the over 25,000 that could not get in not because they did not qualify but because despite their qualification, there was no space for them. With what the governor has done there is a ray of hope for the young generation.

“These polytechnics are not just the regular polytechnics, they are specialised ones. So, the governor is not just thinking of solving the problem of having space in higher institutions for qualified candidates, he has also taken the issue of job creation into consideration because about 90 per cent of the products of these polytechnics will become job creators.”

Speaking further on the benefits of the new polytechnics, Onalaja said that by locating them in different parts of the state, the government had put in place a system that would ensure that “parental control is not lost despite the fact that children are in higher institutions because many of them are in schools within their localities.”

Onalaja said the management of the polytechnic had instituted a system that would not allow cultism to rear its ugly end in the institution. “We have our way of monitoring the students without letting them know. We know where each of them goes, we know who they relate with, we know what happens in their residences. So, there is no way cultism will come into this polytechnic.

We are not waiting for it to start and we now start looking for ways to curb it, we want to make sure it never even starts here.”

The polytechnic rector, however, said one of the major challenges facing the school was funding. “Although the government is trying a lot, we still need more money because there is a lot to be done. So, funding is a major challenge. However, the indigenes of this area have risen to the challenge. Quite a number of them have donated one or two things to the school. This has really been helpful to us.”

Onalaja assured that the polytechnic would leave a mark in the country not just because of the quality of its personnel but also because of the support extended to the school by the state government.

Lagos partners AEI on scholarship

Kunle Awosiyan, Lagos

The Lagos State Government on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Education Initiative as part of its efforts to provide quality education for the state.

African Education Initiative is an international education foundation registered in the United States of America to support education in African states.

In the MOU, AEI agreed to assist the state government in providing information to access scholarship opportunities for students in Lagos State, take reasonable measures to offer student internship opportunities to Lagos state students, assist in organising workshops and training programmes for students within and outside Lagos state and assist in acquiring study aids for students and tertiary institutions in Lagos State.

The foundation, according to the President, Mr. Chudy Nduaka, will also organise international student conferences in Nigeria and abroad for Lagos students and facilitate development assistant for education and professional development for indigenes of Lagos State.

To start with, Nduaka announced that the foundation would be awarding scholarships to two Lagos State indigenes for a study programme at the National Veterinary Institute, FOM near Jos, Plateau State.

He said that the scholarship would enable the students to study some courses in toxicology as part of its general educational assistance scheme for the state government by AEI.

Other components of the MOU, Nduaka added would encompass areas of technical enhancement, school enhancement through the provision of teaching aids, books, laboratory equipment and computer facilities.

According to Mr. Nduka, AEI was established in 2001 but began its educational assistance programme to African states in 2002.

Commenting on the new development, the Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor on Students’ Affairs, Mr. Rasheed Akinnola, said that the partnership was conceived to put an end to idleness among students in the state.

As he put it, “This idea was conceived to put an end to the current practice where most students who are supposed to be on the field acquiring practical experience, just roam the streets.”

According to him, this missing link in their training portends a great danger for the country’s immediate and long-term capacity building and human capital development.

He stated that beside the new cooperation with AEI, the state government had concluded arrangement to register about 5, 000 students studying in its tertiary institutions for internship programme with reputable firms in the state in pursuit of its programme of building future leaders.

He said, “The scheme patterned after the National Youth Service Corps Scheme, is programmed to last for three months and is expected to take off in the second quarter of this year.”

His words, “More than anything else, the scheme is conceived by the state government to arrest and address the widening gap between what a student has learnt in the theory and what truly obtains in the practical.

“For instance it is a common but sad thing to find today, law graduates who could not write a law report. This scheme will not allow this to happen again. I can assure you that in the next five years the quality of graduates that will come from higher institutions in the state will be much better.”

Since the commencement of the assistance, the programme had been taken to about seven African states. They include; University of Yaounde, Cameroun, University of Accra, Ghana, Swaziland, Liberia and Egypt.

The AEI team included, Professor Ebere Orish (the Country Liaison Officer, South-East), Dr. M.B Umar, Country Liaison Officer (North) and Mr. Wale Popoola, Country Liaison Officer (West).