Global competitiveness is pushing chief executives to innovate or become redundant in the affairs of administration and corporate management. In recent times, we have seen that government subvention is no longer enough to administer the affairs of tertiary institutions in Nigeria, hence, the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.
This necessitated the management of Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) to invite selected media houses Tuesday, July 28, 2022, to a press luncheon towards the launch of N50 billion endowment fund.
Addressing the gathering, Obafemi Omokungbe, the Rector of College, who stated that, “Nothing is stronger than idea,” disclosed that the institution is planning a N50 billion endowment fund to improve facilities and restore the lost glory of the institution.
It can be recalled that this year the College clocks 75 years, and has certainly fulfilled the expectation of its founding fathers judging by its major contributions to the nation’s human capital, technological and socio-economic development. It was in recognition of this contribution that the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida in 1988 during its 15th convocation to mark the 40th anniversary described the College as “Yaba the Great,” a title it has been carrying with pride and dignity.
We all know government cannot fund tertiary institutions alone, thus the need for an endowment fund to expand existing facilities and put up new ones, he noted.
“The management of Yabatech has come up with N50 billion endowment. Our plan is to restore the old glory of the college. That is why we are instituting the endowment fund. Another major reason we came up with the endowment fund is that the students population has increased. The facilities we used 30 to 40 years ago are the same. We can’t wait for government funds, so we need an endowment fund to carry out this task.
‘’We are also trying to keep abreast with latest development in the economy and the polytechnic system. We want to build standard laboratories, exchange programmes for staff, provide offices and improved on existing facilities and introduce new courses that are beneficiary to the nation,” the Rector stated.
At the media parley held ahead of the official launch of the fund later this year (September), the Rector explained further that the fund will help salvage the quality of education as well as upgrade the institution’s physical structures.
In order to ensure transparency, the Rector noted that the fund being raised must not be in physical money but a need for Legacy Projects that will outlive any who embarks on it. He noted that Nigerians can come, alone or collectively, to ask for a portion of land to site any of the Legacy Project, fund and monitor it to completion and at the end hands it over to the College’s management.
Lending his voice to the Rector’s call, Inyang Udoh, a deputy Rector and chairman of the Endowment Committee, said he believed the media can get to where the management cannot get to, and therefore need the media to help move forward the launch of the fund to continue to make the College the best, knowing well the government cannot do everything.
Speaking further during the interaction, the Rector said while the College hopes to partner private individuals to promote Legacy Projects, other areas such as academic awards, infrastructure as well as research and development are also in need of improvement.
It is no longer news that funds available to the educational sector in Nigeria have continued to diminish daily in view of the limited resources available to the government. Our College is no exception, and because of its age, the College had to grapple with myriads of obvious and peculiar challenges ranging from very old buildings, old and obsolete equipment for teaching and research, space constraint and increase in students’ population to mention a few.
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The proposed N50 billion Endowment Fund will address most of the challenges of the institution so as to be at par with 21st Century tertiary institutions globally. The launch of the Endowment Fund will hold on Thursday, September 15, 2022 at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, at 5pm.
Few months ago, the Rector noted in an interview with ThisDay newspaper that efforts were being made to ensure the institution bounced back after the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that more funding was needed for the tertiary institution to become globally competitive.
We want to compete globally among institutions and for us to do that, we need fund, as government cannot fund education alone. We need the interventions of international organisations, corporate organisations, states and federal governments, as well as the alumni association to assist the college for us to be able to achieve our dreams and compete globally with any tertiary institution. That is why this management and the council have decided to think outside the box to generate more funds and take care of our dilapidated structures that have decayed over the last seven and half decades.
The Rector, however, corrected the notion that the College is moving to Epe as its permanent site, saying Epe is not a permanent site but just a campus. Yaba remains the main campus of the College. With a larger population, we are having more programmes, and more are being relocated to Epe because it is becoming choked up here in Yaba.
It is of note that virtually all its courses are accredited, and those that are due for re-accreditation would be done this year before August, because it is a five-year programme, he disclosed. There were some that we did in December 2019, and they will not be due until 2024. Those that were not due as of 2019 that are due this year or last year would be re-accredited.
Ejiofor, deputy registrar/PRO of Yabatech, writes from Lagos
