Education minister lauds YABATECH on maintenance culture

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has commended the governing council, management, staff and students of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) on the excellent maintenance culture of the 77 years old institution, in structures and beauty of its environs.

He gave the accolades in his address to members of the college community during his visit to the institution at the Yusuf Grillo Auditorium.

Alausa lauded the stakeholders for making the institution’s ambience captivating with happiness radiating the air of the institution, declaring that “I am happy, impressed and delighted for all that I have seen.”

According to him, “I am deeply impressed by the level of care and commitment that has gone into maintaining the college’s infrastructures, this speaks of the management’s dedication to excellence, and I commend you for upholding such high standards. The Federal Government is fully committed to supporting this institution as it continues to grow and evolve.”

The minister also used the opportunity to commission completed projects and inspect various ongoing projects in the institution. He lauded the college’s exceptional maintenance culture, which has ensured that even older infrastructure remain in excellent condition, contributing to a conducive learning environment for both students and faculty alike”.

He stressed further that one of the reasons the Tinubu administration is focusing on technical and vocational education and adding entrepreneurship to it is to stem the “Japa Syndrome”.

“We are not taking the issue of artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, and others with levity. We know that if our youths are good at those things, they can be in Nigeria and be working for firms in many parts of the world, and they will be earning foreign exchange. That will help stem this Japa of a thing, where people would travel abroad to do menial jobs,” he noted.

Alausa explained that for over three decades, Nigeria abandoned technical and vocational education and focused on producing graduates, who are always after white-collar jobs and that the focus has now changed.

Said he: “In Europe and other places, the focus has been on incorporating TVET to become a core aspect of their education system, and that is what we are doing now. We need education that would aid manufacturing and technological innovations and that would also lead to a robust private sector, which will drive societal growth and development,” he expressed.

In his Address, the rector of YABATECH, Dr. Ibraheem Abdul appreciated the education minister for his visit, while stating that it would mark a significant milestone in the college’s academic excellence and institutional development journey.

Abdul disclosed that as the nation’s a premier polytechnic, YABATECH has remained at the forefront of Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) for more than seven decades.

He said: “The college has recorded notable achievements of securing re-accreditation for 26  programmes and approval for two new courses, strengthening stakeholder engagement with students and staff unions, enhancing staff welfare through commendation letters and an improved support system, launching the students’ work-study programme to provide hands-on experience while studying, establishing Identity Advisory Committee and Business Incubation Hubs in each school, creating the YABATECH Industry Alliance Group (YIAG) to foster industry partnership, institutionalizing a colloquium for Ph.D holders and successfully hosting its inaugural lecture, signing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with local and international institutions.

“Securing 1.93 billion naira in research grants and 26 billion in endowments, including the Folawiyo Entrepreneurship Centre and a 150-acre Green Campus Initiative, expanding ICT education through the establishment of YABATECH Digital Technology Academy (YDTA) and an ICT Skills Hub for Computer and Phone Repairs, partnering with SKILLFORT to provide telecommunications training benefiting 30 students, partnering with Choice International (Manufacturer of GAC Motors), through the partnership 25 students from our School of Engineering are currently undergoing advanced training in Automobile and Electrical Automation at HVTC, China to promote the STEM initiative, expanding access to quality education by introducing Flexible Learning Initiative through the Centre for Distance and Flexible e-Learning (CODFel), advancing girl’s education through the Girls’ Education Support Partners  (GESP) Programme which aim to provide quality, market-relevant skills to girls aged 14 to 24, equipping them for academic success and workforce.”

The rector also stated that the challenges facing the college cut across reconstruction of Bakassi hostel, which was destroyed by fire reducing the available accommodation space for students, construction of a new building for the School of Art, Design & Printing to meet increasing student enrollment, development of staff quarters to improve welfare and enhance productivity, expansion of existing infrastructure to accommodate the growing student population, and strengthening financial sustainability through increased internally generated revenue (IGR).

Speaking also, the Governing Council chairman, Prof. Funsho Afolabi, explained that since the minister assumed office, the institution has been following his activities and pronouncements.

Prof. Afolabi stressed that the experts at both the governing council and staff levels have used scientific, technical, psychoanalytic and psycho-dynamic models and frameworks design to study how the minister has been using the tools kit of the Federal Ministry of Education, to first key into the Presidential Renewed Hope Agenda and second using the methods of planned concern, signal monitoring and proximity control to understand both the surface and deep behaviors of institutions of higher learning in the country, and the ministerial presence in the college wouldconfirm how YABATECH has been responding to the yearnings of the ministry.

During the visit, the minister commissioned YABATECH Digital Technology Academy (YOTA), launched its ICT Skills Hub for Computer and Phone Repairs and inspected the sites of its 50billion endowment projects, toured the All- Girls Tech (GESP) hub, projects under construction and the approved proposed 13-storey building site.