A Professor of Civil Engineering, Gbenga Aribisala, has urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to apply stringent regulations in the approval of specialized universities and polytechnics in the country.
Aribisala further stated specialized institutions were established to give special skills and imbibe graduates with knowledge to be job creators, lamenting that many of the institutions now run courses outside their scopes and jurisdiction.
Aribisala made the call during the 2nd Engr. Ayodele Afolabi Esan annual public lecture organized by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) at the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), on Thursday.
In his lecture titled: ‘Economic Development Through Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition’, he stated that that the problems of insecurity and unemployment can be solved with robust entrepreneurial and skills acquisition, which specialized institutions can guarantee.
He said, “Specialized universities of Agriculture and Technology as well as Polytechnics must be regulated properly by NUC. They are already being polluted by being allowed to run courses in social sciences and others”.
The academic stated that Nigerian trained Engineers may not be productive if there is a disconnection between the classroom and the work based environment.
Aribisala, however, urged the NUC to look into conversion courses currently run by various tertiary institutions in the country, while affirming that researches conducted in schools should be geared towards solving local based problems.
Speaking about the significance of electricity to the growth of SMEs, “In energy production, we are the third country without electricity in the world. Only 3% of rural communities and 30% of the nation have access to electricity. You can see how this has affected inflation and unemployment”.
Speaking further, the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, represented by the supervising Commissioner for Public Utilities, Professor Bolaji Aluko, revealed that the state government has begun an Independent Power Plant in partnership with some firms to put off a section of the state capital, Ado Ekiti off the national grid.
Reacting, ABUAD’s founder, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), lamented that the country is caught in the web of unemployment and insecurity, while urging Nigeria trained engineers to brace up and rescue the nation from total collapse.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
