Dr Ayobami Owolabi, Deputy Registrar, Corporate Communication and Student Services at Lead City University, Ibadan recently featured on the Parrot Xtra/Ayekooto radio show anchored by Olayinka Agboola on Splash 105.5 FM, where he highlighted the university’s vision, students’ welfare, moral and entrepreneurial development, its unique Poise and Customer Service course, and milestones from its 20-year journey as a cult-free, student-focused institution.
Excerpts:
How challenging was it to establish Lead City University at the beginning?
Lead City University is a dream come true. That was why the theme for our 20th anniversary was tagged Freedom. The beginning was very rough. Remember that those who were involved in the establishment of private universities in Nigeria have religious extraction.
It takes great effort to see somebody from academia trying to establish a private university in Nigeria. Professor Jide Owoeye, our Chairman, was very visionary and was determined to right the wrong in the system. He spent appreciable years in the university and he saw the rot that pervaded the public university system, and that was why he decided to establish Lead City University.
What does your role as Deputy Registrar, Corporate Communication and Student Services entail?
I was first appointed at the onset as the Director, Corporate Communication before I was promoted as the Deputy Registrar, Corporate Communication and Student Services.
The students form the centre of the university system; we are there because they are there. We do not get subvention from the government and we get our revenue from the inside. We can’t joke with the welfare of our students because they are our ambassadors. We have parents who have two to three children in the university as a result of the good things they encountered in the school.
How does the university handle the diverse behaviours and attitudes of students?
We introduced a course called Poise and Customer Service. It is a general university course that you cannot find in any other school in Nigeria. We realised that knowledge is not enough; personality is also very important.
You can approach me as a medical practitioner or pharmacist willing to offer a service that will elongate my life, but I may not like you. I may not even offer you a seat because I do not like you, and that is why we preach personality. Even in student–lecturer relationships, a student must like his or her lecturer because learning could take place. Apart from academic learning, a student must have good moral standards and must be very decent in dressing.
With cultism being rampant among students nationwide, how does Lead City University prevent or manage such cases?
You know that public universities in Nigeria are blessed with vast landmass but in Lead City University, you hardly find such. We have well-trained security apparatus and architecture, and if any student is caught, we find a way of investigating the matter, and if we find out that any of them needs help, they are rehabilitated instead of dismissing them. If you dismiss them without finding a way to help them, they will become a social menace in society.
In addition, society dictates much of what is happening and you can’t erase the adage that says charity begins at home. Imagine a female student that was caught with strong drinks in the hostel, and after summoning the parent, you find out that the act is what she has learnt from her parents since when she was 16 years old. It now lies on us as university administrators to be extra vigilant even at the point of entry.
The university recently marked its 20th anniversary. What are some of its success stories?
We started with three faculties and presently we have about twenty thousand students in our institution. The Medical College is another icing on the cake. Also, our university allows freedom — not unfettered freedom — it has a limitation. The university is an adult environment and not like secondary schools where students are restricted. Here, our students are taught to take responsibility for all their actions. Sometimes, when parents complain of some actions in the school, we implore them to allow their students to channel their grievances through the appropriate quarters.
Beside academics, how does the university help students discover and develop their talents?
In freedom, there must be a level playing ground. In Lead City University, the feeding application system that we use presently was produced through the efforts of former students and they are generating millions of naira from it.
Many of them did not even study Computer Science; they are graduates of other disciplines. We were able to identify their talents and we gave them the freedom to do what they want to do apart from their normal course of study. Equally, we have vocational training where students are trained to be self-reliant.
The motto of our institution is Knowledge for Self-Reliance. We are training our students to be job creators and not seekers. We do not pay lip service to this. Upon graduation, our students are given three certificates. They are given certificates to certify them as Graduate Members of the Institute of Personality Development and Customer Relations, vocational certificates, and a professional certification in respect of their programme.
The university also has an opportunity that is adult-friendly. Prospective students can also come in through JUPEB and JAMB.
What is your view on the recently conducted JAMB examination? Do you think JAMB should be scrapped?
Nigeria is growing and there are things that need to be decentralised. JAMB as an agency should be decentralised to promote more effectiveness.
Could you elaborate on the Poise Personality course offered by Lead City University?
It is a compulsory course in the school and it is mandated for all. Now, all students, irrespective of their courses, must undertake courses in Poise and Customer Service in order to learn how to relate very well with different people in society.
