The Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola said the 42-year-old institution has contributed to manpower development in every sector of the nation's economy since its establishment
He said the institution has grown from five faculties to 14 and from fewer than 300 students to 30,000.
In a chat with newsmen over the weekend about OOU's achievements, especially under his stewardship in the last two years, Prof. Agboola noted that the institution has experienced infrastructural uplift with the addition of courses while all the programs of the school have been fully digitalized to encourage online learning. He added that examinations are conducted and results are released on time, while salaries and pensions are being paid as and when due.
"When I came in, the first thing I did was to ensure that from inception to graduation, everything is alright. Initially, one major problem we had was that we didn't know the number of students we had, and this affected our planning.
"What we did was that right from the time we were doing post-UME, after getting all the data from JAMB, those we admitted were put on our portal. We linked the portal to the Results Processing Management System so that students have their profiles on the portal. With this, the students can see how much they are to pay. When they pay, we link the students with our management system.
"All HODs, through the efforts of the DVC Accounts, must have looked at the curriculum they will use for that year, and the students just go ahead and register for the courses. From there, when examinations are about to take place, we already know the number of students to assign to examination halls, which makes it easy to conduct examinations.
"In the past, we used five weeks to conduct exams, but now, within two weeks, we are through, and the students see their results immediately. It doesn't take time to consider the results at the Senate because the students have all seen their results," he said.
He noted that courses like Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, Forensic Science, Taxation, Criminology, Library Science, Geophysics, Building Technology, Quantity Surveying, and Estate Management have been added to expand the scope of the school.
"We are working on introducing Food Science, Data Science, Information and Communication Technology, Software Engineering, and Cyber Security," he added.
The Vice Chancellor hinted that OOU is collaborating with the National Incubation and Innovation Centre, Abuja, for the entrepreneurship training of its students. Teams from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, and from the Federal Ministry of Education were in the institution to finalize arrangements for affiliation for the take-off of the leadership training in the school through the Awujale Institute of Governance.
He appreciated the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, the alumni, and corporate individuals who have contributed to the infrastructural development of the institution, stating that this has made the school a force to be reckoned with among tertiary institutions in the country.
"In terms of infrastructural development, the alumni are doing extremely well. The ICBM building was facilitated by one of them. In fact, the foundation was laid a week after I got here. Again, I commissioned the Business School facilitated by one of the alumni members. Alhaji Saheed Fagbohun donated a 750-capacity lecture hall for us, and it has been completed. I also commissioned Dr. Asekun's Resource Centre. Chief Femi Okenla's Centre is ongoing now.
"One of the alumni also donated a 15 KVA solar system worth about N20m. Another alumni member has employed two staff for us. One is from the United Kingdom, while the other is from South Africa for our students' Bio-Sensor project. He is paying them in dollars and has also signed an agreement to employ our students when they graduate. At least 100 of our students are attending lectures every Friday," he said.
The Vice Chancellor said the institution is collaborating with some foreign universities, including Swansea University, for further training of its students to broaden their scope and make them competitive at the global level.
"We are determined to ensure that our students have what we call the three Es, which stand for Knowledge, Skills, and Value, realizing that a knowledgeable person should be able to further his/her education; if you are skillful, you will be employable, and also, being an employer of labor, you add value to society.
"This has led to a working relationship with Swansea University and the University of Lancaster to enable our students to further their education if they wish to. Students from Agriculture and Management Science can have part of their studies at Swansea University so that they can have a degree from OOU and a degree from Swansea University. We are at the level of matching up our curriculum so that the two can work together.
"For the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom, we are working with them for Forensic Science so that our students can start here and there and earn two Degrees," the VC added.
Prof. Agboola emphasized that the welfare of students, lecturers, and staff has been paramount to his administration, with prompt payment of salary arrears, earned allowances, cooperative society deductions, and pension deductions.
"We have been able to satisfy our staff unions to some extent. When we came in, we contended with the issues of arrears from 2013 to 2024, contributory pension, check-off dues, and cooperative deductions. We have paid close to N350m for arrears and have paid check-off dues and cooperative deductions for three months out of the seven months, and we have scheduled how we are going to pay the rest.
"The ones we deducted since I got here, we have been paying. We are not owing; it is only the backlogs that we are trying to solve.
"In terms of pension, we are not owing since I came here. All the deductions we made are also being remitted. From January, as we are paying one, we are also adding to it as we now have a schedule to clear the backlogs," he explained.
He stated that the cordial relationship between the management, staff, and students has led to the stability of the academic calendar, allowing students to complete their programs on time.
While appreciating the Dapo Abiodun-led administration for supporting the institution, Prof. Agboola called for more support, as the management has put strategic plans in place to make the university one of the best not only in the country but also globally.
Agboola also disclosed that a Reviewing Committee to look into the conditions of service of non-academic staff of the institution has been established.
This follows agitation from the non-teaching staff for the adoption of a three-year interval for promotion to the next level.
He stated that the university, since its inception, has been working on the amendment of conditions of service, expressing hope that the recommendations of the Committee, made up of relevant stakeholders, would go a long way in resolving the matter.
He said: "We have taken steps because we know that when the staff are agitated, there are some things we need to do. We constituted a Reviewing Committee on conditions of service, and all the staff unions have representatives on the committee. They have already started asking for memoranda from members of the community, including the staff unions.
"Today, we have written to the Chairman of the Review Committee to speed up action so that we can conclude on time."
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