Olamide Babatunde
The merging of technical institutions, polytechnics and colleges of education under the National board for Technical Education (NBTE) was a misnomer, says President of Yaba College of Technology Alumni Association, Olufemi Martins.
Martins stated this at the maiden edition of the meeting of alumni association of Engineering Students in Lagos, yesterday.
He said it was the failure to understand the real goal of the Nigerian policy on education that had led to the altering of the NBTE curriculum.
“There is a big difference between these institutions, but we have failed to realize that students in colleges of technology are trained to re-engineer the society. This is an area we need to look into. During my time, we never fought for the BSC/HND dichotomy, but the moment we began to realise the disparity we have continued to agitate that technological education be recognised.
“We are a practical oriented institution, trained to create jobs and not to be an employee. Technological education was meant to be our mainstay, but our policy makers have continuously got it wrong. I believe that the people who have put heads together to support the alumni association will make a change, and that the best is yet to come from us,” he said.
He also urged government to identify and support engineering students with special talents as it is done in most of the developed and enveloping countries.
He admonished undergraduates of the institution to take their own fate in their hands, come together to speak with one voice and work with the alumni to learn the ropes to take over the mantle of leadership in the country.
Chief Executive Officer, Slot Systems Limited, Nnamdi Ezeigbo, who graduated with the 1992/1993 class gave a keynote address at the event where he dwelt on how to start and grow a business in a challenging environment like Nigeria.
Ezeigbo said knowledge, partnership, integrity and competitive strategy are key elements to succeeding in business.