By Abdulfatah Babatunde
As the Rector of Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech), Dr Ibraheem Adedotun Abdul marks one year of leading the 77-year-old institution, key principal officers have been celebrating his landmark achievements.
Correspondents of TheNewsZenith went out to feel the pulse of key College stakeholders about the administration of Dr Abdul. They came back with loads of evidence that a new Sheriff had indeed, arrived in town.
Dr Ismaila Badmus is the College Deputy Rector (Academics). He re-echoed the slogan of Dr Abdul, being “to consolidate on what we met on ground and shape the future’’.
To that extent, Badmus said the College management has enhanced the development of its academic staff.
“Management is supporting them to attend conferences and conduct research that won them national and international prizes.
“Currently, we have a grant from UNICEF worth $1 million. Interestingly the Rector is part of the team that won that grant.
“That is international, coming home, we have also received a national research fund of N34 million.
“We also have another one from, Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC), that is Lagos State Research body, that is mere N2 million,’’ Badmus said.
Corroborating Badmus’s view, Dr Jude Akinwale, the College’s Acting Registrar described the Rector’s performance of one year in office, as being “very impressive’’.
Akinwale remarked that the Rector’s performance relate well to his antecedent.
The most significant of his antecedents, Akinwale said, is his ‘ERECT’ Agenda.
This is composed of Empowerment, Repackaging skills, Expansion Cultivation of skills improvement and Tapping on grants and linkages around the world.
“In his one year in office, he has been able to improve skills development, as there is an industry alliance committee and many skill development trainings.
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“So, in terms of performance, he’s been able to touch on the key aspect of his ERECT agenda.
“Within the past year, there have been some developmental projects such as public-private initiatives. Under the initiative, we have N3.5 billion Folawiyo entrepreneurship centre among other laudable achievements.
Dr Kolawole Hassan is the College Bursar and the Head of Finance. He said his department had enjoyed tremendous support from the Rector in one year.
“Our current CEO, Dr (Engr) Ibrahim Adedotun Abdul, in the last year, has done a lot for this college.
“In fact, as the name suggests, if you look at the combination of his names, they are fantastic.
“Ibrahim is the father of all, everybody knows that whether Muslim or Christian and Adedotun means somebody that comes and turns everything anew.
“So, God has used him for positive things that have not been happening in the past. New things have happened since he came in.
“It is interesting to note that a single donor, Alhaji Chief Tunde Fanimokun, just about a month ago, gave us an endowment of N3.5 billion to construct the Folawiyo Centre for Entrepreneurship. This is a huge success,’’ he said.
The bursar further identified the repackaging of all academic schemes of work programmes in the college as a star achievement of Dr Abdul.
“Today, I am a PhD holder from Babcock University, all in Accounting. So, I’m happy to be in the team of Dr (Engr) Abdul.
“Even before he became the Rector, he has always had confidence in me in the aspect of financial regulation.
“As we speak, a lot of our staff are undergoing their PhD studies and they will be back to impact on the college,’’ Hassan said.
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