Let’s have an insight into your early life and your
journey so far in the academia
I want to say I started entrepreneurship journey as a
teenager. After my first degree, I almost lost focus due to wrong orientation
and bandwagon syndrome. Before gaining admission to the University, my dream
was to become a successful entrepreneur, create job for thousands, and
contribute positively to the society through social entrepreneurial
initiatives. Unfortunately, we saw higher institutions as just a platform to
acquire certificates and not as a platform to gain knowledge, skills and
behaviours that can shape us in showcasing our potential. We tend to believe
that the purpose of acquiring the University degree was for certificate that
would give us jobs. This bad orientation indicates that something was missing
somewhere. After my first degree, like
many other graduates, I lost focus, dropped my dream of becoming a job creator,
to become a job seeker. I was able to secure employment, but despite being
lucky to secure jobs, I wasn’t comfortable. I always had the feeling that
something was missing. I then decided to travel to United Kingdom for further
studies after two years of employment in Nigeria.
The education I acquired in the UK assisted me to rediscover
myself. I was able to acquire the required skills, knowledge and behaviour that
assisted me in becoming the person I dreamt of becoming. My experience in life
and passion towards ensuring that more people do not become victims of the
societal orientation, my desire to gain more knowledge, on how to help
individuals to achieve their dream of becoming job creators, fulfilling destiny
and acquiring skills that can make them become successful entrepreneurs made me
to pursue a PhD degree in Entrepreneurship at University of Essex, United
Kingdom. After my PhD studies, i decided to seek God’s face for direction on
the next thing to do. It was at that stage that i received the vision to
establish higher and further educational institution as a platform to provide
inclusive education to individuals towards becoming successful entrepreneurs,
innovators, and raise job creators with the necessary skills to provide
solutions to economic problems of nations.
I am excited that we are making impact on this. Today, one
of my dreams that became a reality, is Ajayi Polytechnic, a private
polytechnic, established to raise
giants through entrepreneurship
and innovative technological education. If I must be frank, entrepreneurship
and Innovation education is now inevitable, going by the number that are
graduating from higher institutions in the last few years with at least, 60 to
70 percent of them unemployed, either because they are unemployable or other
deficiencies.
We believe that our entrance into the educational sector at
this point would assist in plugging the dysfunctional tertiary education in
Nigeria, which had over the years resulted in graduates that are not adequately
prepared to face the challenges of building entrepreneurial capabilities. At
Ajayi Polytechnic, we are determined to train, produce technical and skilled
manpower that will become industrial giants, and solutions’ providers to the
myriads of economic problems bedeviling the country. We also seek to provide
education that will develop skills, knowledge, behaviour, entrepreneurial
mindset and understanding attitudes in our graduate. We have evolved inclusive
procedures that would inculcate work habits in our graduates in line with the
best practice anywhere in the world and shall continue to follow-up on those
procedures.
Where do you think the polytechnic will be in the nearest
future?
The vision of the Polytechnic is to raise giants and produce
skilled technicians, and managers who are entrepreneurially driven. This is set
to be achieved through inclusive 21st century entrepreneurship and innovative
technological education. It is also to provide trained workforce in the field
of business, applied science, engineering, and technology, to provide necessary
technical knowledge and skills for the nation’s agriculture, industrial,
commercial and economic development, while also providing the required training
and skills that will equip the students to be enterprising and realise their
self-worth.
We are also out to provide necessary training, in
appropriate vocational skills that will make individuals to be self-reliant,
gainfully employed or become an employer of labour/job creator, and provide
improvement in technical education through consistent research and development,
as well as establish regular contact with other institutions and organisations
globally.
What are the programmes offered in the Polytechnic?
The Polytechnic was approved and licensed to operate by the
Federal Government of Nigeria and National Board for Technical Education
(NBTE), in May 2017.The institution have all the necessary approvals and
fulfils procedures of Ekiti State Government’s Education Ministry, National
Business and Technical Education (NABTEB), in Technical and Vocational
Training, as well as Certification in September, 2018.
The Polytechnic started with only five approved programmes
that include ND Electrical & Electronics Engineering, ND Computer
Engineering, ND Statistics, ND Computer Science and ND Accountancy.
In 2022, the institution got accreditation for five
additional courses, which are: ND Science Laboratory Technology, Public
Administration, Business Administration, and HND Programmes in Accountancy and
Computer Science.
Can you highlight some of the policies that have been put in place to sustain the current tempo of quality education for which Ajayi Polytechnic is known for?
Yes, in a bid to continue to improve the quality of
education in the Polytechnic, the unstitution put in place policies and
programmes that have greatly helped in achieving vision of the Institution.
Some of these policies are; approving and inculcating compulsory skill
acquisition programmes in the school curriculum which was made compulsory for
all the students. It was designed in such a, way that the graduating student
must have acquired at least, one skill. Some of the available skills are:
Fashion design, Solar Installation, Graphics design, Computer programming
(using several languages) Web designing, Cosmetology and Phone repairs amongst others.
It has also become a standing policy at the Polytechnic that
no Faculty member will be employed without first having at the minimum,Masters
Degree or already on it with glaring evidence. The Council of the Polytechnic
believes that policies such as these,
would help improve the quality of education in the Institution and many of the
Faculty members employed are already researchers in the making.
The policy of the Polytechnic also has it that, inclusive
entrepreneurship training and capacity development seminars are infused into
the polytechnic curriculum. Personal development of our students is very
important to us. We monitor the students
personal development. The management too
do monitor the impact of our programmes from time to time. The Polytechnic also
has a firm policy on Internship and SIWES programmes. All our students are
exposed to internship within the campus and outside, through ITF SIWES
programmes, which enables them acquire work experience before they graduate.
Our impact is feasible despite that we are not making noise
about it. Our survey revealed that none of our graduates is unemployed after
completing their education with us. There’s no way you will graduate from Ajayi
Polytechnic, and become liability to the society. We are raising solution providers, not
problem compounders. The fact that we
are being noticed and recognised despite that we are not making noise about our
strides is encouraging and this is motivating us to do more. We are more
determined to sustain our
achievements.
Despite the challenges that are involved in managing
Higher Institutions at this trying period of Nigeria’s economy, Ajayi
Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti has been able to maintain it’s corporate values, can
you ascribe to this feat?
Early this year, we won an integrity award from a very
reputable body. We did not even know that we were been noticed. This further
attests to the fact that we are genuinely maintaining our corporate integrity,
vision and mission. From the onset, we resolved to do things in a different
way. We are creating our own brand. We are creative and innovative and we have
continued to encourage our students to also think alike, so that they and the
institution can stay ahead of the industry. We resolved not to compromise our
integrity, we conduct our business with utmost transparency, zero tolerance to
student molestation, harassment and other vices that currently pervades many
institutions. We are student-centred in terms of course delivery, policy
making, and infrastructural development. Little wonder that I declared 50%
scholarship for students during this period to help them have access to quality
education.
Excellence is important to us as an institution, and more
importantly as a brand, we strive hard to continuously improve the quality of
delivery for our students so that they can compete with their counterparts
anywhere.
What makes your institution outstanding and a place
prospective students?
The Polytechnic is outstanding because we can boast that we
have modern, world class and state-of-the-art laboratories for Engineering,
Sciences and Technology programmes. We get commendations from accreditation
teams anytime they come over to check our resources. We boast of reliable,
high-speed internet connectivity across the campus. We also operate one of the
most reliable CBT hub in the country. Besides, we have an extensive online
library with access to Open Access Resources- Journals and Textbooks. Our
physical library is well stocked with latest academic resources.We have
specialised Laboratory for programming, software engineering and data science.
Our Engineering Workshops are well-equipped for hands-on training.
How would you advise stakeholders in the education sector
on how to improve the quality in Nigeria?
Improving the quality of education, especially polytechnic
education in Nigeria, requires a collaborative effort from stakeholders. The
Government needs to increase the funding of education, particularly
Polytechnics, by allowing private polytechnics to access TETFUND. If you look
at it, the number of private Polytechnics in Nigeria keeps increasing on daily
basis and students going to these schools are Nigerians who will in turn come
back to contribute their quota to the economy of Nigeria after graduation.
The government needs to partner with private polytechnics so
that students that choose private polytechnics will not be at a disadvantage.
We should correct the narrative that only students from rich family enroll in
private institutions. This is not true. It will interest you to note that
almost all public institutions school fees are even more than Ajayi polytechnic
school fees. I challenge you to do your research on this. You will discover
that fee we charge at Ajayi Polytechnic
is not up to the amount public polytechnics do collect from their
students. Polytechnic owners and management also need to prioritize academic
excellence in their entire citadels of learning by investing in their
institution itself and the delivery of their curriculum, so that the
polytechnic products can compete favourably with their counterparts from other
levels of education. We need to ensure that we are developing our students’
knowledge, skills and behaviour.
We should stop making students think that higher
institutions are certificates factory. One of the reasons why we are facing
socio-economy challenges in the country is because, stakeholders in the
education sector are not doing the right thing. The Industry should also be
invited to synergise on curriculum development to have a robust curriculum that
can cater for the needs of the industry, thereby producing employable
graduates.
What opportunities exist for students of Ajayi
Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti to compete favourably, or enjoy benefits on the
international stage?
We ensure that all our students acquire the necessary
knowledge, skills and behaviour that will make them to be employable in any
part of the world. Some of our students are working for companies out of the
country. All students at Ajayi Polytechnic Ikere Ekiti, have the opportunity to
graduate, alongside their ND or HND certificate, at least, one professional
certification in Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle and Accounting. All students in Ajayi
Polytechnic must acquire at least one trade, before they graduate under the
institution’s skill acquisition programme.
They are also exposed to international collaboration through
Entrepreneurship Programme of the institution. We work in partnership with
various international institutions. We have been using this partnerships and
collaborations in providing platforms for our students to network, form strong ties, and learning from other
countries towards building the capacity to compete globally. To ensure that
less privileged students are not at disadvantage, we do organise scholarship
opportunities for students coming into the polytechnic of up to 50% of their
tuition.
What advice do you have for prospective applicants who
are desirous of making the Institution their Polytechnic of choice?
In Ajayi Polytechnic Ikere-Ekiti, we are committed to
raising the giant in you through inclusive entrepreneurship and skill
acquisition programmes that will make you employer of Labour, after your
graduation. If you have entrepreneurial mind-set, thinking of becoming employer
of labour, or determined to ensure that you are not unemployed after completing
higher institution,at Ajayi Polytechnic, we can guarantee you 100% success
rate. We carried out survey on our graduates’ destination and we are proud to
say that no graduate of Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti is unemployed after
graduation.
We are determined to sustain this achievement. You will gain
all the required knowledge, skills and behaviour that will either make you to
set up sustainable business and become employer of labour, or put you in the
position to be employable in any part of the world. The scholarship programme available in the
Polytechnic also offers interested candidates, the opportunity to have access
to quality and affordable education.