In a chat with select media, the Registrar of the just-taking off Elizade University, Mr Omololu Adegbenro, explains how the institution would be run to achieve its vision and what students stand to benefit from the school.

Ayo-Lawal Gbenoba was there.

Going by the many drains Nigeria is experiencing — brain drain, capital drain, etc, having another standard tertiary institution added to the fold, is a welcome development. It is no secret that Ghana, a neighbouring country, now reaps from the abysmal situation in Nigeria’s education sector. As at last year, 71,000 Nigerian students were enrolled in various Ghanaian higher institutions, pumping a total of N155 billion into the economy of that country, annually. Little wonder, a new institution of higher learning, Elizade University, aims to reverse this craze for overseas studies by Nigerian youths.

According to the Registrar of the institution, Mr Omololu Adegbenro, Elizade University is out to produce young people who will be self-reliant and will even create employment opportunities for others. “The vision of Elizade University is to be a world-class institution dedicated to the pursuit of academic and moral excellence in the context of the relevance of knowledge and character to the developmental aspirations of mankind. The university is going to be a specialised institution that will produce self-reliant, ethics-conscious and globally competitive graduates imbued with requisite skills, competencies and ability to be key players in the nation's quest for socio-economic and technological development.”

Shedding light on the objectives of the university, he mentioned, among others, that it was set up to produce world-class graduates, in different disciplines, who are highly skilled, ethics-conscious, well rounded and useful to government, industries and commercial ventures, or capable of establishing their own businesses thus, becoming employers of labour in the shortest possible time; to ensure appropriate industrial and commercial inputs in its formal education and training by forging a dynamic link with industry and commerce through the involvement of captains of industries and commerce in training and research programmes.

Other objectives he listed were to “produce internationally acceptable graduates that could compete favourably with their peers anywhere in the world; to create and expand access and opportunities for education for physically challenged students and attract and retain quality students, researchers and teachers, thereby, assisting in developing human capital and mitigating the brain drain currently afflicting Nigeria; to encourage and promote the advancement of learning and hold out to all persons, without distinction of race, creed, sex, religious or political conviction, the opportunity to acquire university education; to play a critical role in the development and incubation of engineering and technology knowledge and in the dissemination of that knowledge; to carry out basic and applied research leading to the domestication and application of new technology to the Nigerian context through collaborative linkages with other academic and research institutions in Africa and the rest of the world.”

Omololu added that the other objectives included to establish a centre for entrepreneurial studies to stimulate job creation and innovative abilities in students from the onset of their studies, in such a way that graduates shall be resourceful, self-reliant and job creators; to attempt to reverse the craze for overseas studies by Nigerian youths by providing world standard facilities in terms of human and physical structures for our students and to undertake other activities appropriate for teaching, research and community service, as expected of a university of high standard.”

Elizade University’s academic pattern, according to the registrar, will be such that will attract the best and the brightest students in Nigeria and beyond and provide them with practical-oriented scientific, technological and liberal arts education which shall make them self-reliant while preparing them for future leadership and success in their chosen careers. “As such, the selection of academic programmes for the university, as well as curricula that shall be offered, shall lay the foundation for life-long learning and excellence in various disciplines. The ethos of academic programmes of the university shall be excellence and merit. At the end of their studies, students of Elizade University shall go away fully prepared as professionals capable of playing a transformational role in the Nigerian and global industry and business, as well as in the academia,” he added.

Another unique attribute of Elizade University, as pointed out by the registrar, is that “it is conceived as a one-stop compact and ICT-driven conventional university with great focus on Science and Technology programmes, with emphasis on practical skills acquisition; and it shall also provide a wonderful opportunity for training in selected areas in the Arts, Social and Management Sciences. All students shall be provided ample opportunity for exposure to instructional methodologies leading to the acquisition of sound knowledge and competencies in the application of science and technology principles to the practical solution of societal problems.”

To achieve these, the university plans to put its students “under the tutelage of a select group of world-class professors and lecturers, while Entrepreneurial Studies shall be a focal point, and one of the courses the university is starting with.

The 104 hectare institution boasts of modern buildings, facilities and equipment and also has made provision to accommodate students with disabilities in the structure of its buildings and facilities. To start with, a visitor to the school would experience a high sense of serenity and beauty as the aesthetics is situated amidst lush vegetation in a very quiet part of Ilara-Mokin in Ondo State.

If the six-wing faculty building is most prominent, the hostels are a sight to behold, while the Senate building, University Centre and 300-seater auditorium, laboratories and lecture halls are filled with latest tools and equipment. The 500-capacity cafeteria and kitchen are fitted with modern apparatus, while the 15 boreholes and three generators of 500KVA capacity each, are functional.

The fully residential campus will also take care of the physical needs of students and staff through the various indoor and outdoor sporting facilities, while the medical centre also boasts of latest technology in medicare. Already, there are 10 buildings of four flats/five rooms each to accommodate 40 families of academic and non-academic senior staff.