Oyo opens Technical University 2013

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The first set of students will be admitted into Nigeria’s new Technical University next September, increasing Nigeria’s universities to over 160.

The new university will be located in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

The Executive secretary of Nigeria’ National Universities Commission(NUC),Professor Julius Okojie has formally presented a letter of recognition to the university to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, charging the governor to “give all it takes to the new institution to survive’’.

Okojie expressed dissatisfaction with the manner with which some state universities were being politicised, which always led to their eventual collapse.

“The most difficult institutions to run are state owned institutions,’’ he noted.

He attributed the problem to change in leadership and politics of ethnicity, adding that, “we cannot play politics with university education’’.

Okojie, who also said universities of technology in Nigeria had lost focus, noted that the system was failing because there were no industries to “translate theory into practice.

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He said universities had big roles to play in ensuring the advancement of technology in the country, especially through constant researches and commitment to quality education. 

Ajimobi said the university was established to fill the gap in courses that were missing in other universities in the country.

“What makes this university unique is that we are focusing on courses that are not readily available in other technical universities in Nigeria, such as mechatronics, aircraft technology, robotics, cyber space security and others.

“What we are doing is marrying classroom with industries through the curriculum, which will be engineering and technology based,’’ he explained.

He said three local and international companies had already indicated interest to cite their industries on the university campus, which would help in achieving the goal.

The governor said the university was being modelled after other technical universities in Asia and Europe, adding that he hopes to encourage entrepreneurship and engineering studies.

Ajimobi said the establishment of university would not affect the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.The institution, situated at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, he said, would take-off in Sept. 2013.

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