The Rector of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Dr Ibraheem Abdul, has said alliance between industries and academic institutions is key to producing industry fitted graduates.

Abdul, an engineer, stated this during the maiden graduation of “Telecom Access Foundation Programme” at Skillfort Training hub, Oniru, Lekki, Lagos, Thursday.
The training was organised by a giant tech firm, Omnicom Solutions in partnership with YABATECH and Summit University.

The IT skill-based programme which sees 29 students graduating with certification in RF & Microwave Technology, Fiber Optics Solutions, Network Optimization, Renewable Energy Solutions and Quality Environmental Health And Safety, was sponsored by Omnicom Solutions and Endow Africa.

The Rector said: “YABATECH is going to the industry. The gown is going to the town to ensure that we have the necessary alliance that will ensure that our graduates are fit for the industry.
“We thank God we have the actualization of what we intended. We planned to have a very robust industrial alliance and then we want to use leverage on that industrial alliance to deepen the training of our students and that is happening here.”,

Revealing that the plan to produce graduate fitted industries transcends beyond Nigeria, Dr Abdul said some of their students are in China to gain practical skills that’d be used to better the country.

“We have about another 25 of them that were sent to China to deepen their training in automobile and they have been there and it’s about 18 months training. We are spreading our dragnet. We have to actually bridge that gap.”

Deputy Zonal Director of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr John Onyebuchi, lauded the initiative and urged the students to continue to upskill.
“For the students that have graduated today, they are very fortunate, and we want them to continue to upskill in these areas. They should continue to upskill so that they will become internationally acceptable everywhere they are and can measure up anywhere,” he said.

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The Vice Chancellor of Summit University, Offa, Prof Musa Aibinu, also commended the initiative.
Prof Aibinun said the combination of knowledge and skill makes graduates, ‘industry-fitted graduates.
“I think this is a wonderful event because it’s no longer about certificate only. It’s about complementing your certificate with skill. You know that with skill and without knowledge about it, you can damage a lot of things, but with knowledge and the skill, then you are what we call industry-fitted graduates. So skills will definitely make you what you call industry-fitted graduates”, he said.

The Managing Director of Omnicom Solutions, Faheed Olajide, beckoned on corporate bodies to work with them to further benefit students in higher institutions.
“Our intention is to show the way. We know there are many companies willing to embark on this journey, We are calling on them to work with us to benefit students undergoing training in various institutions across the country”, he said.

Olajide said some of the students would be retained in his company while some of their partners have shown interest in employing them.
“Apart from us being able to take some of the students into our company, we have partners who’ve signified their interest seeing that students have been trained and are now skilled, not only through classrooms but through site works,” he stated.