Rector, Dr. IBRAHEEM ABDUL
Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State is presently rejoicing, as they celebrate the Rector, Dr. (Engr.) Ibraheem Adedotun Abdul who clocked one year in office last week. Thursday 23rd May, 2024. The rector is an exceptional leader who is doing a lot in transforming the fortunes of YABATECH, the first ever higher institution to be established in Nigeria. He has done a lot within a year of his administration, making all his staff, students and the entire college community keep singing his praise.
As the preparation for the anniversary was getting to its peak, Dr. Abdul spent quality time with a few journalists in his office, they talked about how far he has gone in achieving the goals and aspirations for the institution. He took time to talk about some of the policies he is implementing which will transform YABATECH and make it the best in Nigeria and beyond. Below are excerpts of the interview.
What are the mission and the vision of YABATECH?
Yaba College of Technology is actually the first institution and its vision is to produce first rate graduates in academic professionalism and entrepreneurship so that they can contribute to the technological, social economic development of the country. Succinctly put, our mission is to produce first rate graduates. We also want to be the leading higher Institution in Nigeria. We are the first and we want to be the leading higher Institution in Nigeria.
Can you tell us briefly about your early background, in terms of parentage, schools attended and so on?
You made me remember the day I was interviewed in my employment interview that I did when I was asked to introduce myself. I said I am born into the family of teachers and that’s why I see in myself teaching as a profession where I should be. Because then I was coming from the industry where I have spent 5 years but I said I saw myself having that urge for teaching. So I was born by a teacher and my mom was a teacher who actually loved the teaching profession. And she will help us through our academics. I started going to school with her and I picked up interest in what she was doing. Although I was trained to be an engineer, I found myself teaching even in the industry. While I was in the industry, I was not actually doing the industrial work for doing sake. I was actually going to the root, lecturing my colleagues on why you should do this, why you should not do it and what is the root of this. I just noticed that I would find myself very useful in the teaching industry. That was why I came to apply in YABATECH as a lecturer in 1993.
Where did you have your Primary School, Secondary School up to your first degree?
I had my primary education at Ansar Ud Deen Primary School in Ebute Metta and I had my secondary school in Ansar Ud Deen College, Isolo. I did both my ordinary and advanced level at Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo. I had my tertiary education at the University of Lagos where I did Mechanical Engineering as my first degree. I went back there for my Master’s Degree. I went back to the University of Ibadan for another Master’s Degree before proceeding to Okayama University, Japan for my Ph. D in Engineering.
How has your educational experience influenced what you are bringing on board as the rector of YABATECH?
My industry experience coupled with the years I have spent teaching in Yaba College of Technology actually shaped my focus. We really need to do a lot in making our teaching and learning industry focus. The teaching profession itself cannot absorb all its graduates. We can’t produce graduates for ourselves. We have to produce graduates for the industry. So that’s why I see it as something very important. Here we want to defeat that notion that the graduates are not fit for the industry. We are making sure we have industry relevant graduates. We are doing a lot in that aspect at Yaba College of Technology.
In the last one year, what have you done in making YABATECH attractive to the numerous opportunities out there?
When I decided to apply for the post of Rector, I did a lot of work in preparing the focus. And that was informed by my years of experience. I have been in school for over 30 years. I know where we need to take the college. So with that I prepared my focus, looking at what the community needs, where the college needs to be and what are the things that we need to put in place to take the college to where it should be. Those ones formed the basis of my agenda. I’m lucky that I’m working with a wonderful team. The logo that I made for myself at inception is to join the hands together, place YABATECH in its rightful place. The first issue that I know is very paramount is to unite all hands; the staff, the students, the academics, the non-academics and so on, giving them a common sense of purpose where no one would be working at crossroads. That we thank God we are able to achieve. And together we are moving the college to where it ought to be.
I think it’s the communal synergy that we put in place. The first month of resumption, we were able to do accreditation. Come and see how everybody came around ready to put their best to ensure that we achieve that. And that is the spirit that is currently working in the college. That is what we are sure gave us the success. That is what is working now.
What is the focus of your agenda that you have sold to your team that is making them cooperate with you?
At the point of my screening, I made an acronym for that focus and that acronym is titled – ERECT. We call it the ERECT Agenda. I sold it to the management team and to the community. They bought the ERECT Agenda. The ERECT Agenda has the letters of erect. Even erect alone signifies so many important things. But let’s take the acronyms one after the other. The E stands for empowering all staff. Because you cannot achieve whatever you want to achieve without the staff. The staff are the engine room that would make us achieve what we want to achieve. So empowering staff is the first E and that has a lot of things- the staff welfare, the staff development and so on. And when we have this, It means we prioritize everything that belongs to the staff. With that they would be empowered and they would also be motivated. And with their motivation, we can achieve a lot.
The R stands for Repackaging the academic programmes and skills development programmes. The end product is our students. So we want to repackage their training programmes. This is to make our students fit for purpose, fit for the future, fit for the field. With that in mind, we will achieve the mission. Without Repackaging and refocusing all our Programmes, we may not be able to achieve that.
Then the other E is talking about Exploring Industry Collaboration. This will help us to achieve what we want to achieve. We have been doing a lot. We want to bring the industry into close partnership. With that we would create hubs. Then the other C of the ERECT is to consolidate the Internally Generated Revenue. Without funds, there is little that you can do. We want to consolidate and expand all the needs of funding this agenda. The empowerment of staff needs funding, repacking of programmes needs funding. So we need to consolidate our revenue and expand it.
Then the T is to tap into the national and international grants and endowment for infrastructural development. The college is old. Infrastructure wise, it’s aged and we are located at the centre of Lagos where building is very expensive. So we need to tap into sources of revenue for that. When all these are now merged together, we believe it would make it possible for us to achieve what we want to achieve. With this agenda, we have the buy-in of the management and the staff. Together we are working to ensure we get results.
You have spoken well about the grant, what have you done differently to ensure YABATECH continuously wins grants for the development of the institution?
We created a directorate. This directorate is termed Centre for Research Support and Grant Management. It’s meant to build a framework to develop staff on the urge to go for grants. To support them when they apply for grants. To support them in managing grants. One thing about grants is that one grant begets another. Once you get a grant, there is every tendency that you will get another one and another one. It is about a matter of mastering the act. So that is what that centre does. With that centre in place, several staff are being mentored on how to apply for grants, how to win grants and we have the result coming up. Knowing fully well that those who are mentoring them have also been granted before. I participate in many of those grant calls. Another thing that we have done again is to set up another centre. Centre for Linkages, Partnership and International Relations. This centre is very, very important because you don’t go solo to win grants. You must collaborate with other institutions, especially international institutions. If you want to win international grants, you have to partner with international institutions. These 2 centres working together, we were able to have connections, have partnerships. And with that applying for grants and winning grants becomes easy. We are not there yet, where we are going is still very far. We are looking at having 10billion grants annually in the college. We are still some way below that but we will get to that goal by God’s grace.
What is the most daunting task you have faced within your first year as the rector of YABATECH and how have you been prevailing over it?
The most daunting task has been how to manage our aims and ambitions. You want to make the Institution have a state of the earth campus. We also want to promote 21st century skills. All these need funds. So getting funds to achieve them has been the most daunting task. What we have been doing is to collaborate to reach out. We have been reaching out.
Before I came in, we had 50billion endowment fund that was started by my predecessor. And we now took up this challenge so that we actually get that 50 billion in no distant time. Once we get that 50billion, maybe I can also launch another 50 trillion for those who are coming behind. But it’s also very important for us to get those funds to ensure that we achieve all these.
With lots of accolades being poured on you within one of your administrations, what kind of legacy would you like to leave behind after your tenure?
Talking about legacy, I want us to look at a sustainable system whereby we will be able to sustain everything that forms ERECT; that the staff will be continued to be empowered. I want to leave a legacy that staff would be prioritized in everything that is done in the college. With that we can be sure that we would get the best results. Academic programmes should always be industry enriched such that our products are first in demand in the industry. So when you are talking about why you want to come to YABATECH, you want to come to YABATECH because before you graduate, you already got a job. Another legacy is that of improved revenue generation. We are talking about autonomy in the near future. Whether you like it or not, the government will want the institution to get autonomy. If we don’t consolidate our revenue generation mechanism, autonomy may not be achievable. We are setting up some innovative lists that will make it possible. You should have seen our agenda on the institution on the Island. We have the Snake Island Institute of Technology coming up whereby we are going to have an institution, a green campus that’s going to be generating revenue for us. With the Green Campus, we would be talking about sustainability. And we would also be able to generate enough funds that would be able to run this college in the nearest future. That is in the offing. We have already started working on it. So in terms of revenue generation, we would put the institution in a position that may be something that is easy. In terms of infrastructure, I want to be able to create a legacy whereby rich Nigerians would be highly interested in putting one structure or the other in the college. Endowment is something that is very, very important and we are really having some milestones in that area of endowment. If the institution is run in a way that is fantastically enticing, the philanthropists out there would see the needs why they should come and put one of these infrastructures in the college. And that’s the legacy we want to leave behind.
What’s the working relationship with your principal staff like? How are you coping bringing everyone on board?
That’s one of the secrets of our success. We are a family and as a family, we work seamlessly. I think the most important thing is for us to have sincerity of purpose. And if the goal of every member is towards raising the banner of the college high, then we should not find it difficult to work together. If perhaps, one of us is greedy or self-centred, taking care of his pocket, then it will not be difficult for others to join him. But when we all discover that we have the same agenda that we are working for, that is to leave the college in a better way that we met it. It is easy for us to work together.
Jamiu Abubakar
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