Adeyemi Adebanjo
THE Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun is to deliver Federal Polytechnic Ilaro’s 22nd Convocation and 45 Founder’s Day Lecture scheduled to take place on Friday 19 February 2025.
Disclosing this piece of information on Thursday was the Rector of the institution, Dr Mukail Aremu Akinde while briefing newsmen ahead of the event. According to the Rector, the police top shot will be speaking on the topic, “Renewed Hope Agenda, Brain Drain and Japa Syndrome: The Way Forward”.
According to him, “We decided to tinker with how our convocation lecture is handled and delivered. We have realised that convocation lectures are rarely attended by graduating students who the lectures are meant for. In the past, convocation lectures are held say a day before the actual convocation. But this year, we have decided to hold the lecture on the same day as the convocation itself so that those who should benefit from the delivery are there physically.
“We have therefore carefully chosen a convocation lecturer who, from feelers we are getting, will be physically present, that’s the Inspector-General of Police, Dr Kayode Egbetokun. He will lecture us on the focus of the new government, Renewed Hope Agenda. It is actually a three-legged topic because he will also be looking at the brain drain issue, people leaving the country in drove, what possible effect can that have on the education sector, and then the Japa syndrome and I know that the IGP has taken his time, despite his busy schedule, to meticulously prepare the lecture backed by detailed research findings.
“I was asked during an appearance on TVC yesterday (Wednesday) that I should talk about it, I told my interviewers that I wasn’t the convocation lecturer. That responsibility has been assigned to someone else. It is, therefore, apposite to allow the respected IGP to do justice to the topic. But what I can say, without mincing words, is that the brain drain phenomenon is negatively affecting our institution. A lot of staff members have left. And we are finding this development a bit disconcerting.”
Dr Akinde also disclosed that as part of activities for the Founder’s Day event, the institution has selected three individuals to be awarded for their contributions to society. The awardees include the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), and two alumnus of the institution namely Biodun Durosimi, who had at a time led Zenith Bank in Ghana and recently appointed the bank’s Chief Finance Officer in Nigeria, and Afolabi Jacob Alaba, a software expert residing in the United Kingdom.
“I have been asked why we decided to award Mr Keyamo. The answer is simple. I am aware our Council Members make use of different airports scattered across the country including Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Murtala Muhammad International, etc and even local airports, these airports are changing for good. One can see that the rate at which these airports have been transformed in terms of aesthetics, even the totality of the management of airports is different.
“Some of us may have forgotten that before President Tinubu came on board less than two years ago, many international airlines abandoned Nigerian routes. But because the minister is performing, airlines including Emirates, Delta Airline, KLM, British Airways and lot others have returned to our routes. So is it not out of place pat such a person who made all these happen at the back? This is aside from the fact that maternally he is from Ilaro here. If our host community does not cooperate with us, this polytechnic wouldn’t have achieved what we have achieved. So I think he deserves the award.”
Meanwhile, Dr Akinde has attributed the slow pace of development of the country to lip service paid to the polytechnic education. According to him, to change the narrative of the country, more funds should be allocated to polytechnic education. And then task the sector with innovation and inventions.
“The only challenge we are likely to encounter is foundry. And I think we must support this present government to ensure that the Ajaokuta Steel Complex works. For instance, the tricycle we manufactured here was designed completely here, from the tyres to the engine that drives it. But rather unfortunately, to cut the engine that drives it we do not have a foundry which had to be taken to China.
“So, any country desirous of development must one produce electricity in abundance, must have foundering that is working to cut any iron to precision. This is the only way to industrialise “.
Eighteen-Eleven Media