Odedeji Calls for Sponsorships, Partnerships Towards Made-in-Mapoly Distinguished Entrepreneurs Awards, Open Business Day Exhibitions 2024

By: Israel Adeleke, AbdulWasiu Akintunde

The Rector, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta, Dr.Adeoye Odedeji has called upon Corporate Organizations within and outside Ogun state to partner with the institution towards actualizing her dream of producing self-reliant and innovative business owners via pragmatic training of students on global best practices of entrepreneurship and industry-required skills.

Dr.Odedeji made this clarion call for public private partnership today during an exclusive interview with OPEN TELEVISION Naija at the Computer Based Test Centre of the institution as students of the Polytechnic wrote the last trench of their CBT Entrepreneurship Examinations.

The soft-spoken Rector, who openly endorsed the forthcoming Made-in-Mapoly DISTINGUISHED Entrepreneurs Awards and Open Business Day Exhibition being organized by the Polytechnic's Entrepreneurship Development Centre affirmed that more than ever before, the right hand of partnership of the Polytechnic is spread out to corporate organizations as well as Alumni members of the Polytechnic who desire to sponsor, partner with or donate towards the institution's strategic drive towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 4, (Quality Education), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) & 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) respectively via town-meet-gown initiatives such as the Made-in-Mapoly Distinguished Entrepreneurs Awards and Open Business Day Exhibitions 2024 billed to take place at the institution in the second semester.

Dr.Odedeji further noted that corporate organizations that take advantage of the institution's Public Private Initiatives on entrepreneurship and skills acquisition will reap bountiful returns on investments in terms of corporate social responsibility goodwill, not only from current population of Nigerian students at the Polytechnic but also from Alumni members of the Polytechnic scattered across the whole world.

In his words, "The Made-in-Mapoly Distinguished Entrepreneurs Awards and Open Business Day Exhibitions is in tandem with our vision for dual certification of our students who graduate from the Polytechnic backed by strategic commitment to networking the Polytechnic with the relevant industry practices and standard requirements. We approved its implementation for the Polytechnic's Centre for Entrepreneurship Development to inspire our entrepreneurship students and also link them up for industry connections and mentoring from many of our old students that are already doing excellently well out there, some of whom will be given the Made-in-Mapoly Distinguished Entrepreneurs Awards here at the Polytechnic.

The Rector further revealed that some staff members of the Polytechnic's Centre for Skills Acquisition (a sister unit of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development), led by Dr.Engineer Apampa are currently completing their Quality Assurance Assessors Training at Ibadan as required by the National Board for Technical Education under the National Skills Qualification Framework to enable the Polytechnic train students in three additional programmes recently approved for the Polytechnic by the NBTE namely: Electrical Installations, Plumbing Works and GSM Phone repairs.

Dr. Odedeji emphasized that the Quality Assessors Trading is being funded to the tune of N130 million by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFUND). He further explained that the prerequisite training programme of selected staff of the Polytechnic's Skills Acquisition Centre gulps only N3 Million while the remaining N127 million will be deployed for provision of required tools for the commencement of the new programmes namely: Electrical Installations, Plumbing Works and GSM Phone repairs, billed to commence in the next academic session.

He further revealed that the Polytechnic is already in partnership with the Chinese Free Trade Zone, Igbesa, Ogun state, with which the Polytechnic will be signing an MOU before middle of July.

"By the grace of God, next week, we will be signing an MOU with the Chinese Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, specifically on the skill acquisition. When we combine this with the National Skills Qualification Framework, then the sky is not even the limit for the Polytechnic as our source of income will soon become diversified while our graduates are also more self-reliant and duly equipped with industry-relevant skills", the visibly elated Rector reveals. 

Dr.Adeoye Odedeji therefore commends the Executive Secretary,(ES), National Board for Technical Education(NBTE),Prof Idris Bugaje for providing the needed policy framework, leadership drive and action plan to reposition Polytechnic and TVET system in Nigeria, noting that TETFUND deserves commendations for the funding it provides towards repositioning the Polytechnic system into its original mandate which according to him is "the provision of industry-relevant skilled manpower."