Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH) Okitipupa, Ondo State, trains its students to become employers of labour, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Ogunduyile, said on Tuesday.
Prof. Ogunduyile said this in Okitipupa while addressing newsmen in the run-up to the institution’s maiden Inaugural Lecture scheduled for Wednesday.
The vice-chancellor said the maiden inaugural lecture was a milestone in the history of the university and would open the students and the university environment to more job creation and opportunities.
“Today, we can boast of 20 First Class graduates with more than 206 in the Second Class Upper category; they were trained not to be job seekers but to be job creators and employers of labour.
“They were exposed to various entrepreneurial activities by the citadel of science and technology and their certificates were awarded based on learning character and practical skills.
“Aside of professors produced by the university, the current administration in the last four years can boast of nine professors elevated to that position in the institution.
“One of the two professors produced by the university will be delivering the lecture and this will be a milestone in the history of our institution.
“It will expose students and the public to the necessary requirements needed to compete with their international counterparts.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inaugural lecture entitled: “Invisible Soldiers and Fermentation-Impact on Food Security and Industrialisation’’ will be delivered by Prof. Olakunle Teniola.
Teniola is a professor of Industrial Microbiology and one of the first two professors produced by the institution.
He is the first substantive Dean, School of Science at OAUSTECH and has just concluded a research at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) Oshodi, Lagos.
“Teniola has attended and delivered papers at many conferences, seminars and workshops both home and in Ghana, South-Africa, Burkina Faso, Denmark, Spain, Germany and Malaysia among others,’’ the vice-chancellor said.
He said paucity of funds and uncompleted buildings including lecture theatres, hostel accommodation and staff quarters that dotted the institution were part of challenges confronting it.
Ogunduyile appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission and Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission to complete most of the infrastructure they began in the institution.