The Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Dr Mukail Aremu Akinde, has said the next phase of his administration will focus on strengthening the ‘Engineering Identity’ of the Federal University of Technology, Ilaro (FUTI), with emphasis on hands-on technical skills, research and practical application of knowledge.
According to him, the objective is to create an environment where research can be replicated and applied to real-world industrial and societal needs.
For Akinde, however, the progress recorded over the past four years is not an endpoint,c saying, ‘We haven’t done anything, other than that we have to do more,’ he said.
Despite the expansion recorded under his administration, Akinde has played down the achievements, saying the institution still has much more to accomplish.
Reflecting on his four-year tenure, he said: ‘We haven’t done anything, other than that we have to do more collectively with the council, principal officers, deans, directors, heads of department, heads of units, staff, students and the unions.’
Akinde’s connection with the institution predates his appointment as its head, noting that he started as a clerk in an institution where his late father was a vendor.
He began his career in 1987 as a clerk in the Bursary Department and later worked across several administrative areas before becoming an Instructor on February 11, 1999.
He also studied at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, where he graduated with an ND in Accountancy in 1991 and an HND in Accountancy in 1994.
He added that he later became the pioneer head of the Taxation Department in 2015 and was elected dean in 2018 after a closely contested election in which he won by one vote, 28 to 27.
Recalling one of the individuals who supported his progression within the institution, Akinde said Alhaji Rilwan Egbeyemi, the then registrar, recognised his potential and allowed him to contribute more directly to the development of the institution.
He said the transition from the former Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, to the Federal University of Technology, Ilaro, was progressing, although the process was being handled strategically.
He said committees headed by Professor Rahman Bello, a former VC of the University of Lagos, and Dr Charlotte Bose Iro-Idoro, respectively, had made steady progress on the respective aspects of the transition.
‘Our people should know that the work of changing FPI to FUTI is progressing. Only that thing must be done strategically,’ he reiterated.
He added that the institution was targeting the 2027/28 academic session for the commencement of university education
He also attributed the continued relationship between the institution and its host community to cooperation with the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, HRM Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, MFR, Asade Agunloye IV, as well as the Polytechnic Ilaro Community Forum.
On the challenge of academic staff leaving the country for opportunities abroad, the Akinde-led administration intensified and ensured strict compliance with a policy requiring staff sponsored for international studies to return and serve the institution and the country.
Four years on, the institution is the best polytechnic in Nigeria before transitioning to a University of Technology.
The institution has also expanded from six schools to eight specialised schools, adding the School of Agriculture and the School of Art and Design and Printing Technology, alongside growth in student population, academic programmes, staffing, academic staff, an increase in the number of PhD holders, and non-teaching infrastructure and research activities by winning more Institutional Based Research (IBR) and National Research Fund (NRF) grants of TETFund.
The institution is currently fabricating 11 electric and solar-powered tricycles for transportation on campus to further support the clean energy initiatives of the Federal Government ably led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
Schools of Engineering and of Pure and Applied Sciences have also fabricated equipment for the production line of gari processing, waste conversion for use in the farm and printing press, as well as other patented machines awaiting interest from entrepreneurs to use as commercial machines to help the host community.
According to Akinde, government and TETFund interventions have supported the institution’s development, with high-impact interventions, special interventions, agricultural farm grants, grants for Senate Building, Innovation Hubs, and capital expenditure rising from N400 million in 2022 to billions of naira presently.
The institution’s electricity supply is improving with the ongoing 1.56 megawatts of solar energy generation through TETFund intervention.
The acting deputy vice chancellor(Academics), Dr (Mrs) Charlotte Bose Iro-Idoro, said FUTI was preparing to commence with nine faculties, covering engineering technology, sciences, environmental technology, communication and information, administrative and management science, social science, computing, agriculture technology and visual arts.
She added that the institution would also operate a Centre for General Studies.
The Registrar, Mrs Aderonke Folasade Babatola, said the increase in student population and academic programmes had created additional demand for manpower.
She said FUTI currently had at least 80 PhD holders on its staff list, while 371 new staff members had been recruited in two batches of 146 and 225.
Babatola added that the institution was seeking waivers to enable it to recruit more professors.