L-R: Dr. (Mrs) Margaret Ladipo, Rector, Yabatech; Prof Oladapo Afolabi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education; Prof Ruqayyat Rufa’i, Minister of Education and other dignitaries during the visit of the minister to the college.

By Olubusuyi Adenipekun
THE maiden visit of the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Rufa’i to Yaba College of Technology on Thursday last week provided the new rector of the institution a golden opportunity to intimate Rufa’i with the challenges which the first institution of higher learning in Nigeria is presently contending with as well as the steps already taken by the college management regarding the on-going process of converting it to a degree-awarding institution.

Top on Ladipo’s list of challenges facing Yabatech is the issue of space constraint, saying that the college’s campus is probably the smallest among all tertiary institutions in Nigeria in terms of land area as it measures only about 16.4 hectares.

On this land are: blocks of classrooms, studios, workshops, laboratories, staff offices, administrative block and lecture theatres, says Ladipo, adding that a significant part of the land is also occupied by students’ hostels, staff residential apartments and the central sports area.

Obviously, the founding fathers of the college did not envisage the rapid expansion of the college which it has experienced over the years as the same land area which catered for only 400 students in the 1990s now incorporates over 16,000 students and about 1,500 staff, with the college running over 60 National and Higher National Diploma progrrammes.

The rector informed the minister that as a way of solving the space constraint problem, a 55 hectare parcel of land at Epe in Lagos State was acquired since 1986 by the management through the assistance of Lagos State government, adding that the Department of Agricultural Technology is located at the Epe campus.

Although some projects such as offices, laboratories and lecture halls for this department which just took off at the campus are on-going, Ladipo said the campus is still crying for massive injection of funds to carry out its development, appealing to government to commit huge resources to transform the virgin land into a vibrant campus where academic activities would be in full swing.

Dr Ladipo also briefed the Education Minister on the actions already taken by the college management regarding the much-talked about conversion of the college to university.

She said: “The management constituted an internal committee to draw up a blue print for the conversion of the college to a university.

This was presented to the Presidential Committee on its visit to the college on January 17 and 18, 2007. On getting the information on the recent conversion of the college and Kaduna Polytechnic to universities, management reconstituted the internal committee to update the blue print for submission to the implementation committee.

The internal committee is still working on the assignment and will examine modalities in all ramifications, giving consideration to existing and desired processes and structures”.

Instructively, Mrs Ladipo stressed the need for a careful implementation of the conversion process. She told the minister: “We must realize that the system cannot accommodate an abrupt change.

There must be a transition period in which existing structures are consolidated and enabled to carry enduring standards towards the attainment of set goals and objectives”, requesting for consideration of the inputs of the college which, she believes, will facilitate the work of the implementation committee.

Ladipo also informed the minister of the assistance the college has, in recent times, received from agencies of government and private organizations. The college, according to her, is a beneficiary of the N1.2b Education Trust Fund Special Intervention Fund given out last year and N50m computer centre donated to the Epe campus by Intercontinental Bank Plc among others.

Although Rufa’i promised that the Federal Government will continue to support Yabatech, she explained that the conversion of Yabatech and the other five institutions to degree awarding status is not yet backed by law as the Federal Executive Council must deliberate on the matter and give approval before the institutions can be regarded as degree-awarding ones, reiterating that the upgrade is a mere recommendation of the Implementation Committee on Guidelines for Degree Awarding for Colleges of Education and Polytechnics.

Apart from Yabatech, the other five institutions that are being considered for conversion to universities as a way of expanding access to university education are Federal College of Education, Kano; Federal College of Education, Zaria; Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri; Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and Kaduna Polytechnic.