BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

A professor of Mechanical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, Prof. Lawson Olabosipo Adekoya, has charged employers of labour to always provide their workers with necessary machines and tools needed on the job with a view to increasing their productivity.

Speaking at the university’s Inaugural Lecture Series 267, yesterday, at Oduduwa Hall of the institution, the don said the provision of these machines or tools to workers becomes necessary to ensure proper  utilization of resources.

In his lecture entitled: “Man Minus Machines Equals A Labourer”, Prof. Adekoya urged employers including OAU to equip their workers with needed machines and tools to enable the workers to get along years of satisfactory performances from their machines and tools.

His words: “lf a man minus machines equals a labourer, what then is man plus machines? My simple answer is that “man plus machines equals a productive worker.

Therefore, my charge to employers (including this university) is that they should always provide their workers with the necessary machines/tools needed on the job.

“If and when that is done, it will be incumbent on the workers as operators and users of the machines/tools to operate them correctly and ensure that they are properly and regularly maintained. In this way, they will get long years of satisfactory performances from their machines/tools.”

On his achievements in his chosen field, Prof. Adekoya noted that he has succeeded in carrying out the development of some machines that have been commercialised thus contributing to the living standard of man. His words, “this inaugural lecture has been, in the main, a catalogue of some of my research activities.

I have succeeded in carrying out the development of some machines that were subsequently commercialised and are, therefore, contributing to the improvement of the living standard of man.”