The Chairman of the governing council of the Polytechinic, Ibadan, Professor Akinyemi Adekunle has said the institution should be the best in Africa.
The Chairman stated this on Friday, at the flag-off of the mini ceremony to celebrate the 50 years anniversary of the institution.
“We are number four in Nigeria. Why are we number four? We should be number one in Nigeria. We should number one in Africa,”he said.
The Chairman charged members of the Polytechnic community to cooperate with the management to ensure the institution get to higher grounds noting that the governing council is “trying to rebrand the institution.”
Th Chairman also charged the students and students’ union of the institution to ensure that ‘Aluta Continua’ translate to peace and prosperity on the campus.
In his opening remark at the event, Femi Ipadeola, the Chairman of the organizing committee for the anniversary explained that the institution has strong antecedents and pedigree to the extent that many traditional universities in the UK recognize it.
He also lauded the Rector for embarking on programmes that has repositioned the institution and redirecting it into a new direction after losing its focus for some time.
“The Rector’s vision is for the polytechnic Ibadan go be a Makkah for Robotic engineering in the world in the next fifty years,” he said.
Mr. Ipadeola, a former acting Rector of the institution, also emphasised that the mandate of the current management is to rebrand the institution adding that the new Chairman of the institution’s governing council has also maintained that there is need to rebrand the institution to re-occupy its position as ‘the only’ Polytechnic.
The President of the Alumni Association, Professor Akande Lawal, in his goodwill message, charged students to be proud of the institution noting that as a graduate of the polytechnic, “the sky is their limit”.
The Alumni President who graduated with an Higher National Diploma in Architecture from the institution 36 years ago, explained that after leaving the institution he bagged a Bachelor’s degree but did not learn 30 percent of what he learnt at the Polytechnic.
The event had in attendance various dignitaries the some of which include: Chairman of the Governing Council, Professor Akinyemi Adekunle; the Rector, Professor Kazeem Adebiyi; the Register, Mrs. Fawole Modupe; the National President of the Alumni Association, Professor Akande Lawal; Mr. Femi Ipadeola, Chairman Golden Anniversary Organising committee
Also in attendance were Deans of Faculties, Directors, Head of Departments, members of the student’s union council, among others.
