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Christy Anyanwu
With the grim unemployment rate in Nigeria and the emphasis on self-reliance as a way out of the doldrums for millions of jobless citizens of the country, dogged efforts aimed at strengthening technical and entrepreneurial education deserve applause.
And Redeemer’s College of Technology and Management (RECTEM), Redemption Camp, Ogun State, from all indications, is poised to show the way in reshaping entrepreneurial and vocational skills with structured curriculum as a way of responding to this need.
RECTEM’s preparedness to champion this cause came to the fore recently during a press briefing organised to herald the second edition of the institution’s matriculation. The event is slated for Friday, February 7, at RCCG Camp, Mowe, Ogun State.
Chairman of the governing council of the institution, Prof. Johnson Odesola, affirmed the commitment of the authorities of RECTEM to ensuring easy access to qualitative education, especially in STEM education.
Represented by the deputy chairman, Dr. Samuel Olaniyan, at the event, Odesola disclosed that RECTEM has strengthened its entrepreneurial education such that graduates from the college would parade entrepreneurial spirit and promote self-reliance.
Said he: “RECTEM has rebranded technical education, as it has created access to good education, which covers both the basic need and the strategic need that would yield access to other opportunities. This is with the view to consider everyone, irrespective of class, to have access to qualitative education, especially indigent students who benefit from their scholarship scheme.”
He stated that the institution was poised to run part-time courses so that those who were gainfully employed and intended to get education could have access to it.
“We, therefore, ensure we employ sound and well qualified members of staff to engage the students. The quality of our training is high, and we do not compromise on the quality of our students. We are training middle level manpower to create a pool of highly trained technicians and technologists that will support the nation’s engineering infrastructural development as well as the growth and development of the country’s small and medium enterprises,” he said.
He noted that the founder of the college, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, had a clear concept to enhance the standard of technical education in the country through building human capacity in science, technology and management.
The rector of the college, Dr. Stella Mofunnaya, on her part, reiterated the institution’s commitment to equip students with the right knowledge to be technically productive.
She pointed out that the institution was focusing on skilling students through technical and vocational training, stressing that RECTEM was research-intensive and technologically oriented.
Her words: “This is based on set patterns of exploratory innovations. The students are engaged in rigorous academic study as well as practical exploratory discoveries.
“Technical education has a high potential to contribute to human development, which is the number one goal of the institution. From what the students have developed, it is evident that the school is interested in building job creators and entrepreneurial champions.”
Mofunnaya added that it was compulsory for the students to gain practical knowledge regardless of their course of study, as the polytechnic’s vision was to raise champions in the fields of technology and management.
She explained further that the college’s vigorous involvement in research and development in technology, through its vision, outside the traditional classroom environment, was meant to provide students with an education combined with rigorous academic study and the excitement of practical exploration through real-life simulation and extensive learning.
RECTEM kicked off with 10 programmes in the schools of Science and Technology; Management Studies; Engineering Technology and Environmental Science, all of which are adjudged to be of international standard and approved by the National Board for Technical Education.
