The University of Ilorin has organised a weeklong of activities to discover future talents in innovation among selected 12,000 students of the university.
The programme, tagged TEC-ASBE Innovation Week, was organised by the Technical and Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC) of the university in partnership with six other African universities to encourage entrepreneurship and reduce unemployment among graduates.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on Thursday on the sideline of the programme, the director of the Technical Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC) of the university, Professor Raheem Usman Adebimpe, said that “the world over, emphasis is on innovation and no longer on reading Medicine, Geography, Law, Accounting, etc.
“As important as they are, we discover they’re not enough,” he said.
Professor Adebimpe, who is a Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ilorin, said that the emphasis of the present administration of the vice-chancellor of the university, Professor Wahab Egbewole (SAN), is to intentionally reduce unemployability.
“Innovation is being celebrated worldwide, and different universities have ways of doing it. In our case, we’re setting aside this week and part of next week to celebrate innovation among our students, he said.
Professor Adebimpe, who said that a total of 12,000 students registered online to participate in one vocation or talent in the programme, added that “there will be a N1 million prize for winners for the start-up and scale-up of their chosen innovation.
There will be N500,000, N300,000, and N200,000 for the first winner, second winner, and third winner, respectively.”
“The truth of the matter is that no nation develops based on natural resources. If you like to sell the whole oil, it won’t make us rich. It’s what we do with our hands that can take us out of poverty. The resources abound, and you can make fortunes out of the materials around you.
“12,000 participants went online to participate. We’re not expecting all of them to take an interest at the end of it, but if two or three take it up, it’s enough to speak to the world about the need for innovation.”
The director of the Technical and Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC) of the university also said that there would be special features for celebrities who were old students on Variety Night because of the involvement of the Students’ Union Government (SUG).
“The student union took an interest, and they are involved. On variety night, there will be visits by carefully selected celebrities like Femi Adebayo and Wunmi Toriola, etc., who are also alumni making waves outside of what they studied at the university.
“With the inception of the new administration of Professor Olasupo Egbewole SAN as vice chancellor of the university, his emphasis is to intentionally reduce unemployability.
How do we do that? We must fashion out an innovative way of ensuring that students have things to lay their hands on aside from the degree they’re carrying around.
“Every year, we graduate students into the streets to go and look for jobs that we know are not there. Instead of that, right here, when they’re in school, we encourage what they call a side hustle in them and bring it into the limelight.
So that they do something meaningful even as they look around for jobs. It may alarm you that many of them no longer look for jobs when they eventually make it in their innovation area.
“More than 80 per cent of our students and many youths have what they call side hustles. Some sell, buy, and do other things, mostly online. Some of these have become vacations and alternative sources of income for them.
And they’re even getting more money from it than what a typical salary earner could get. If we have that, I think it’s a pragmatic way of taking our youth off the streets.
And we must be intentional about it. The university must encourage it.
Let them bring out what they’re doing in their corners. We are hunting for such innovation this week. The response has been tremendous.
“There was a talent hunt for various students with divine gifts and talents. Panel discussion also. The grand finale will be on Tuesday.
“There will be N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000 for the first winner, second winner and third winner, respectively
“We’ll not give cash. We’ll nurture the winners’ vacation in order to give testimony in the near future.
“Kwara State First Lady, Professor Olufolake Abdulrazaq, vice chancellor, commissioner, and vice-chancellor of six universities in Africa that make up ASBE, will be in attendance.
“300-level students are in the skill acquisition category programme for about 81 skills, while the talent hunt is for all levels of students at the university.”
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