YABATECH appoints Inyang-Udoh Acting Rector as Omokungbe bows out

The Chairman, Governing Council, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Prince Lateef Fagbemi, on behalf of the Council, has approved the appointment of Uduak Inyang-Udoh as Acting Rector of the College effective from Monday, January 30, 2023. The appointment is pending the appointment of a substantive rector.

Inyang-Udoh, a Chief Lecturer in the Department of Quantity Surveying was until this appointment, the Deputy Rector (Administration).

Other previous positions held by Inyang-Udoh include Director, Yabatech Consult, Director, Academic Planning, Dean, School of Environmental Studies, and Head, of the Department of Quantity Surveying.

In a statement by the Deputy Registrar/ Head of Public Relations, Joe Ejiofor, the Governing Council stated that it has made a recommendation for the appointment of a new rector to the appropriate authority at its meeting held on November 25, 2022.

It should be recalled that the tenure of the incumbent Rector, Engr Obafemi Owoseni Omokungbe ended at midnight on January 29, 2023 after a five-year stewardship in the institution.

During the exit ceremony and book launch, Omokungbe listed some of the strategic plans implemented to boost the school’s image and called on relevant stakeholders and concerned bodies to practice the culture of maintenance.

He said: “For the first month in office, I almost quit but God made me courageous to face the challenges and so, I had a strategic plan when I was to become the rector. I thank God for giving me loyal colleagues who supported me because it’s not something you can do alone, it’s a teamwork and they all cooperated with me.”

He added that during his tenure as rector for five years, there had not been any strike.

“We had stable academic calendar even during the COVID-19. We had our lectures online, as a public institution, we went online to complete the session and others copied us.

“We also came up with an endowment fund in 2020, we know that government cannot fund education alone and then we needed to think outside the box to see what we can do because when you look all over the world, the endowment fund is what all these schools are using, and so I brought that to the drawing board and we embarked on that.

We were to launch it in 2020, but unfortunately, the COVID-19 didn’t allow us because of some restrictions, which kept us to launch it in 2022. If we had done that then, we would have gotten so much to attend to some of our problems.

“So we have strategic plan that in the next five to 10 years, if anybody chose to follow that plan, it’s just to go there and plough it,” Omokungbe said.

Speaking on the inspiration of his book titled ‘Beginning from the End’, Omokungbe recalled: “In 2008, I was sad in this college because I was the academic staff union of the polytechnic chairman. That was from 2005, we went on strike in 2008, the management decided that they need to keep me quiet and decided to throw me out. I went to court and spent five years to get that litigation sorted out, which I won. So my rights and privileges, including my outstanding salaries and positions were given back to me, so, I was restated. I came back in 2013. I spent five years and became the rector. It is something unique that I want the world to know.”

The Chairman, Governing Council, YABATECH, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, said Omokungbe has shaped the institution to be successful.

“He has touched almost every aspect of the institution, starting from having a stable academic calendar to raising the status of the institution,” he said.