Nigeria must begin preparation for 4th industrial revolution now– Ologunorisa

Prof. Temi E. Ologunorisa is the Vice-Chancellor of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, Ondo State. He is professor of Meteorology and Climate Science at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, since 2016. He is reputed to be the first professor to be appointed by the Osun State University in 2007 where he served as Chair of the Department of Geography and Resource Management (2007-2012); Pioneer Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences (2013-2015); Provost and Head of Okuku Campus (2011-2013); Chairman, Committee of Provosts, Deans and Academic Directors (2012-2013); and Founding Director, Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (2007-2015). In this interview with FELIX KUYE, DEPUTY EDITOR, he speaks about science and technology education, and his vision for his varsity.

What is the mandate of your university as a specialised institution of learning?
Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa was established by the Ondo State government in 2008. It was initially named as Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUTECH). The government changed the name to Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH) in 2019. It is a technology-based institution, which aims at providing the needed manpower training for industrial and technological development of Ondo State and Nigeria as a whole. The university currently runs academic programmes in Science, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, and Postgraduate Studies. Two additional faculties have been approved by the Governing Council and are awaiting the National Universities Commission (NUC) resource verification/ approval. Also, four new centres have been proposed awaiting Senate approval in fulfilment of the mandate of the university. These are: Centre for Geospatial Science and Technology, Centre for Blue Economy and Innovation, Centre for Business Technology, Centre for Maritime Transport and Logistics, and Centre for Environmental, Climate Change and Marine Studies.

How near is the university to achieving the mandate?
OAUSTECH is doing very well and very outstanding in teaching, research, and community service. Some of our graduates recently completed their PhD degrees in leading and top-ranked universities in Europe and the United States of America. It is worthy of note that one of our graduates in Industrial Chemistry who made a First Class two years ago was admitted directly into the PhD programme in Chemical Engineering at the University of Connecticut, United States without passing through master’s degree programme. The quality of our academic programmes, professors and graduates is very high. Remember that OAUSTECH was recently ranked by the NUC among the top 25 universities in Nigeria, the third best in Ondo State, and number seven among universities in southwestern Nigeria. As part of efforts to achieve our mandate, OAUSTECH has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Caribbean Maritime University in Kingston, Jamaica and University of Missouri-Kansas City, United States, and is about signing a pact with ICT University in the United States, University of Texas at Austin, Central Michigan University, Morgan State University, and Auburn University, Alabama, United States. So, we are fulfilling our mandate. All our programmes have been duly accredited by the NUC.

What are the challenges?
These achievements are not without the challenges of infrastructural development and funding. We also have the challenge of abandoned buildings in the university, but Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu is raising our hope of surmounting our challenges. We are very grateful to him for providing the required funding for the rapid transformation of the university, especially for relocating the school from its temporary site to the permanent site.

Do you see science and technology education actually growing and yielding the desired results in Nigeria? If yes, what is the evidence; and if no, what are the reasons?
I believe science and technology education is growing and yielding some results in Nigeria especially with increased funding in STEM education through Education Trust Fund (ETF), now Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund) and the Need Assessment especially at the tertiary level. We can still do better if we restructure the education sector currently bedeviled with incessant strikes and labour unrest, security challenges, unqualified teachers, low quality graduates who are unskilled, not well funded laboratories for teaching and low morale of poorly paid teachers. Nigeria’s higher education, therefore, urgently requires restructuring in terms of funding, autonomy, and governance if the desired investment in education is to be realised.

What is your vision as vice-chancellor of OAUSTECH?
My vision is to build a bi-lingual, entrepreneurial, ICT-driven and world-class university renowned for its impeccable teaching, research, and community service. A university that addresses the development challenges of the 21st century through innovation, knowledge transfer and sound moral character. In other words, my agenda is to make Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology the centre of gravity for research and innovation in Africa. My vision aligns with our aspiration, as a university, to become a leading internationally recognised institution raising a corpus of technologically competent individuals able to respond to the needs of their environment in a technologically driven-economy.

Creativity and innovation are very crucial for technological development of a society. How can these be boosted in Nigeria?
Creativity and innovation can be promoted in teaching and learning driven by technology. This is better done through programme content and delivery. In Nigeria, we need to begin preparation for the fourth industrial revolution by focusing attention on developing the 21st century skills of our students. They need to be trained to be critical thinkers, technologically adept, humane, culturally sensitive, and ready to provide leadership for the states and the nation. This is one reason OAUSTECH will key into the new global economy called Blue Economy because of its strategic location in the coastal areas of Ondo State. The plan actually is to place emphasis on the development, utilisation, and preservation of coastal, marine, and oceanic resources. We intend to carve a niche for our university in maritime transport and logistics, port management, marine engineering, shipping technology and management, nautical science, oceanography, applied geology and coastal geophysics, maritime security, petrochemical and gas engineering, fisheries and aquaculture among others.

We signed an MoU with Caribbean Maritime University based in Kingston, Jamaica. I have already initiated discussion with the Deputy-President of the university, Prof. Ibrahim Ajagunna, for the implementation of the pact with our university. I am also aware that Governor Akeredolu has an agenda to build a seaport that will drive this blue economy, and which ultimately, will leapfrog the state to economic prosperity.

I am laying emphasis on research and innovation; impactful research that will result in increased income, exponential growth of research outputs such as publications, improved citations, and vibrant community engagements. We have a plan to enhance the opportunities and support for early-career researchers. We will promote creativity and innovation in teaching and learning driven by technology. We intend to implement ‘One Student One Laptop Policy’ to make us functional in the fourth revolution especially during this period of COVID-19 pandemic. I hope to introduce new innovative and high demand-driven courses and revenue generating centres.

You once spoke about employability policy for OAUSTECH. Can you expatiate on this?
It is about introducing what will be known as a Graduate Employability Policy to increase the global competitiveness of our students. Our students will now be bi-lingual by creating opportunities for them to acquire French/German in addition to English Language. We will create ‘Student Career Centre’ to actualise this dream. I will increase the university’s visibility and ranking by ensuring a strong web presence through aggressive propagation of our achievements and research outputs and innovations via appropriate media/web outlets.