Lagos poly wins in engineers’ competition

Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu has emerged winner in the maiden edition of the 2018 engineering quiz competition organised among tertiary schools within Lagos and Ogun states.The institution beat University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Lagos State university (LASU), which came second and third in the competition.

Four out of five schools were invited for the programme participated in the event organised by Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE) Lagos/Ogun state Chapter.The event was as part of efforts to strengthen the study of engineering in the country. Speaking at the programme, which also hosts Yaba College of Technology, the Lagos/Ogun State Chairman of NSChE, Kamilu Oyedeko said the aim is produce highly competent future engineers for country by encouraging the students to be well grounded in the fundamentals of the profession while at school.

Oyedeko noted that chemical engineers are the catalysts for industrial growth in any nation and advised well-established professionals and operators of industries to support initiatives aimed at grooming budding engineers in the country.

He said, “This programme has advanced their knowledge of the field and provides a platform for participants to exchange ideas. We have seen from this event that the students have gone far in familiarizing with the basic knowledge of chemical engineering from the way the competition was keenly contended. The first place winner emerged with just a little point ahead of the second place winner. We are highly impressed by their performances and have discovered how far they have been able to retain what they have learnt in their various institutions. Once you are good in the fundamentals of the profession, you will definitely go far in life”.He appealed to authorities to give more chemical engineers opportunities at all levels to make meaningful contributions to the development of the country.

Also speaking, the chairman of the first intercollegiate quiz competition among chemical engineering students, Olusegun Shodeyibi, stated that the event served as a boost to the culture of learning and will further promote commitment to studies among the students.We tested them in the core areas of; chemical reactions, process control, separation process, thermodynamics, environmental engineering, unit generation and system control among others and they have really impressed everybody. This is one of the processes to groom highly skilled engineers for Nigeria since it has been observed that chemical engineering is at its infancy stage. We have issues in the economy and most of the companies are not doing well, however, it is a challenge for the professionals to wake up”.

“The impact of the competition is that it will help them to improve on themselves. Some of them are in their National Diploma class and others in level four in the university and so the programme will promote better understanding of their studies so that they could become more experienced when they graduate from the university”, he stated.He further urged the students to work hard toward becoming job creators and entrepreneurs rather than job seekers.