The Rector of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Mr Obafemi Omokungbe, says a N50 billion Endowment fund will be needed to provide consistent and permanent funding source for the Institution.
Omokungbe made the declaration during his address at the unveiling of the College’s N50 billion Endowment Fund logo, held on Thursday in the YABATECH Hall, Lagos.
According to him, YABATECH is a premier high Institution in Nigeria, which has served the nation for 75 years.
“The alumni of the college have contributed immensely to the development of the nation in all fields of endeavour.
“We desire to continue to be a major pillar in this journey, it is expected that having existed for so long, the facilities would have decayed and infrastructures inadequate for the good of students and staff.
“Therefore, it is conceived out of our desire to address the challenges of infrastructural deficit, obsolete and non-functional equipment confronting the college.
“The unveiling of the logo is the first stage launch of the N50 billion endowment fund which will be utilised to support students, department, research and other Programmes for generations to come,” he added.
The YABATECH Rector said it was no longer a secret that the government could no longer fund education, hence the need to rise and rescue the college from collapse.
Omokungbe added that It was necessary for the Institution to continue to fulfil the mandate of its founding father of the premier higher Institution and to maintain the standard it’s known for.
Speaking, Mr Tayo Afolabi, Director, SIFAX Group, who was also the Special Guest of Honour, was represented by Mr Bode Ojeniyi, Group Executive Director.
He described the unveiling of the logo as an invitation to treat to the bigger thing that is to come.
He commended YABATECH family for the initiative, decision and process to set up the endowment fund,
“Anything coming into the country, for this project, we will clear it for you, support contractors while the work is going on as regards this project.
“Having gone through proposals utilisation of what the endowment fund intends to achieve, I said to myself that this will lead to a total transformation of a 75-year-old institution.
“The Nigeria of today is a Nigeria of ‘Self Fund’, you generate power, water and you generate funds to ensure that you continue to exist and survive as an Institution,” he added.
According to him, charity begins at home as the alumni of YABATECH including persons who are captains of industries today and need to take the first step where the endowment fund is concerned.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SIFAX Group, partners of YABATECH N50 billion Endowment Fund Logo, is a transportation company that specialises in logistics, freight forwarding, and cargo consolidation and hire service.
Speaking, Mr Uduak-Iyang Udom, the Deputy Rector Admin of YABATECH, said that the step was to do something significant to improve the legacy of education in the college through the N50 billion Endowment Fund.
Udom, who is also the Chairman, College Endowment Fund Committee, said the inauguration planned to come in form of cash donations and that a legacy lunch would cover the provision of more classrooms, lecture halls, and workshops.
He mentioned laboratories, books and scholarships as measures to take more youths out of the street and channel their time into education, thereby making the products of the college competitive globally. (NAN)
