Hult Prize International Business School has invited three students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso to its Ashridge Estate Campus in Berkhamsted, United Kingdom.
They will attend the school’s summer programme holding between July 22 and September1, 2018.
The students came tops in the finals of the competition.
A letter by the organisation’s Head of Students Services, Giuseppe Saviano, said the students, Ogunfuwa Samson Olaoluwa, Adejinmi Barnabas Oluwagbenga and Akande Tolulope Similoluwa, were selected out of 100,000 applicants from 117 countries to participate in the Hult Prize Boot-Camp summer educational programme.
He explained that the programme, now in its ninth year, has partnered the United Nations to train young student leaders around the world on how to use business as a leading force for sustainability in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
Briefing the Vice-Chancellor of LAUTECH, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin, the students leader, Ogunfuwa Samson Olaoluwa, said his team worked on a solar food box, a project meant to enable farmers grow crops without using the soil and dependent on early day light and water nutrient.
He added that the focus of the project included affording the farmers the opportunity of three times yield, with less labour time and quality products.
An elated Gbadegesin who later personally assisted one of the team members with fund to procure an international passport to ensure that he joined others to participate at the Boot-Camp, praised the students for doing the Institution proud.
He said Management was willing to assist the team with whatever logistic that would be required to win the $1 million prize at the global level.
Team ‘Tech Farm Institute’ from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology has won the Hult Prize competition held in Abuja. It will now be competing for a grand prize of $1 million at the finals in London.
Members of the team will be joining other national winners from top universities around the world for an eight-week-long training that will transform their ideas into startups for a chance to win $1 million.
Members of Team Tech Farm Institute are Samson Ogunfuwa (400L Urban and Regional Planning), Similoluwa Akande (400L Crop Production and Soil Science), and Barnabas Adejinmi (200L Management & Accounting).
Similoluwa said: “I cannot particularly point out something as making us win. We received God’s favour that’s for sure and we also had help from a lot of people who we ran out project by and they helped us look at things even better than we were doing.”
Team ‘Tech Farm Institute’ from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology has won the national level of Hult Prize competition held in Abuja and will now be competing for a grand prize of $1 million at the finals in London.
Members of Team Farm Institute will be joining other national winners from top universities around the world for an 8-week-long training that will transform their ideas into startups for a chance to win $1 million.
Members of Team Tech Farm Institute are Samson Ogunfuwa (400L Urban and Regional Planning), Similoluwa Akande (400L Crop Production and Soil Science), and Barnabas Adejinmi (200L Management & Accounting).
Commenting on their win, Similoluwa said: “I cannot particularly point out something as making us win. We received God’s favour that’s for sure and we also had help from a lot of people who we ran out project by and they helped us look at things even better than we were doing.”
“We weren’t just focused on Hultprize we were determined to take the business to the next level with or without Hultprize so we gave ourselves totally to the project and we also opened our work to criticism which helped us see things through the eyes of others and make improvements, she added”
Two other teams from LAUTECH, Team Green School and Team Skymax, also participated at the national round alongside Team Tech Farm Institute.
Hult Prize is an annual, competition that crowdsources ideas from students after challenging them to solve a pressing social issue around topics such as food security, water access, energy, and education.
The 22nd inaugural lecture of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) comes up today, under the distinguished chairmanship of Prof A.S Gbadegesin, the Vice-Chancellor.
The lecture titled: ‘’ No free launch ‘’: Implications of the form as a thermodynamic by steery will be delivered by Prof Simeon Olatayo Jekayinfa, a Professor of Farm Power and Machinery, at the University Hall, Ogbomoso, by 12noon.
For the umpteenth time, the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, has been pronounced the best state university in Nigeria.
The latest ranking by Webometric, which puts the institution as 14th overall in the country and 3680 in the world, goes to confirm that despite the debilitating effect of the industrial crisis experienced last year by the university, its leadership position among its peers remain unchallenged.
Reacting to the news, the vice-chancellor of the university, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin, said the institution’s present financial position is not allowed to affect its determination to train eggheads to man the various technological spaces of the future.
He added that the governing council, led by Professor Oladapo Afolabi, has assured that whatever the university needs to stay on top will be encouraged.
Webometrics ranking of world universities, also known as ranking web of universities, is a ranking system for the world’s universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the web contents (number of web pages and files) and the visibility and impact of these web publications.
Workers in Osun on Tuesday returned to work after the Joint Labour Unions in the state called off the indefinite strike embarked on last week Wednesday.
The leadership of the labour unions in the state had called for indefinite strike, which commenced on December 27 to demand for outstanding salaries and promotion of workers.
The Industrial action was, however, called off on Saturday after the state government acceded to their demands.
A visit to the state secretariat at Abere, Osogbo, indicated that workers are back to their duty posts after the holidays as the secretariat gates, which were shut during the strike, are now open to workers.
A staff in the secretariat, Mr. Akeem Ajagbe, said: “workers are like sheep being led by the labour unions, and whatever their decision they make must be complied with.
“As long as the welfare of workers, which includes our full salary payment and promotion is assured, we are glad to return to work.” he said.
He said that although he celebrated the New Year with mixed feelings as they were yet to receive full salary for December as promised by the government, he was happy to see the beginning of a new year with the hope that things would be better in 2018.
At the two local government secretariats of Olorunda and Osogbo, both in Osogbo, workers were equally back to their duty posts.
Some workers were, however, seen in groups discussing, while some were seen cleaning their offices to start the day’s work.
Workers at state health institutions (state hospital, Asubiaoro, and Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, LAUTECH ) in Osogbo were also seen attending to patients.
An elderly patient, Mrs. Oloyode Awoniyi, who was at the eye clinic department of LAUTECH, told newsmen that she was scheduled for appointment with doctors on Thursday, but because of the strike, she had to return today to reschedule and if possible be attended to by a doctor.
Awoniyi said the strike caused her so much stress, coming from a distance as it had caused so many others too.
She said that the crowd at the eye clinic had doubled due to patients missing out previous appointments because of the strike.
Mrs. Ayoka Lawal said: “I am a patient on health insurance ( NHIS ) and I register with LAUTECH. I was unable to get treatment on Saturday due to the strike.
“Thank God, my condition is not life threatening. Only God knows what would have happened to me.”
Other private businesses and federal establishments in the state were back to full operation from the Yuletide and New Year holidays.
The crisis rocking the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital at Ogbomosho worsened yesterday after its management transferred 55 resident doctors.
The action is said to be against medical practice.
Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in LAUTECH described the transfer as illegal and unwarranted.
A memorandum the management issued on the transfer said the directive was given by the Oyo State government, owner of the facility.
The memo, dated December 27, and signed by A. M. Ajiferuke, was reportedly issued by Secretary of the Board of Management and directed to all workers.
The one-paragraph memo reads: “Kindly find below the list of transferred workers, as directed by the Oyo State government and approved by the Board at its meeting on Thursday, December 21, 2017.”
Describing it as an “illegal transfer by the Oyo state government”, ARD Chairman Dr. Sebastine Owoi said the structure of the training of resident doctors did not give room for their transfer.
He said: “Resident doctors cannot be transferred, according to the structure of their training. If the hospital is not accredited for their training, then they are allowed to go out as supernumerary in accredited institutions.
“But this is not what Oyo State government has done. Resident doctors are not medical officers who can be transferred. The battle has just begun. This anomaly will be resisted within all legal ambits.”
Medical doctors under the auspices of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso chapter (MDCAN), have appealed to the Oyo State government to stop brain drain in the state health sector.
The doctors said that if there was no immediate intervention from the state government, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, would go into extinction.
In a statement signed by the chapter’s chairman, Dr. A. Salawu, the doctors said it has become necessary to draw the attention of the state government and the people of the state to the situation in the hospital.
Salawu stated that the hospital is nothing to write home about due to the non-completion of many projects and non supply of some state of the art equipment to the health facility.
“The question is what happens to the collective wealth of N24 billion expended by the previous administration? In the six years of existence of LTH, despite the below average support of government, LTH can boast of dedicated staff who have made the hospital excel.
“However, despite this exceptional dedication, commitment and financial sacrifice by staff and some Oyo State indigenes who have come to our aid to complete some abandoned projects in the hospital, our governor is yet to visit the hospital and have an on-the-spot assessment.
“The government of Oyo State is now planning to close down the hospital and has presently cut subvention to the hospital in January 2016. Also, all categories of workers have been subjected to between 28% and 50% salary till date and the last salary paid was August, 2017 as at 30th November, 2017.
“The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, LTH is now crying out to the people of Oyo State, elder statesmen, political leaders, religious leaders, royal fathers, men and women to lend a voice and appeal to Mr. Governor to jettison this plan that would set Oyo State 10 years back apart from allowing a huge investment go down the drain which would be difficult to recover. Oyo State must continue to be the pace setter state,” claimed the doctors.
The words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The purpose of life is not just to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well,” perfectly describes Folayan Oluwaseun, and his wife, Folayan Adedoyin, both Directors at RoyalNiddle.
Of course, the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) that shut Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State is no more news to most Nigerians, however, what became news was when individuals and groups raised funding support for the students.
On the part of RoyalNiddle, the amount of concern got many asking if there are Nigerians who still care this much for others as the fashion institution made a public call on the students to receive free training during the recently concluded non-academic activities that lasted about two years.
This question is imperative because most corporate individuals think of ‘me, I and myself’ before undertaking any activity. Same goes for corporate organisations whose Marketing departments carefully plan the strategy before announcing promos. The attitude is: “What is in it for me?”
Students at RoyalNiddles fashion school
It is quite different in the case of RoyalNiddle as the Executive Directors helped to provide succour for students instead of wasting the entire period doing nothing or things that might further impede the abilities to complete their education.
Speaking on his motivation in engaging the students, Oluwaseun, a 1998 Computer Science graduate of the institution told The Nation that “the free training is my own way of giving back to the society. It’s a call to service.
“When I heard that these students have been home for about 2 years and fund-LAUTECH came up with the appeal for fund, I taught of how best to help out, because as a social entrepreneur, impacting life has always been my greatest joy.
“So, being an alumnus of the institution, the first thing I did was to reach out to a few friends and fellow alumni to discuss how best to help the students in terms of the financing while I also plan a programme on how best to empower them.
Oluwaseun recounted how he usually tells his dad and friends that he was not going to work for any employer anymore at age 30. He said: “I used to discuss it with my dad and he will say, ‘my dear, when you get to 30, that is when the pay becomes so sweet that you won’t want to quit’, so when I clocked 30, the pay was truly too good for me to quit.
“Then I said maybe it was just a youthful thought, let me gather some money and at a point, I just kept doing it till 31, 32 and on. It kept going, but then I discovered that I kept getting tired of what I was doing, not because of the pay, but I was not getting so much excitement anymore, I quit my job.”
Adedoyin training Students in one of the classes
The Professional Fashion Designer, who has worked with several companies including Stabilini Visinoni before venturing into Fashion for the past few years, further said: “It was now too much. I’ll have meetings from morning until evening, and then I will leave office late and run off to work very early the next morning. Everything was becoming so so much on my head, I was not having time for my family, most times I get home, I’ll be so stressed that I’ll just tell my wife “sorry, we can’t talk about anything again.
“Along the line, I just called my wife and said: ‘my dear, I’m resigning today’, it was the riskiest decision I had ever taken in my life. We did not discuss it at home, she just asked me if I’m sure it was the right decision and I said yes.”
For Adedoyin, who had just delivered a baby at the time, the decision caught her unaware but since she trusts her husband’s decisions, there was no need for argument. “When he came back from work that day and told me he was quitting his job tomorrow, I was alarmed and I asked what happened?
“There were too many training I still needed to go for. So, I was wondering where to get funding from. Then, something came to my mind that night to just let him follow his heart. Although, within me, I was not happy, because I had lots of things running through my head but I let him follow his mind. I said OK fine, no problem. We will cut down our expenses and some other things. I just had to agree,” she said.
Speaking about her fashion journey, Adedoyin, also a Computer Science graduate noted that one couldn’t just say: “because you went to a fashion school, you will now sit down and start doing just anything. Fashion is something that changes every day.
Sample of work done by RoyalNiddle
“My husband paid 250k for me to take the training alone. We spent over a million naira in all. The fashion school I attended was unisex. I have been to some places and they’ll tell me 120k. People would tell me to come and learn shoe and bags 180k. English trouser alone is 80k. Crafting alone is 150k and many others,” Adedoyin said.
Thanking the couple for their gesture, some of the beneficiaries who obliged to speak with The Nation expressed their profound gratitude for the opportunities provided for them to acquire new skills which they could continue to build on.
Bakare Temitope, a 500L Agricultural Extension and Rural Development student noted that the training gave her more insights as regards entrepreneurship.
Temitope, who is currently an entrepreneur – producing Office and casual Shoes in Italian format, said: “My training at RoyalNiddle has made my zeal and flare for business increase even more. I now see it from a more productive angle. The training is very much relevant to what I presently do as an entrepreneur and I am ready to take things to the next level. Thank you so much, RoyalNiddle.”
Similarly, Igbayiloye Aderonke, a graduate Nurse and Midwife, who was awaiting National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) mobilisation since 2015 observed that they were not treated poorly from the regular students who paid largely for the training.
“They have been very nice, tolerant and open with us. I always believed entrepreneurship required having good capital to start any type of business but now, I have a different perception. Now, it is doing what you are best at for the purpose of impacting lives even if you are going to be making money.
“After this training, I aspire to become an outstanding Nurse and a fashion designer. I will not allow the skills acquired at RoyalNiddle to go like that. I already have a mini-fashion business where I produce bow-ties. I made the bow-tie Senator Ben Murray-Bruce wore for his 70th birthday which held at Eko Hotels and Suite in Lagos in 2016.
“I am grateful to God and the Directors of RoyalNiddle for this one in a lifetime opportunity. I could not have afforded it if this opportunity didn’t come up or if I had missed it.
Consequently, Oluwaseun who praised the attention and learning abilities of the students said: “I didn’t know they will catch up this fast. Well done guys. Generally, I just believe if we all come together to do our own part, things will be a lot easier for the lads.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU ) LAUTECH Chapter has called on the two owner-states of the institution to redeem their pledge which made the Union to suspend its strike last month.
The statement was made by the union Chairman, LAUTECH chapter, Dr. Biodun Olaniran while explaining the present situation of the union in the institution.
He said, “lecturers are ready to work towards success of the on-going academic year of the institution, but it is very necessary for the owner-states to fulfill their promise, saying they are concerned with the future of the students of the institution”.
Speaking on the report of nationwide strike likely to be embarked upon by the ASUU, Dr. Olaniran stated that National Executive Council of ASUU is in the best position to comment on the proposed development.
