The Nation Newspaper

Tag: waste

  • Nigerians in Diaspora to bring in waste management experts

    Nigerians in the Diaspora have promised to get investors to harness the potential in waste deposits in Lagos State.

    The United Kingdom All Progressives Congress (UK APC) Chairman, Mr. Abiodun Ali, made this known at a meeting with the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare.

    According to Ali, the project, when fully on stream, will earn huge revenue for the state, adding that it will also create several job opportunities.

    He said: “We are here because we are very concerned about the Nigerian environment and, particularly, Lagos State environment. We have met the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment to discuss partnership on how to invest in the Lagos environment.

    “We, in the diaspora, can help in this area. There is no much awareness on how to  keep a better environment by our people. The government is sending a lot of money to maintain a healthy environment.  We have suggested that effort should be redoubled create awareness on how the people can inculcate a better environment.

    “Those who drop waste into the drainage should be sanctioned. This is because anytime there is rain the whole place will be flooded. This can lead to a situation where the people will abandon their houses if they are submerged by water,” he said.

    “There is lot of money to be made in environmental development. We are looking at the area of waste water management, waste disposal and the turning of waste to wealth.

    “This will create conducive environment and generate job opportunities for our teeming unemployed youth. There are lots of thing in the areas that refuse are dump which can be turned to money.

    “That can also help the state to generate fund to finance some of its projects. The state cannot fund everything that is why we are talking of partnership with the government to assist the state. Government is going to make lots of money we cannot quantify because we are talking in terms of billions of dollars. Government is going make lots of money from the investors when they come.”

    Adejare  said the state was willing to partner organisations and individuals to make the state better.

    He said the government was working on proposals and projects that would make the state safe, clean and friendly, noting that it was high time people made cleanliness a way of life in view of the spread of diseases, such as Lassa Fever and others.

  • ‘Agric waste’ll address energy shortage’

    Nigeria has great potential to develop bio-gas from agricultural and animal waste, the Deputy Director, Directorate of General Management, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI), Dr. Ademola Adeyemo, has said.

    In an interview, he said though agricultural waste is a source of pollution, it can be converted to biogas to generate electricity, adding that it will countries that are seeking new sources to replace or supplement traditional fossil energy sources.

    He said millions of households in rural areas should be encouraged to acquire biogas digesters that convert waste into clean-burning fuel for cooking.

    According to him, bio-gas technology convert organic waste into bio-gas to reduce the greenhouse effect, wipe out diseases at breeding farms, and create a clean energy source for cooking, lighting, and generating electricity.

    He said bio-gas is an indispensable factor in agricultural production as it reduces pollution.

    In view of the ever-increasing cost of conventional energy source, and the worsening rural and urban ecological problem of pollution resulting from improper waste disposal and management.

    He urged the  government to  adopt biogas technology to generate  additional  power sources.

    He called on the government to support farmers to use bio-gas from animal waste to generate energy.

    He expressed concerns that the country lacks strategies and policies for bio-gas development, calling on the government to map out a strategy for bio-gas development.

    Recently, the  Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Moor Plantation, Ibadan  inaugurated its new biogas project at Apete Onidoko farming village in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, calling on the Federal Government and other tiers of government to replicate the project across the country.

    Director, IAR&T, Prof James Adediran, said the benefits of biogas are limitless, and that it could be used in the farms, in the homes, in institutions and also at abattoirs, among others.

  • Cleaner City: Lagos, firm partner on recycling of waste oil

    Cleaner City: Lagos, firm partner on recycling of waste oil

    To tackle the indiscriminate handling/management and disposal of spent/waste oil, a major contaminants of its ecosystem, the Lagos State Government has said it will partner with Ecocycle Technology, to begin a recycling programme aimed at ensuring a cleaner environment.

    The General Manager/CEO, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Adebola Rasheed Shabi, said the move was aimed at protecting the environment and the prevention of further contamination of the surface and underground water body in the state.

    He said under the new system Lagosians whether corporate or individuals, would be encouraged to deposit their used oil at any of the specially designated collection centres across the state for onward disposal by the firm.

    Shabi said since the proper management of used oil is a major environmental concern, in accordance with the laws setting up the agency, it would be an offence for anyone to discharge their spent fuel indiscriminately into storm drains or elsewhere in the state when the system finally rolls off.

    He said: “The goal of this effort is to ensure an environmental quality that is consistent with the social and economic needs of the state, in order to protect human and animal health, welfare, property and quality of life.”

    He further stated that the continuous monitoring and control of the disposal of solids, liquids and gaseous wastes generated by both government and private facilities has led LASEPA to setting some benchmarks that has ensured the safety of lives of residents.

    He said approximately about two hundred million litres of used oil are dumped on the bare ground or into storm drains nationwide every year, with no one bothering about its adverse effect on the environment and human health.

    “Improperly disposed oil can contaminate drinking water and harm aquatic animal and plant life, by depriving them of nutrients and oxygen. These waste oil contains heavy metals (i.e. Chromium, Lead, Zinc, Mercury, etc, that bio-magnify in the body tissues of the aquatic animals such as Cyclops, Planktons and other Benton) that are primary producers in the food chain,” he said. When these primary food chains are consumed by man, he explained, they become carcinogenic (cancer causing agents), in the human bodies.

    With this partnership, LASEPA, Shabi said, is encouraging Lagosians to protect the state’s natural resources, surface and underground drinking water supplies by properly disposing used motor/engine oil at public collection centres that would be appropriately designated across the state.

    The Managing Director of Ecocycle Technology Mr. Albert Adewunmi said the firm is determined to put an end to the contamination of the ecosystem as a result of waste oil through a beneficial recycling system that is meant to make the environment cleaner.

    He listed some of the products that could be generated from the recycled waste oil to include fresh engine oil, diesel, asphalt residue, which could be mixed with bitumen, as well as soap.

    “The recycling would also create work opportunities for hundreds of people directly and millions indirectly as waste collectors, and job creators,” Aderomi said.

    He added that the recycling system comes with a waste buy back opportunity where the firm would be paying a token to anyone who patronises it by bringing their waste oil in exchange for cash.

  • Turning waste into cash

    Turning waste into cash

    More entrepreneurs are creating wealth from waste and saving the environment from devastation. They have also created employment for many. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    The waste on road sides in Lagos is enough to put most people off urban waste management. But this is not so for a group of entrepreneurs who see opportunities in waste  collection and recycling.

    They are poised to create business and employment opportunities for many in waste management.

    Chief Executive, T.Cynthia Nigeria Enterprise, Mrs Cynthia Saka, is one of the women working in the industry. She has spent the last 25 years in waste collection and recycling. She has been in the business since 1986, when she was a student of the College of Education in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

    The business that she started as a start-up has expanded into a big  operation run from Lagos and  Ogun states; she has many  employees.

    Her business model is to find waste and turn it into something useful, for a profit. She specialises in the plastic waste.To get waste, she relies on contracts with businesses – to take away their waste, as well as individual consumers collecting and sending it in, in return for payment.They are collecting from dumpsites and garbage cans across the country. Her business has created jobs by partnering  company suppliers, such as plastics and polythylene gatherers.

    Through the business, Mrs  Saka is changing people’s opinions on the value of recycling.

    To raise awareness, Mrs Saka, also a member of the Ogun State Chamber of Commerce and industry is working other collectors and  recyclers engaged in handling waste, to improve the business environment for operators  in waste recycling.

    She is ready to mentor young entrepreneurs, because thanks to her own experiences, garbage is  the place to look for opportunities as the government and the people deal with the challenges posed by increasing waste products.

    She sees opportunities across waste management, industrial treatment,  wastewater and sewage, recycling, and sustainable packaging and believes  indigenous companies stand to benefit from investing in waste recycling. Another lady in the industry is the  Chief  Executive, WeCyclers, Mrs Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola.

    Growing up in Lagos, she had witnessed a waste epidemic with  plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and other waste accumulated in streets and open gutters, causing flooding, disease, and stress.

    Though  she studied in the  United States, Mrs Adebiyi-Abiola had this  issue on her mind.

    A graduate of Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, and MIT’s Sloan School of Management in the United States, she  returned  to  launch  Wecyclers in 2012. She deployed a fleet of cargo bikes in collecting recyclables from houses in poor areas of Lagos, in return for rewards.

    She employed young people  who pedal door-to-door on modified bikes that pull large carts with collection bags. They collect recyclables from subscribers’ homes and weigh them; subscribers receive points via text message for every kilogramme of recyclables. Points are redeemed for food and consumer goods, such as cellphones and kitchen items.

    Recyclables are returned to one of Wecyclers’ two plants, where they’re sorted, processed, and bought by recycling companies to make mattresses and pillow stuffing, among other things.

    Working with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Wecyclers is determined to create  more  opportunities for people to explore waste collection and earn money and  residents rewards to enable better lives and business.

    Participants earn rewards  that  they  use  to  buy up consumer electronics, such as cellphones, irons, and toaster ovens. The rewards programme is funded by the sale of the collected waste and through corporate sponsorships. With Mrs Adebiyi-Abiola,  recovery facilities and trading networks for waste  materials  have emerged across  the state.

    Aware of the danger of disappearing income opportunities for the waste pickers, she  is  taken  it upon herself  to turn waste into sustainable employment for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

    She is working to help waste pickers become authorised collectors.

    She  engages  pickers to collect  non-hazardous parts such as  plastics and drink cases before delivering them to recycling facilities.Through innovative ways of communication, she aims to reach the next generation of environmental leaders.

    A visit to  her storage  place  revealed  waste, consisting mainly of plastic bottles and packaging, sorted to be processed and recycled. The pickers collect it from the numerous bins throughout the city, from watercourses, gutters and  local markets.

    With her presence, collection and sorting of plastic waste is a lifeline for many families. As  a result of her  effort, more and more women have turned to collecting and sorting waste, a commercial activity that is likely to ensure their survival.   She  is delighted to provide employment for workers while cleaning up the city. The Wecyclers” lever towards sustainable social-economic change includes the

    creation of new and stable job opportunities for younger generations in Lagos, totackle the high national unemployment rate.

    At the moment, a network of collecting and recycling activities has developed, integrated in a value chain recycling industry.

    Notwithstanding, she  is  determined  to  see waste  collectors well  remunerated. To her, a pile of garbage representsa means of livelihood and not something from which to turn away in disgust.

    To industry  watchers, Mrs  Adebiyi-Abiola is a rising star and Wecyclers is a growing company that has the potential to change how Nigerians interact with garbage.

    At the Pitch For Lagos event held at Co-Creation Hub, which involved  10 startups, including BudgIT, Mamalette, CallBase, Alle Capital vying  for a $55,000 prize money funded by the Steve Case Foundation, WeCyclers was announced the winner after a competitive.

    Her work with waste has attracted quite a lot of local and global attention. She has been featured on CNN and The Huffington Post among others. She is also a Fellow of the Echoing Green Foundation and a 2013 Laureate of the Cartier Women’s Initiative.

     

  • Recycle your emotional waste

    Garbage in, garbage out. This naturally means that what you give is what you should get in return. Scientifically, this phrase holds water. This perhaps talks about the ideal situation in love; the fifty-fifty kind of love, according to Teddy Pendergrass’s song: ‘When somebody loves you back.’ He goes on to tell his fans that what you get maybe sixty-forty or the seventy-thirty kind of balance. So, for many, getting the fifty-fifty kind of love looks like ‘fallacies’ on the emotional terrain. The calculations usually depend on mood swings, external factors, as well as the other inaccuracies synonymous with our emotions.

    In Damilola’s case, what he got in response is even less than ten per cent from the heart he almost died for. It was a close shave, indeed. Luckily, he survived the emotional odds that would have swept him out of existence. Interestingly, his younger sister had warned him about falling helplessly in love with this gal, but somehow he got so carried away.

    On the fateful day, he decided to stop by at Naomi’s place without giving her prior notice. When he got to her place, he was happy to see her car parked in the usual corner. Thank God, his sweetheart was at home. He had good news for her and thought it was better to keep it as a surprise. The front door wasn’t locked and so he walked straight into the living room which was also deserted. Some empty bottles and glass cups on the table indicated that Naomi had company. Friends and family? Hello!

    Yet no reply and he decided to take the search further. Some noise came from the bedroom area and the door was also opened. This was his home too and this was actually the best time to verify his status as the emotional CEO. Oh dear! This can’t be true, what is happening in here, for God’s sake? His fiancée, Naomi, was in bed with another man. Damilola lost his voice and was heartbroken. Was his dear Naomi remorseful? No, she wasn’t. Instead, she ordered him not just out of the room but out of her life.

    “Now that you have seen what you want to see, please get out and don’t ever come back here again. I have been looking for ways to tell you that what I feel for you isn’t love and now that you have given me the opportunity to do that, please go away. It is all over.” Her words hit him like stones. It was as if someone was throwing stones or lemon at his face. He stepped out and walked away. In his heart, he began to ask himself some pertinent questions. Was this what he deserved from this babe? What if he did not go to her house that day? Could it be that he had been a fool all this while? Questions, questions and more questions with nobody to proffer answers to the emotional puzzle.

    The only thing she could decode from the mystery was the fact that it was all over. Instead of picking the broken pieces and moving on, he became so depressed. On a daily basis, the man cried, thinking of Naomi dearest. Friends and relatives urged him to put her behind him. Sadly, it was hard doing this. She had occupied every part of his body and soul. No matter who he was with, where he was and what he was doing, Noami stole the show. One day, he left home without his car because of traffic and when he was coming back home, the traffic was really bad. To make up for the lost time, he decided to go across the express. In a jiffy, he made it through the first half and by the time he was about to go across to the other side, he fell flat on the ground. Flashlights ahead, and before he could recover from this grand fall, a commercial bus was a few metres away.

    Luckily, the bus veered off just in time to avoid crushing Damilola’s bones. He saw more headlights but just could not move his legs. Could this really be the end? His instinct then told him to roll over back to the sandy part. He did that just in time and for the next five minutes he was shaking all over. He would have been gone, just like that; all because he was thinking about someone who did not care about his feelings. A heart that had been lost, taken over and repositioned elsewhere.

    The crux of the matter here is that losing a heart that you cherish is not the end of the world. Naturally, it hurts, but then there is nothing you can do about it. Like the emotional horse taken to the affectionate river, you cannot force anyone to love you. If love hurls lemons or stones in your direction, it is better to shake off the pains and move on. It is better to squeeze the juice that is sour, add sweeteners and you get lemonades. This would quench the emotional thirst. Interestingly, this is the era of recycling and you can also recycle your emotional garbage.

  • Ayade faults waste collection contractors

    Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade at the weekend slammed two contractors handling waste dispossal in Calabar South Local Government Area.

    The governor spoke after the expiration of the three-day ultimatum he gave them to either perform or be sacked.

    Addressing reporters at one of the refuse dumps on Afokang Street, Ayade ordered that the contract for the evacuation of waste be split into smaller units.

    The governor said the decision was prompted by the contractors’ alleged incompetence and lack of capacity to perform efficiently.

    He said: “The two contractors handling the evacuation of refuse in this area are unable to deliver; they do not have the capacity to perform. It is clear that the work is beyond their scope. The only alternative is to split it into smaller units so that they will meet the scope it takes to keep the town clean.”

    Ayade described the attitude of the contractors as unacceptable.

    He said: “For two contractors to handle this huge work with 18 trucks is not acceptable. All this must be brought to an end today.”

    He urged the chairman of Calabar South Local Government Area, Mrs. Marjorie Asuquo, who accompanied him during the inspection, to find young businessmen from the area to handle the work.

    Ayade said: “I cannot understand why the city is full of dirts while the governor’s route is always cleared. This cannot continue.”

  • Waste cleared as Ikpeazu inspects Aba roads

    Waste cleared as Ikpeazu inspects Aba roads

    The embarrassing heaps of refuse in Aba, the heartbeat of Abia State, are giving way. The agency in charge of waste management, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) has started evacuating the rubbish that littered most parts of the city.

    Over one month ago, residents of Enyimba City had lamented the choking prevalence of refuse in most parts of the city. Some voiced their concerns over an epidemic. They even sent an SOS to the newly sworn-in governor of the state Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu.

    Ikpeazu who was once in charge of managing Aba waste, told our correspondent that he has mandated the agency to evacuate 100 trucks of domestic waste on a daily basis.

    Ikpeazu expressed hope that the action embarked on by ASEPA would go a long way in addressing the situation.

    Our reporter who went round the commercial town, reports that at about 2pm Monday afternoon, the refuse heap at Ukaegbu Road by Aba-Ikot Ekpene Expressway, Asa Road by Saint Michaels which were about to cover the road had already been evacuated while evacuation was ongoing at Jubilee by Asa Road, among others.

    Shop owners in the affected places have expressed their happiness over the evacuation job, stating that it was a relief that they had long awaited for even as they urged the state’s waste management team to sustain the tempo.

    They also called on the governor to provide logistics and other materials that the agency would need to discharge their duties promptly and efficiently.

    In a another development, Abia State Governor, on Monday inspected equipments to be used for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of some roads in Aba that were in a bad state and needed urgent government attention.

    The roads include Ukaegbu (1.4), Umuola (1.4km), Ehere (700 meteres), Kamalu (1.5km), Old Express (6km), Umuocham (1.7km), Faulks by Ariaria (5.5km) including the Aba-Owerri road which would be re-asphalted.

    The Nation learnt that the essence for the road projects awarded to mainly indigenous firms were ease off the sufferings of Aba residents and the stress motorists were subjected to go through in the city.

    Sources said that the projects would be going on simultaneously while they were expected to be completed within the 100days of the Governor in office.

     

  • Money to waste

    Money to waste

    •Nigeria is spending far too much on overseas scholarships

    The allegation that the Federal Government is spending some N100 billion a year on foreign scholarships must compel a comprehensive reformulation of the ways in which Nigeria finances its education system. The accusation was made by Mr. Ahmed Adamu, chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC), as part of his appeal to the President-elect, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), to scrap it.

    There can be little doubt that Nigeria spends a huge amount of money on the education of its students in overseas universities. About N27 billion has been spent on foreign scholarship awards by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). In 2011, N8.4 billion was spent on the school fees of the offspring of Nigerian diplomats. An estimated N160 billion is spent on the education of Nigerians in Ghana annually. Exam Ethics International, a non-governmental organisation, puts the total spending on the education of Nigerians abroad at a staggering N1.5 trillion. Given the fact that the country plans to spend N400 billion on education in the 2015 budget, it is obvious that the funds spent outside the nation’s shores are grossly disproportionate to local capacity.

    Overseas scholarships can be beneficial when they are properly used. During Nigeria’s early years as an independent nation, hundreds of students were sent abroad as part of an ultimately successful effort to expand and develop the fledgling country’s human resources. The rational then was that there were only a few local tertiary institutions available for students to utilise within the country.

    Currently, however, Nigeria is endowed with over one hundred universities and about as many polytechnics and other tertiary institutions. The excuse of inadequate local capacity is therefore less defensible. The fact that the country is spending such a huge amount on overseas education is an obvious indication that there is a viable market for educational services if only determined attempts are made to fully tap into it.

    Instead of committing billions to overseas education, it is time to develop strategies whereby more of that money is spent at home. Government itself must take the lead in this respect by ensuring that a greater proportion of the huge sums it spends on foreign scholarships are transferred to indigenous tertiary institutions. This can be done using a variety of means: by insisting that more of its scholarships be tenable in Nigeria, rather than abroad; by awarding grants aimed at enabling local universities to expand their postgraduate education; by working with international donor agencies to develop scholarship programmes with overt Nigerian content.

    However, it must also be understood that such strategies will not work if local tertiary institutions continue to perform below international standards; indeed, this is the reason why so much money goes overseas in the first place. Tertiary education operates within a global context, and it cannot be arbitrarily adjusted to local whims and caprices. Inadequate infrastructure, ill-paid and poorly-motivated staff, incessant strikes and other disruptions to the educational calendar will only continue to degrade and diminish the tertiary education system, thereby driving ambitious students and their parents abroad, at great cost to themselves and to the nation.

    If Nigeria’s tertiary institutions want to start attracting more of the educational funds that go abroad, they will have to undertake a comprehensive change in attitude. Many foreign universities aggressively market themselves in Nigeria. Why is it that so few of their local counterparts think it necessary to do the same? Nor do local tertiary institutions feel the need to attract and retain the best university teachers and administrators, as is habitually done in countries like the United States. When local schools begin to see themselves as potential players on the global education stage, they will be able to start taking advantage of the educational bonanza at their doorstep. 

    ‘Instead of committing billions to overseas education, it is time to develop strategies whereby more of that money is spent at home. Government itself must take the lead in this respect by ensuring that a greater proportion of the huge sums it spends on foreign scholarships are transferred to indigenous tertiary institutions’

     

  • Patronise local waste managers, says consultant

    Patronise local waste managers, says consultant

    A waste consultant, Mr Keluo Chukwuogo, has appealed to governments at all tiers to engage local waste managers instead of expatriates in waste disposal.

    Chukwuogo, who made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday, said it would assist in creating more jobs.

    According to him, “Indigenous waste managers understand the uniqueness of waste generated by the people and are in a better position to manage them.

    “We have the manpower in the sector but unfortunately some people prefer to engage the services of expatriates.

    “If more indigenous waste mangers are engaged, there will be technological growth, employment opportunities and capital retention.’’

  • UNILAG plans to transform waste to wealth

    UNILAG plans to transform waste to wealth

    The University of Lagos (UNILAG) prides itself as the “university of First Choice and the nation’s pride”.  In this interview with KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, shares his thoughts about the future development of the university. Excerpts:

    Research no longer to  remain on the shelf

    Last year, we made some strides.  We have exposed the university community to more opportunities to research. During the last convocation the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM), Dr. Daniel Olukoya, gave us a central research laboratory, a three-floor building, very massive. We have started equipping it.

    And to complement research, we have set up a research and innovations office. This will put together our researches in such a way that the researches will not just be limited to the individual researcher. We can now start having more of collaborative researches, ones that we need to complement the economic growth of the nation.

    Secondly, the research result that we get will not just remain on the shelf; the innovation desk of that office will now market the result to the end users – be it in any field of study. That office has taken off fully now; and we are hoping that the innovation end of that office in the future will lead to what we call the technology village where we can have our incubation section to try out research at the pilot scale before they become big manufacturing concerns.

    That is the vision that we have for UNILAG, we hope to carry on so that this university will live truly as the first in the nation and not only the nation but also moving to the international arena. We also in the year have made progress in student unionism.

     

    Our plan to transform waste to wealth

    You will see that our environment is getting better.The waste management has been managed in such a way that we have commenced sorting. We have started sorting all our waste with the aim of recycling. The intention is that when the waste gets large enough to support a recycling plant, as a university and a research institution, we will be piloting what we need to do with the waste that are not in use nationally so that those that are carrying out research on waste now have appropriate types of waste to use.

    If you move around the campus, you will see that some of the waste bins are now categorised into plastics, glass and paper and other waste so that people will start learning how to sort waste and make the environment much cleaner so UNILAG will live up to its bill as the numero uno institution – as one that will set a pace in various area of endeavours.

    We have a strategic plan which we are following to a letter. The last council before this one set up the plan and we in place a 25-year strategic plan. I am working the first segment of strategic plan.  So all I have been mentioning are in that plan and the essence is that we want to see what will happen in the next 25 years in this university. We have as a target that this university must be numero in Africa at least by that time.

    Future buildings to be taller

    UNILAG is not like other universities in the interior where you find virgin lands are still available for use. We are restricted to this part of Lagos and we are pushed into the lagoon. Of course the lagoon is a very big asset to us because we are the only university sited by a lagoon and the fresh air from the lagoon gives us that extra flavour to have cool heads.

    But being in a city and being already enclosed by the development, we do not really have any other place to expand to. That is the unfortunate aspect of our location here and quite a large portion of our land – more than 40 per cent – is marshy area, which is not easily developed.  So, when a project for universities in the country is conceived, the execution at UNILAG is far higher because you have to look at the issue of foundation.

    In the light of dwindling land resources, management conceived, and council has approved, that we have to take the bull by the horn; we have to live like a city university.  We are going to be growing taller because we cannot spread.  These are part of the things you will be seeing in the next few years. It is going to be vertical buildings because that is the only way that we can still be on this site and grow to what we want to be in the future.

    In this light most of all the buildings will be higher and we are commencing with about five of them. I think in the next three to six months the first one would commence – the new university library. The library would have 10 floors. The design has been completed, while the designs of the remaining four are in the offing; and these are facilities for the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), the Postgraduate School, Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Law. We are looking for the funding of some of them. From now, the foundation of any building would be designed to hold at least 12 floors.

     

    Distance Learning, the way to go

    DLI is going to be another major outpost of this university. Today, it has a population of about 17,000 but it has been designed to carry about 50,000 in the next couple of years because it is going to become a real distance learning institution.

    At present, they mix both open/distance learning with face-to-face.  We are going to remove the face-to-face and they will be mainly interfacing on the internet.  All those facilities are being put in place.  That is why they are going to have a large massive building to support their needs in that place. A lot of workers have been recruited for them.  There are now going to ensure that the programme is properly strengthened. They are going to be expanding some, have new courses added to what they are doing at the moment and so it will serve the needs of Lagosians.

    The (DLI) programme started with the university because the founding fathers realised that people working with government and other companies within Lagos would need to have continuing education programmes.