Prof. Emmanuel Fasakin, the outgoing Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ile Oluji, Ondo State, says that Nigeria cannot develop without polytechnic education.
Fasakin stated that if polytechnic education was scrapped the country would be doomed, pointing out that the bedrock of industrialisation was polytechnic.
The outgoing rector, who spoke on Sunday in Akure at the launching of his memoir to mark the end of a successful two-term tenure as the pioneer rector of the polytechnic, explained that it was polytechnic education that would produce manpower needed in factories.
The book is entitled: “Beyond the Ordinary: The Journey of My Life and Experience at Federal Polytechnic, Ile Oluji.”
Fasakin said that Nigeria should not rely on manpower from outside the country for its industries to survive.
According to him, abolishing polytechnic education is tantamount to suicide.
He, therefore, asked the Nigerian government to provide conducive and enabling environment for Nigerian citizens to work and thrive in their respective academic endeavours.
Fasakin noted that Nigerian scholars were leaving the shores of the country to where their potential would be harnessed and well remunerated.
On his memoir, he said that he documented the book to tell his life story so that people that wanted to be transformational leaders and pioneers of institutions could know challenges and proffer solutions to them.
Fasakin said that he had laid a good foundation in the institution in terms of infrastructure, human development through team work and provided transformational leadership.
The outgoing rector stated that the institution, which took off in 2015, was ranked among the best in Nigeria, running the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes.
Also speaking, the guest lecturer, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, described Fasakin as humble, hardworking and diligent.
Ajibefun, a former Vice Chancellor of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, said that the outgoing rector had been able to develop the polytechnic as an institution admired by all.
According to him, through Fasakin, the institution has been put on the right path in pursuing its mission and vision.
He added that within eight years of the institution’s establishment, the polytechnic had overtaken its three other contemporaries.
“Prof. Fasakin has provided exemplary leadership, working with stakeholders to develop it to an enviable institution of today.
“It is very obvious that Fasakin has guided the core values of the institution.
“The polytechnic will rank among the best three in Nigeria in future going by the foundation laid by Fasakin,” he stated.
Ajibefun implored the nation’s leadership to give total autonomy to higher institutions for better results.
He said that bad leadership had caused grave havoc to education system in the country.
Also, Prof. Adebisi Balogun, the Chairman of the occasion said that Fasakin had made the polytechnic a beauty where teaching and learning were taking place.
Balogun asked the incoming rector to build on the good foundation laid by the pioneer rector.
Others at the occasion are were Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Gbenga Ale and a former Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Ali Olanusi.