The ebullient and highly resourceful founder of the fast growing Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has come a long way in his journey through life, and his veering into contributing immensely to the growth and development of education in Nigeria.
In this special interview with pinpointnews, Dr. BUSAYO AJAYI shared his experience, and bared his mind on what it takes to make dreams become realities. Excerpts …
Can we please meet you sir?
Yes, by the grace of God, I am Dr Busayo Ajayi, the founder and Proprietor of the Ajayi Polytechnic, in Ekiti.
Let’s have an insight into your early life, and your journey so far in the academia
Thank you for that question. I want to say i started entrepreneurship journey as a teenager. After my first degree, i almost lost focus due to wrong orientation and bandwagon syndrome. Before gaining admission to the University, my dream was to become a successful entrepreneur, create job for thousands, and contribute meaningfully to the society, through social entrepreneurial initiatives.
Unfortunately, we saw higher institutions as just a platform to acquire certificates and not as a platform to gain the required knowledge, skills and behaviours that can shape us, in showcasing our potentials. We tend to believe that the purpose of acquiring University degree was to obtain certificate that would give us job. This bad orientation indicates that something was missing somewhere. After my first degree, like many other graduates, i lost focus, drop my dream of becoming job creator, to become job seeker. I was able to secure employment, but despite been lucky to secure job, i wasn’t comfortable. I always had the feelings that something was missing. I believed that there was something wrong. I then decided to travel to United Kingdom for further studies, after 2 years of employment in Nigeria.
The Education i acquired in England assisted me to rediscover myself. I was able to acquire the required skills, knowledge and behaviour that assisted me in becoming the person i dreamt to become. My experience in life and passion towards ensuring that more people do not become victims of the societal orientation, my desire to gain more knowledge, on how to help individuals to achieve their dream of becoming job creators, fulfilling destiny and acquiring skills that can make them become successful entrepreneurs made me to pursue a PhD degree in Entrepreneurship at University of Essex, United Kingdom. After my PhD studies, i decided to seek God’s face for direction on the next thing to do. It was at that stage that i received the vision to establish higher and further educational institution as a platform to provide inclusive education to individuals towards becoming successful entrepreneurs, innovators, and raise job creators with necessary skills to provide solutions to economic problems of nations.
I am excited that we are making impact on this. Today, one of my dreams that became a reality, is Ajayi Polytechnic, a private polytechnic, established to raise giants through inclusive entrepreneurship and innovative technological education. If I must be frank, entrepreneurship and Innovation education is now inevitable, judging by the number that are graduating from institutions of higher learning in the last few years with at least, 60 to 70 percent of them unemployed, either because they are unemployable or other deficiencies. We believe that our entrance into the educational sector at this point would assist in plugging the dysfunctional tertiary education in Nigeria, which had over the years resulted in graduates that are not adequately prepared to face the challenges of building their entrepreneurial capabilities. At Ajayi Polytechnic, we are determined to train, produce technical and skilled manpower that will become industrial giants, and providers of solutions to the myrads of economic problems of nations.
Towards this end, we seek to provide education that will develop skills, knowledge, behaviour, abilities, entrepreneurial mindset and understanding attitudes in our graduates. We have evolved procedures that would inculcate acceptable work habits in our graduates in line with the best practice anywhere in the world, and shall continue to follow-up on those procedures. The Polytechnic was approved and licensed to operate by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), in May 2017.
The institution have all the necessary approvals and fulfils procedures of Ekiti State Government’s Education Ministry, the National Business and Technical Education (NABTEB), in Technical and Vocational Training, as well as Certification in September, 2018. The vision of the Polytechnic is to raise giants and produce skilled technicians, and managers who are entrepreneurially driven. This is set to be achieved through inclusive entrepreneurship and innovative technological education.The objectives of the Polytechnic which over the years, the institution has worked tirelessly to achieve include; to train and produce giants who will be able to develop the skills needed for promoting businesses based on technology.
It is also to provide well trained workforce in the field of business, applied science, engineering, and technology, to provide necessary technical knowledge and skills for the nation’s agriculture, industrial, commercial and economic development, while also providing the required training and skills that will equip the students to be enterprising and realise their self-worth. We are also out to provide necessary training, in appropriate vocational skills that will make individuals to be self-reliant, gainfully employed or become an employer of labour/job creator, and provide improvement in technical education through consistent research and development, as well as establish regular contact with other institutions and organisations globally. The Polytechnic started with Five approved programmes that includes; ND ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING, ND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, ND STATISTICS, ND COMPUTER SCIENCE and ND ACCOUNTANCY. In the Year 2022, the Institution accredited additional courses, which are: ND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, ND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, ND SCIENCE LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY and Higher National Diploma Programmes in ACCOUNTANCY and COMPUTER SCIENCE.
Can you highlight some of the policies and programmes that have been put in place to sustain the current tempo of quality education for which Ajayi Polytechnic is known for?
Yes. In a bid to continue to improve the quality of education in the Polytechnic, the Institution put in place policies and programmes that have greatly helped in achieving the vision of the Institution. Some of these policies are; approving and inculcating compulsory skill acquisition programmes in the curriculum of the Polytechnic, which has made it compulsory that before any student can graduate and be certified to have graduated from the Polytechnic, such a student must have acquired at least, one skill and be able to demonstrate such skill in a practical manner that the skill in question required. Some of the available skills are: LAPTOP REPAIRS, PHONE REPAIRS, FASHION DESIGNS, COSMETOLOGY, SOLAR INSTALLATION, GRAPHICS DESIGNS, DATA ANALYSIS, COMPUTER PROGRAMMING (using several languages) and WEB DESIGNING, to mention but a few. It has also become a standing policy at the Polytechnic that no Faculty member will be employed without first having at the minimum, a Masters Degree or already on it with glaring evidence.
The Council of the Polytechnic believes so strongly that policies such as these, would ordinarily help improve the quality of education in the Institution and many of the Faculty members employed are already researchers in the making. The policy of the Polytechnic also has it that, entrepreneurship training and seminars are infused into the curriculum, such that students are often given projects on starting a mini business and going through the entrepreneurial processes of sustaining the business.What I call Soft Skills are also infused into the curriculum of the Polytechnic so as to mould well rounded students that can compete with their colleagues in the labour market, anywhere.
Personal development of our students is very important to us. We monitor the students personal development. The management too do monitor the impact of our programmes from time to time. The Polytechnic also has a firm policy on Internship and SIWES programmes. All our students are exposed to internship within the campus and outside the campus, through the ITF SIWES programmes, which enables them acquire work experience before they graduate. Our impact is feasible despite that we are not making noise about it. Our survey revealed that non of our graduates is unemployed after completing their education with us. There’s no way you will complete your studies at Ajayi Polytechnic, and become liability to the society. We are raising solution providers, not problem compounders. The fact that we are being noticed and recognised despite that we are not making noise about our strides is encouraging and this is motivating us to do more. We are more determined to sustain our achievements.
Despite the challenges that are involved in managing Higher Institutions at this trying period of Nigeria’s economy, Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti has been able to maintain it’s corporate values, can you ascribe to this feat?
Early this year, we won an integrity award from a very reputable source.We did not even know that we were being noticed. This further attests to the fact that we are genuinely maintaining our corporate integrity, vision and mission. From the onset, we resolved to do things in a different way. We are creating our own brand. We are innovative and we have continued to encourage our students to also think alike creatively and innovatively, so that they and the institution can stay ahead of the industry. We resolved not to compromise our integrity as an institution, we conduct our business with utmost transparency, with zero tolerance to student molestation, extortion, harassment and other vices that currently pervades many institutions in Nigeria. We are student-centred in terms of course delivery, policy making and infrastructural development.
Little wonder that i declared 50% scholarship for students during this period to help them have access to quality education.Excellence is important to us as an institution, and more importantly as a brand, we strive hard to continuously improve the quality of delivery for our students so that they can compete with their counterparts anywhere.
In terms of technology and infrastructure, what makes your institution so outstanding, and a place to be for students seeing world class education?
The Polytechnic is outstanding because we can boast that we have modern, World class and state-of-the-art Laboratories for Engineering, Sciences and Technology programmes. We get commendations from accreditation teams anytime they come over to check our resources. We boast of reliable, high-speed internet connectivity across the campus. We also operate one of the most reliable CBT hub in the country. Besides, we have an extensive online library with access to Open Access Resources- Journals and Textbooks. Our physical library is well stocked with latest academic resources.We have specialised Laboratory for programming, software engineering and data science. Our Engineering Workshops are well-equipped for hands-on training.
How would you advise stakeholders in the education sector on how to improve on the quality of education generally in Nigeria?
Improving the quality of education, especially polytechnic education in Nigeria, requires a collaborative effort from stakeholders. The Government needs to increase the funding of education, particularly Polytechnics, by allowing private polytechnics to access TETFUND. If you look at it, the number of private Polytechnics in Nigeria keeps increasing on daily basis and students going to these schools are Nigerians who will in turn come back to contribute their quota to the economy of Nigeria after graduation.
The government needs to partner with private polytechnics, so that students that choose to attend private polytechnics will not be at a disadvantage. We should correct the narrative that only students from rich family enroll in private institutions. This is not true. It will interest you to note that almost all public institutions school fees are even more than Ajayi polytechnic school fees. I challenge you to do your research on this. You will discover that the fee we charge students at Ajayi Polytechnic is not up to the amount public polytechnics do collect from their students. The Polytechnic owners and management also need to prioritize academic excellence in their entire citadels of learning by investing in their faculty, the institution itself and the delivery of curriculum, so that the polytechnic products can compete favourably with their counterparts from other levels of education. We need to ensure that we are developing our students’ knowledge, skills and behaviour.
We should stop making students think that higher institutions are certificates factory. One of the reasons why we are facing economy challenges in the country is because, majority of the stakeholders in education sector are not doing the right thing. The Industry should also be invited to collaborate on curriculum development in order to have a robust curriculum that can cater for the needs of the industry, thereby producing graduates that are employable. All institutions need to genuinely imbibe entrepreneurship training, students personal development, including soft and hard skills acquisition. They should also provide internship assistance to polytechnic students, especially during SIWES, or Industrial Attachment, so that they can gain more practical experience.
What opportunities exist for students of Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti to compete favourably, or enjoy benefits on the international stage?
We ensure that all our students acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviour that will make them to be employable in any part of the world. Some of our students are working for companies out of the country. All students at Ajayi Polytechnic Ikere Ekiti, have the opportunity to graduate, alongside their ND or HND certificate, at least, one professional certification in CISCO, MICROSOFT, ORACLE and COMPUTERISED, or ACCOUNTING.
All students in Ajayi Polytechnic must acquire at least one trade, before they graduate under the institution’s skill acquisition programme. They are also exposed to international collaboration through the Entrepreneurship Programme of the institution. We work in partnership with various international institutions. We have been using this partnerships and collaborations in providing platforms for our students to network, form strong ties, and learning from other countries towards building the capacity to compete globally. To ensure that less privileged students are not at disadvantage, we do organise scholarship opportunities for students coming into the polytechnic of up to 50% of their tuition.
What advice do you have for prospective applicants who are desirous of making the Institution their Polytechnic of choice?
In Ajayi Polytechnic Ikere-Ekiti, we are committed to raising the giant in you through inclusive entrepreneurship and skill acquisition programmes that will make you a sure employer of Labour, after your graduation from the Institution. The Polytechnic also have conducive environment for learning and cutting edge equipment that makes practical fun and easily understandable. If you have entrepreneurial mind-set, thinking of becoming employer of labour, or determined to ensure that you are not unemployed after completing higher institution, at Ajayi Polytechnic, we can guarantee you that 100% success rate. We carried out survey on our graduates’ destination and we are proud to let the whole world know that no Ajayi Polytechnic graduate is unemployed after graduation.
We are determined to sustain this achievement. You will gain all the required knowledge, skills and behaviour that will either make you to set up sustainable business and become employer of labour, or put you in the position to be employable in any part of the world. The scholarship programme available in the Polytechnic also offers interested candidates, the opportunity to have access to quality and affordable education.
It is with all these in mind that I therefore urge those interested in becoming great in life to apply via ajayipolytechnic.edu.ng, or visit our website @ www. ajayipolytechnic.edu.ng, or also reach the school on following dedicated phone numbers; 09066828205 or 09067665924
