Since the establishment of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) forty years ago, no Governor has ever attended the institution’s convocation. But Governor Ambode broke the jinx on Thursday, March 9, 2017 by not only attending the convocation but also dazzling the students, lecturers and officials of LASPOTECH with pledges.
He approved the construction of another main auditorium, administration block, furnishing and equipping of newly built school of technology, renovation of sports complex to attain world standard and the face lifting of facilities within the polytechnic complex.
The Governor did not stop at that. He, not only promised to fund the drone a plane like object made by the Lagos State Polytechnic students and staff but he also said that the drone when completed, would be used by the state government for aerial surveillance in the state. Amidst applause from the students and polytechnic officials, the atmosphere was enveloped with joy.
The students were intermittently hailing the Governor for approving the projects which were first of its kind and for blazing the trail never seen during or before convocation in the school’s history in the last twenty five (25) years.
In his speech, Governor Ambode stated that the institution, which is now forty years occupied a special place among state owned polytechnics in the country. According to him, all hands must be on deck to build the school’s success to make the centre of excellence in technological education and research. He said that with the emerging mega-city status of Lagos, tertiary institutions and services in the state must be of acceptable global standards. The Governor said that this was important for the state to compete favourably with other mega cities in the world.In his words, “Lagos State Polytechnic must rise to the challenge of meeting the technical manpower requirement of both the public and private sectors in not just Lagos State but in the whole nation.
“We must rise above just providing education for the sake of acquiring a certificate of providing knowledge, which will empower our youths to become champions of their generation, to chart their own course and establish enterprises that will create jobs and generate wealth for all.
Speaking further, Governor Ambode said that he would give priority to education as a significant portion of the budget every year would be allocated to education. He said that a citadel of learning was as equally important as its learning environment in terms of infrastructure, academic and administrative faculties.
He disclosed that his government has invested massively in upgrading the infrastructure and other learning tools in all the tertiary institutions including LASPOTECH. The Governor also explained that the ultimate goal in investment in tertiary institutions in Lagos State is beyond meeting the requirements for accreditation of courses and it was to ensure that tertiary education in the state becomes a bench mark in Nigeria. He said the aim was to rank comparatively with global institutions and to produce the leaders of tomorrow.
In his speech earlier, LASPOTECH Rector, Samuel, Sogunro commended Ambode for having passion for education while observing that he was the first Governor to participate in the institutions convocation in the last twenty seven years. He said that the Governor raised the institution’s monthly subvention from N153.731million to N210 million inspite of the prevailing economic situation in the country.
For the accreditation of cours
es billed to take place in the institution, Shogunro also noted that the governor allocated N750 million for the school, among other interventions.
For the overall graduands, a total of nine thousand, two hundred and twenty eight students (9,228) graduated from thirty two departments with two hundred and seventy three (273) of them bagging distinctions.
The Governor offered the overall best graduating student, Ejire Adedolapo Abdul-Lazeez, from the school of pure and applied sciences instant employment in the Civil Service.
