By: Tunde OLOFINTILA
When the Immediate Past President of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, Engineer Isaac Olorunfemi, dubbed the Engineering Programme of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD’s) a template for Engineering education in Nigeria in June last year, hardly did he know that he was sowing a seed of prophesy.
Shortly after that prophetic utterance, apart from the fact that many universities in Nigeria have been coming to see the towering triumph of Technology that ABUAD’s Engineering typifies and make use of the world-class equipment in its 37 Engineering laboratories, students and alumni of the College have been carting home national and international Awards, laurels, commendations and encomiums as well as recognitions.
The latest of these commendable achievements was the recent appointment of Oghenetejiri Odjighoro, a 2015 First Class graduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering of ABUAD, who was employed as an Assistant Engineer by the Lagos-based Huawei Technologies Limited, a leading multinational Networking and Telecommunications Equipment and Services company.
The stuff Odjighoro was made of glowed very early in her life as a student in ABUAD with her expertise in Valued Added Programme in her College which exposed her to Basic Programming skills in C++, C#, MATLAB and LabView in addition to Microsoft packages of Office, Excel, Power-Point and Outlook. No wonder she won the Lady of the Year Award by the Nigerian University Engineering Students Association (NUESA) in 2015, SPDC Joint Venture University Scholarship Award (2010-2015), Afe Babalola University Founder’s Merit Award (2010-2015) and Pan Ocean University Internship Programme and Scholarship Award (2014) as well as Professional Certification in General and Advanced (Level 3) Health Safety and Environment (HSE) by Deslog Energy Services.
In her December 12, 2016 letter of appreciation to the University, Odjighoro was full of effusive and lavish praise for ABUAD Founder, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, the Management and staff of the University for empowering her with all the skills, including the studying of Chinese language, she needed to succeed and excel in her chosen career of Engineering.
Her words: “I would like to start by thanking the Founder of my Alma Mata, Aare Afe Babalola, the Management and staff of ABUAD for empowering me with the knowledge and skills that have enabled me not only to stand, but also to thrive above my peers in the work force”.
She added: “Today, I am a staff of Huawei Technologies, a leading multinational Networking and Telecommunications company, an appointment which would not have been possible without the practical and noteworthy skills bestowed upon me especially through the Afe Language programme.
“In Huawei, the skill of speaking or understanding Chinese, albeit not necessarily important, proved an added advantage to me. This was made possible through the Afe Language Programme which I undertook in 2012 where I learned Chinese from seasoned lecturers. During my interview, I wowed the panel which consisted of three Chinese men with my knowledge of basic Chinese. One of these three men later became my Supervisor.
“For them, it was not about the depth of understanding or the fluency of speaking, it was simply the availability of the skill and the confidence to deploy it effortlessly. This, I believe swayed the appointment in my favour”
Odjighoro stressed that with just one year after graduation, she has fully appreciated Babalola’s vision of breeding top tier students who embody numerous and varied skills as well as proficiency that will enable them stand out in all fields of human endeavour.
“I am filled with respect and adulation for my Founder (Babalola) and the (pioneer) Provost, College of Engineering, Prof. Israel E. Owolabi, who worked tirelessly to raise students worthy of the title ‘Engineers’. It is truly an honor to be called an Alumnus of such a great institution”, Odjighoro, who had earlier worked as an Assistant Head of Programming with Lovettes Bit Company, an Entertainment-based company, concluded.
Earlier feats by ABUAD Engineering students include when its “Team LifeWatch”, the inventor of AsthmaVisor, emerged fourth out of the five teams nominated for Imagine Cup Ability Award in the 2015 edition of Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition in Seattle, United States of America, on account of the potential impact their projects could have on the lives of people with disabilities and design principles, usability and potential in the market place.
After the four-some of Adeyemo Oluwaseun Kayode, Raymond Obinaju, Sobola Timilehin David, and Ahwin Kevin shook the world with their AsthmaVisor, an Alumnus of the University, Engr. Olamide Popoola, led “Team Nigeria” to win the 2016 edition of the Unilever Idea Trophy in Category Number 1 Award for “Authentically on Brand, Relevant to target Audience and Drives Talkability and Shareability (A.R.T)” in the United Kingdom.
Oluwaseye Bolaji Oguntuase, a 500 Level Mechanical Engineering student of ABUAD capped it all up when he won the 1st National Engineering Students’ Competition in Abuja on June 30, 2016 with his project, titled “Autonomous Pipeline leakage in the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria” beat 36 other contestants from the country’s six geo-political zones in a competition organized by the Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology of Nigerian Universities (CODET).
Olofintila wrote from Ado-Ekiti