THE Polytechnic Ibadan has received a grant worth N200 million courtesy of the Oyo State government to fund capital projects, accreditation exercises and improve the general state of the institution.
Professor Kazeem Adekunle Adebiyi, the rector of the institution, disclosed this during a press briefing to showcase the mechanical ventilator and automatic hand washing machines invested by the Mechatronics Department of the polytechnic.
This was part of it’s the institution’s efforts to complement the state and the federal government’s measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
He noted that the last time the institution benefitted from such support from the state government was in 2009.
“We decided to give meeting with Governor Seyi Makinde over the issue a trial, after a serious deliberation, we presented our case to him and to our uttermost surprise he granted all our requests and we got his approval for a grant worth N200 million, which till date is like a miracle to us,” the visibly excited rector said.
Aside from the grant, Professor Adebiyi said the polytechnic also secured the approval to run HND in Mechatronics Engineering, with two options in automobile and industrial.
According to him, The Polytechnic Ibadan is the only institution to have achieved this feat in the whole of the South-West.
“For more than three years, we have not able to secure approval for this programme because we didn’t have the adequate equipment required. Recently, we received a letter from the NBTE (National Board for Technical Education Board) that we passed all our accreditation test in 13 programmes, including another three profession courses, making 16 in all, while others are slated for September this year and July, 2021,” the rector said.
He said the money given to the institution had been judiciously utilised in the procurement of new equipment, renovation of dilapidated structures, repair and replacement of facilities, procurement of furniture, computers, vehicles, among others, in almost all the departments of the institution.
On what prompted the institution to invent a mechanical ventilator and automatic hand washer, the rector said “when the issue of pandemic started, we decided to bring something to the table as a citadel of technological innovation by starting with the mass production of hand sanitisers and face mask and today we have been able to come up with two automatic hand washing machines and a ventilator.”
The head of research and production team and Mechatronics Department, Mr Kamarudeen Olaiya, in his remarks revealed that while building the ventilator, the team worked in conjunction with Dr Adebayo Oluwaseun, a consultant from the University College Hospital (UCH).
Members of the research team in the production of the mechanical ventilator and automatic hand washing machines were Messrs Kamarudeen Olaiya, Oladeji Olanrele, Tolulope Olukokun, Abulraman Bello, Babatunde Sanusi, Olalekan Azeez and Israel Ajayeoba.
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