The Advocates for Social Justice for All (ASJA) and Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation (CCSOT) has passed a vote of confidence on Chief Executive Officer, Metallurgical Training Institute, Mr. Olabode Fakuade.
According to both civil society organisations, the CEO has recorded tremendous strides since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Established in 1981, MTI is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, mandated to train Nigerians in the area of maintenance engineering with the aim of fast-tracking technological development.
After over three decades of neglect and mismanagement of funds, MTI has witnessed a reawakening in terms of infrastructural development and purposeful leadership, thanks to Mr Fakuade.
At a press conference on Thursday and statement co-signed by Joseph Gamji Guona and Boluwaji Bewaji ASJA’s Executive Director and CCSOT’s Secretary-General respectively, both groups expressed utter shock at recent calumny campaign against the CEO.
The CSOs said this plot is “nothing but the handiwork of distractors who are not happy with the multiple gains that are being recorded in the Institute and the fact that he is not an indigene of the locality”.
Under Mr Fakuade’s tutelage, the group revealed that MTI achieved an unprecedented level of growth, “evident in the fact that the MTI avails various calibres of Nigerians the opportunity to acquire technical education that provides for necessary skills for gainful employment, self-employment, and job creation.”
The Advocates for Social Justice for All and the Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation is conversant, therefore, warned distractors to desist from such acts so the Chief Executive Officer can effectively carry out the mandate given by Mr. President.
They further asked that Mr Fakuade be allowed to function effectively in line with President Buhari’s principle of merit and hard work over mediocrity and ethnic bigotry.
Read full statement below:
We wish to state that since the assumption of office of Mr. Olabode Fakuade as the director and Chief Executive Officer of the MTI, the Institute has indeed reclaimed its spot as one of Nigeria’s foremost training institute. This much is evident in the numerous achievements that have been recorded in the annals of the Institute in recent times.
The MTI under the leadership of Mr. Olabode Fakuade has witnessed an unprecedented level of growth that is evident in the fact that the MTI avails various calibers of Nigerians the opportunity to acquire technical education that provides for necessary skills for gainful employment, self-employment, and job creation.
Under the leadership of Mr. Olabode Fakuade, the Institute has witnessed unprecedented infrastructural development as about 600 meters of deep concrete drains have been constructed to link the tunnel adjoining Onitsha-Owerri Expressway to channel erosion water, training equipment/ facilities upgraded and students hostels are witnessing total rehabilitation.
The Institute is taking advantage of the solar power system as an alternative source of energy supply both to our workshops to boost training activities as well as the offices for efficient service delivery. The Institute has also witnessed the constant training and retraining by undertaking capacity building programmes to improve their efficiency at work.
The attacks on the person of the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI is unwarranted and unnecessary given the fact that the allegations are not only baseless, but of poor taste, and can be best described as a distractive exercise aimed at making the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI lose focus from the task at hand.
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