The outgoing Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has urged students and staff to expose themselves to the opportunity provided by Nord Automobile Ltd, to enhance their relevance in the job space.
Ogundipe stated this at the unveiling of the Nord Automotive Complex at the university on Thursday in Lagos.
Newsmen reports that the institution and Nord signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 14, to set up an automobile manufacturing hub on the campus.
It was gathered that Nord automobile is an indigenous automobile company with headquarters in Lagos, established out of the need for a remarkable made-in- Nigeria brand.
Speaking further, Ogundipe stated that the project would further increase the scope of research and development in the university.
According to him, the MoU is an alignment with the call by President Muhammadu Buhari to expose students in various fields of engineering and others to practical experience.
“This project will be a remarkable one as we expect that it will also improve our research and development activities. Not only will staff and students benefit from its presence, the university will also benefit from this.
“This is because our staff too will also have collaboration with our micro finance bank.
He added that already, the automobile company had signed an agreement with the Nigeria Air Force in the manufacturing of drones.
According to him, this is the first time any Nigerian university will have a collaboration with an automobile company.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nord automobile, Mr Oluwatobi Ajayi said that research and development is the bedrock of advancement in any country and must be taken seriously.
According to him, technology and industrialisation is the way to go and that a country with the size of Nigeria cannot afford to be an importing nation in the 21st century.
He described the automobile assembly plant as a new era where research and development would meet world class technology and a beginning of great things to come.
“What we are doing today is also to create jobs, increase research output and improve learning for not only the students, but also the staff.
In his brief remarks, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu lauded both the university and the automobile company for the initiative, describing it as the way to go.
The governor, who was represented by Mrs Lola Akande, Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Lagos state, expressed optimism that the brand would become more popular.
He urged automobile stakeholders to join hands in popularising the Nord brand.
