Thursday 26 July 2018

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE VICE-CHANCELLOR AT THE THIRD EMINENT PERSONS BUSINESS LECTURE SERIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Professor Idowu Olayinka, VC, University of Ibadan
It gives me great pleasure to welcome all guests to the Third Eminent Persons Business Lecture Series of the University of Ibadan School of Business which will be delivered by the notable entrepreneur, the Chairman, Dangote Foundation and a great friend, benefactor and honorary graduand of the University of Ibadan, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, GCON.

The University of Ibadan has been running a flagship programme of Master of Business Administration in the Department of Economics since the early 1980s. This programme has turned out to be highly regarded with the products found in various segments of the economy both locally and internationally. In order to expand the scope of the programme it was decided by the Senate of the University to establish a School of Business. The UISB was subsequently approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) during the last quarter of 2015.

Some notable activities of the University of Ibadan School of Business
The UISB has recorded many important accomplishments under since inception. Most importantly the University of Ibadan brand has rubbed off positively on the school making it very attractive to quality students, lecturers, industry players, corporate Nigeria as well as international and local partners. Hence UISB is emerging as a powerful UI Sub-brand for attracting and engaging cooperate Nigeria.

The vision of UISB is to be the most preferred fountain of knowledge in business education, research and management. With a mission to produce internationally competitive, development-oriented, first-rate economic policy and corporate managers, as well as entrepreneurs that can propel not only national and regional development in particular, but also productive integration of the African continent into the global economy.

The school has carried out a number of important strategic and innovative activities in pursuit of these visions and mission. These include the following:

1. Partnerships and collaboration
UISB has cultivated mutually beneficial and strategic partnerships with key players in both public and private sector at national, regional and international levels. These engagements are to ensure that UISB’s curricula and service delivery systems are ‘customer’ focused and world class. The school has active and operational MOUs with the following organizations i) Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) ii) Digital Bridge Institute under the ministry of Communication iii) the Centre for Educational Management Research (CEMAR), iv International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) amongst others.

2. Curriculum Development
With inputs from our national and international partners UISB has developed curricula that have been approved by the university senate and NUC for the following programs.

Degree Programmes
(a) Academic Degree Programmes
UISB offers academic programmes leading to the award of the following academic degrees
i. Master of Science (Business);
ii. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) or Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).

(b) Professional Degree Programme
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
This can be earned through full-time or part-time windows, viz
 Regular (full-time) MBA;
 Executive (Part-time) MBA.

(c) Non- Degree (Outreach) Programmes
These encompass all short-term courses and/or training programmes leading to the award of the following:
i. Diploma in Business Administration (DBA);
ii. Certificate in Business Administration (CBA);
iii. Certificate of Attendance (Seminars, Workshops, courses of very short duration)


3. International students staff exchange
The school has developed collaborations with a number of foreign institutions and international organization for the purpose of facilitating both students and staff exchange. Some of our students have benefited from these international experiences and exposures as part of their training.

4. Eminent Person Lectures:
The school has been running this a unique town-gown lecture platform where important dignitaries interact with our students and the university community to discuss issues of national importance. Past eminent lecturers include former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

5. Consultancy
UISB offers two major types of solicited (client-requested) or proposed consultancy services
i. Off-site;
ii. On-site (at clients’ premises)

6. Research
UISB engages in:
i. Policy research;
ii. Organizational/operations analysis;

7. NUC Resource Accreditation: UISB is the first and only school of business in Nigeria that has such official government endorsement through NUC accreditation process.

The first in the Eminent Persons Lecture Series of the UI School of Business was delivered by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria themed “Agricbusiness: Time to Act is now” in 2016 while the second lecture themed “Maximizing the Potentials of the Telecommunications Industry for Reversing the Recession of the Economic Growth of Nigeria” was delivered by the notable politician, Barrister AbdulRaheem Adebayo Shittu, the Honourable Minister of Communications in 2017.

The Chairman of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is to deliver the 3rd Eminent Person Lecture of the University of Ibadan School of Business UISB today, Wednesday, 25 July, 2018. The title of his lecture is “A Case for Backward Integration”.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as we all know is an outstanding boardroom executive and a graduate of Al-Azahar University, Egypt, and the founder and President/Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group, the largest conglomerate in West Africa.

The group, at present, has presence in at least 17 African Countries and is a market leader in African countries and is a market leader in cement on the continent. One of the Group’s subsidiaries, Dangote, is the largest listed company in West Africa and is the first Nigerian company to join the Forbes Global 2000 companies’ list.

The group’s four subsidiaries: Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour, Nasco Allies Industries account for 35% of the capitalization of the Nigerian stock exchange.

The overall objective of the lecture is to deepen the application of business principles and practices in the management of the national economy.

This occasion will also be used to officially commission the multi-million naira Aliko Dangote Complex at the University of Ibadan School of Business (UISB) at Ajibode extension of the institution. We cannot thank Alhaji Aliko Dangote, GCON, enough for his assistance to the University of Ibadan with this donation. The turning of the sod of the building complex was done in July 2017 while actual construction started the following month. We are extremely delighted with the speed with which the project has been completed. We wish Alhaji Aliko Dangote good health and more successes in his business endeavours. We trust that he will continue to partner with his university, the University of Ibadan.

We also use this occasion to appeal to other well-meaning philantrophists to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in assisting the University of Ibadan so that we are able to continue to discharge our core mandates of teaching, research and community service to this nation in particular and humanity in general.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Idowu Olayinka
Vice-Chancellor
University of Ibadan
Ibadan

Wednesday, 25th July, 2018


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