Discussing Science and Technology with Students
How better can one honour a man who provided the atmosphere that encouraged the passionate pursuit of excellence? It’s my dad’s birthday today, and I thought agreeing to share thoughts with students of the College of Science and Technology at Covenant University (one of Nigeria’s private universities) was a good way to extend what he helped me get. Arriving at about 1:45pm, the warm welcome helped to get rid of the frustration that crawled out of the car with me (no thanks to traffic situation from Lagos to Ota).
It was the usual student conference atmosphere but one that made me remember Electronic Week 2001, which I helped plan while I was a student at the Obafemi Awolowo University. My participation at the Tech Week 2008 is now past (and you can get the presentation I made here) but I was excited to know that the students will be exhibiting their projects almost all day tomorrow. In a country where students have become experts at copy and paste, it is only exciting to hear that the problem I posed to the group had actually been solved — and the students will demonstrate the solution (taming traffic issues through ICT applications) tomorrow.
One of the major highlights of the day was when the professor who made a presentation ahead of me asked a few questions (after I took my seat) and we discovered he was my uncle! Discussing with the students provided another opportunity for me to bare my mind about the role of young people in any nation’s development, especially in places where the government is busy looking for the budget (duh, it must be somewhere between the Executive and Legislative chambers) or blaming everyone possible for the increasingly embarrassing power (actually, the lack of it) situation. I look forward to the other meetings I have with students in other locations…
Oga,
We lost touch but your thought is always with me. Things have been so busy here with me.
Happy Birthday to your Dad.
I never got to hear about the Ajegunle.org training again but I learnt it has been done. Hope to still be involved with your org.
cheers.
Bola Oni
[...] Add these words of the school’s Chancellor, Dr. David Oyedepo, and you will understand why I was excited to speak to the school’s students on April 3 (see blog post here): “We are committed to producing a new generation of leaders who will positively impact their nations, the African continent and the world at large.†One more, the vision of the College of Science and Technology: “To produce a new generation of competent, skilled and innovative professionals who are able to pioneer excellence that translates into the good life for all Africans.†The Chancellor is not new to Nigerians, and the feat he accomplished with what has been severally described as the auditorium with the largest space in the world. As a professional architect and a man who has never been bound by the status quo, one is not surprised at the story that he insisted that the structure could be erected even though some people said it was impossible at the time. [...]