Dr. Ayo Adeyemi, Managing Director, Lorache Consulting Firm, member of The Federal Polytechnic Offa Governing Council representing Alumni and current President of Federal Polytechnic Offa Alumni Association. With his inspiring and generous personality, Ayo Adeyemi leads FEDPOFFA Alumni Association with a new and dynamic vision of engaging its members to support the association by giving back to their Alma Mater, being a good role model to the society and ensuring peace in his alma mater, he shared a mind blowing and intriguing thoughts about the formation, challenges and progress of FEDPOFFA Alumni Association…
Please, kindly introduce yourself, sir.
RESPONSE: Thank you, my name is Ayo Adeyemi, I’m a graduate of the Federal Polytechnic Offa and I am the Managing Director of Lorache Consulting, HR management consultancy firm and it has been run for close to 20 years now and I am also involved in many other things that brings progress to individuals and corporate organization’s relevance.
Since when have you been acting as Alumni President sir?
RESPONSE: The story of the Alumni Association is one that needs a lot of time to tell, but in a nutshell, I emerged as the Chairman steering committee with four other people, making a total of five of us at the initial stage. When the idea to commence work on the formation of the Alumni Association began. A few years after, we tried to commence the process, and the process culminated into my being the protem President of the Association from being the Chairman of the Steering Committee, a position that was later ratified by the congress at that time for the purpose of the registration. Once we were able to do the registration, we were to conduct the first election of the Association in which I participated and emerged as the first elected, pioneer President of the Alumni Association and that has been my responsibility till date and I must say that it has been an interesting and challenging journey altogether.
Since your assumption as President, what have been your achievements so far sir?
RESPONSE: Talking about achievements since assumption or taking up this assignment, one of the things I will say has been the greatest achievements is to have started from nowhere to where we are now as an association, it is always tough and challenging to start a new idea, a business, a new process, it was really tough starting without anything, without any idea of where we will move from even sourcing money to even take off some few assignments at that time was so tough but we started together with the few people that believed in the project, who believed that we can make something out of nothing. So, one of the greatest achievements is that we now have what we call the Federal Polytechnic Offa Alumni Association and then it goes further from there. What are the responsibilities of the association? It’s basically to see how we can give back to our Alma mater and see to the welfare of its members and that is what we have been doing, but beyond that just to mention a few other things, we have been able to donate books to the library of the school and also been able to support some students when it comes to the area of welfare and some other things in terms of school fees and also we’ve been able to support some of the Alumnus in diverse areas especially when it comes to medical issues that is brought to our attention. And one of the major priorities of our administration that we tried so much on was the rebranding. You will agree with me that the Federal Polytechnic Offa was known far and wide, but what was it known for? When most people talked about the school, it was usually a bit on the negative side and they try to share the sentiment about things that seems not to be right about some of the students as well. But we were positioned to see that we can change that narrative and that is why we always tried to engage the school and ensured we got some of those information across to them, get the right information and then redistribute such corrective information across different platforms. One other we achieved was our bringing about an improvement in the relationship between the Polytechnic community and the town of course. You will remember several years back, there was an incident clash between the students and the community on a day that has been celebrated mournfully and with bile. The Alumni intervened and started using the day to propagate peace, and that is why today, the usual MAY 8 celebration has been turned around to be an annual public lecture, a platform through which we preach peace by bringing all stakeholders together to chart a course for everlasting peace.
Also, we have been able to build an office, a National Secretariat Office for the Alumni Association which gives us a representation on the campus, which means that any Alumnus can come in there and be attended to for whatever thing they require. That is very essential for us, because beyond the fact that we exist, we must also have a presence on the campus and it pleases me to also say that at different points, the Alumni Association was able to support and make donations to the community as well, especially when the army barracks was being been built. We made donations to that effect and as well as to some other things we have also done in the community. Presently, we are working to ensure that we refurbish and upgrade the sporting facility on campus and this is will be at a huge amount running to about a N100million and we are hopeful that with all efforts and support we can get this achieved.
There are no successes without challenges, what are the challenges you are facing as Alumni President?
RESPONSE: Talking about the challenges, of course, yes, every responsibility comes with challenges and I must say that it has been a very tough one like I mentioned earlier, starting from ground zero. We invited people to come together to see how we can even bring the idea of an Alumni Association to life, that in itself was a challenge. Scaling up from there, looking for resources to even get the Association we started to run effectively was another challenge. We had the challenge of the management not willing and ready for the Alumni Association to take off. Even though they promised to be ready, but you know, we came cross yet another hurdle with change in leadership of the Institution at a different point, that itself was another challenge. And then getting the buy-in of members was another challenge. You know people want good things but they don’t like it when it is not looking like it and when it is not looking real. Everybody wants to be a part of the success but nobody wants to go through the process of achieving the success. So, you can imagine when you call on people and they tend to say, yes, it is a good idea but they look away when it comes to financial obligations. I must also say, that that has been a persistent challenge even till date. Again, we were able to cross some of those things and be able to get by with some of those challenges as well and again the persistent challenge is that you have those that do not really understand what it is about Alumni and they think it is another platform or avenue to showcase themselves, or sometimes think it is even a student union association, you have that challenge as a leader to see how you can parley and rally round everybody to come to that understanding that Alumni Association is for giving back to the Alma mater. As a leader, one of the challenges is the commitment from your co-leaders, from those that you are paddling the canoe of the Alumni Association. The challenges can be quite enormous, but of course, once you are in the front, you can’t be giving excuses but rather, to just lead from the front. So, the challenges of leadership is there, commitment is there, funding is there and sometimes even security is there, I can’t imagine myself since I left Federal Polytechnic Offa as a student for the first 10years I never looked back or having any reason to go back to the campus or school, but shortly after I became the front man to lead the Alumni, that changed. You can only imagine how much of commitment it demanded of me, I even have to go sometimes twice in a month and just for record purposes, I must tell you that it got to the point that I had to change my car because of the rate of usage on that route, knowing well that our roads In Nigeria are not so good. All of that came with its own challenges considering that I was equally busy with the running of my own business. That notwithstanding, with your work, you also know that you have to ensure the building of the Association, that’s another challenge of its own, but by and large, we thank God that we have been able to come this far, but I must say that not without some of those tough challenges. And at some point, also, we had to be assertive to move forward regardless of the challenges that we encountered from the angle of the school management, from the co-alumnus, from students themselves and even from your surrounding environment, we thank God we are moving forward.
What is the relationship between the Alumni and the Management of the school?
RESPONSE: Our relationship with the school management is an improving one, you know we both see and operate from different points of view of course. Like I said, the management has to manage all the affairs of the school, for us as an Alumni Association, we are like a check and balance to them and much more like a supporter in building a desired school. At the beginning like I said, we had a bit of a rough time trying to get them to bond with the Association, but I must say that they have improved over time and we are making progress. We have worked with different Rectors at different times and tried to sell the idea of the Alumni to them and they have individually been able to do their own best at their times and presently we are moving forward and the relationship truly is not so bad but of course, we always have our grey areas and our areas of concern. If there’s anything else I want to emphasize right now, it will be that we still have so much that needs to be done on that campus especially within the administrative system and I think a lot of such things are giving us concerns and we are doing a documentation of all of those things which will be released to the management very soon in a few hours or few days from now. This is owing to the fact that we have planned a number of feedbacks based on surveys and a reach out from both alumnus and students and we want them to begin to take these things into cognisance and see how we can resolve them. The relationship is not a bad one but is an improving one and we are working to ensure that we have a smoother relationship with the school management.
What are the roles expected of the Alumni Association of the Polytechnic?
RESPONSE: Well as I mentioned earlier, roles expected from an Alumni are very clear. Number one is to support in giving back, in building and advancing the school in every area possible, infrastructure and financially and also support to the students. We also have a commitment to be good ambassadors and role models to them, to showcase the right direction for them because when they see some of us, they should be encouraged and also be proud to have passed through the system and then to the community. We owe it to ensure that there’s a good atmosphere, good cordial relationship between the community people and the students and also be able to make our impact within the community as well because it is a place where some of us have passed through. We have passed through the school and also lived with the people of the town. Erin Ile and Offa Community are thus part of areas we look at to see how we can assure that there is a good cordial relationship between them and the Alumni as well as that of the Polytechnic community. Also, to the Alumni members, it is to also see into how we can see to their welfare and support where necessary and to ensure that we are able to solve complex issues. For example, problems that may arise for the Alumni members in the processing of their results and documentation and what have you.
Essentially the alumni association is a platform to reach back to the school and see how we can improve the fortunes of the school, the infrastructure, and every other aspect that might be required and I must say that we are not doing badly in that direction at least as a very young Alumni Association like I said, we are just getting our balance and we are doing our best in making progress.
You are representing the Alumni at the Council level; how have you been coping with the responsibilities combined with your schedule?
RESPONSE: About the representation or involvement of the Alumni Association in the council, my involvement in the Council especially is to represent the Alumni Association and to ensure that the resources of the school is being well utilized and progress is being achieved for the Polytechnic and then ensure that we serve as a check and balance where necessary at the Council, all of these are what I have been putting forward at that esteemed level. You require a lot of decorum, a lot of knowledge, information, exposure and you need to be able to reason along in the progressive way and be able to be selfless and avoid every form of selfishness and that is what I have been doing at that level. I must say we didn’t just arrive as a beneficiary of being enlisted as a Council Member for the Alumni Association, we were part and parcel of the whole process from the beginning, agitating for the review of Polytechnic Act through the National Assembly, we were involved and we supported both in commitment and finances, going for table discussions, lobbying and we were able to achieve this because we were adequately involved. Now that the thing has come to fruition, we are not just only beneficiary but also partakers of the whole process and I’m glad that this opportunity affords us the privilege of seeing through every aspect of the Polytechnic and seeing how the school is being managed, the governance processes in terms of human, material, financial resources and everything that has to do with a corporate organization. So, my representation there is more like a board room where we review every aspect of a business and I see this as a high-level commitment to be able to see through the affairs of the Polytechnic and ensure that things are properly done and where we feel things are not adequately done, we see how we can be able to air our view and see how we can be able to call the attention of the management and that of the council, to tell them that these are things we have observed. And I must say that this for me is also an eye opener as to the things that go wrong at the back in terms of the management of the Polytechnic and I must say that the Alumni is being well represented at this level and things are getting better. I can only assure you that it can get better and part of the things I also think we are responsible for in our involvement is to attract opportunities, attract investment, attract infrastructural development to the school and I must say that I am personally doing that already, I am bringing all my network, different government parastatals to see how we can attract some opportunity to the Polytechnic. It’s worthy of note that I am already working seriously through my network in TETFUND to see how I can also appeal and lobby to bring some other good initiative and some support like infrastructural link to the campus or the school and I’m trusting that God will help us to achieve more. Alumni on the council are strategically important and as a major stakeholder, mark my word, a major stakeholder, that we are committed to ensuring that things work right and appropriately and the management put on their toes to achieve an exceptional result for our school.
Is there any synergy between the Association and its members outside the country?
RESPONSE: Like I recently said to people that the Federal Polytechnic Offa has graduated over three hundred thousand (300,000) students if not five hundred thousand 500,000. I hope we are able to get the record right one day, it is one of the challenges that we hope can be resolved, that is, data and records from within the school administration and the Alumni, hoping we can get that right. By and large, the Alumnus of Federal Polytechnic Offa spreads across different locations in the world and I must say that I’m happy that our Alumnus are not also doing bad at different levels where they find themselves home and abroad. We have people we can call good ambassadors; they have been able to project themselves to the very high pinnacle of their career and businesses and they are representing us and they are a good role model and ambassador of the Institution. They’re as well spread across different parts of the country. We are trying to find a point of contact and since my assumption and involvement in the Alumni Association, I have tried to take it upon myself to travel to different parts of the world, I have visited the U.K, I have visited the United States of America, I have visited Canada and I have visited some other locations as well and each time I travel, one of the things I tried to do was to look for our Alumni, wherever they are, seeking how we can parley and also preach the gospel to them to get involved in the Alumni Association by supporting it. Again, our Alumni being young, we need the buy-in of people. It may take a while for us to get everyone’s commitment and because of that, I understand the fact that they need to see and be convinced of what the leadership of the Alumni Association is doing well and right. You know it can be likened to when you are selling products and people have not seen the validity or the good in the products, they may not patronize you. It is quite understandable, but we are doing everything we can, just to make sure the Alumni is well managed and it’s representing every Alumnus well so that it can attract others. We have created Chapters in Nigeria across different states and also, we are working on that in other parts of the country. I’m happy to say that the United States Chapter is a branch that is doing fantastically well and that is being extended now to Canada, that of Canada is ongoing and hoping to also get strengthened. In fact, this year, it is hoped that there will be a convention in Canada as well and then the United Kingdom, we are also working hard on that. We have a lot of our Alumnus there and I’m sure, very soon this year too, we should be able to have a convergence again, I recently returned and I had a meeting with few of them and we had agreement that they would work towards it. We are corresponding with our branches across different locations in Nigeria. Today again, I will just encourage and admonish that it is our school, we all have to show interest. It may not look too rosy now but the fact is that every one of our contributions, our ideas, our suggestions will bring it to a point that we all can appreciate. I’m using this platform to appeal to everyone, wherever you are, get involved in the Alumni activities, get involved in the branch closest to you. If there is none, let us know, we will create one especially in Nigeria, all the Chapter Chairmen need to take up this responsibility as selfless and more of volunteering. You need to let us build this together. It can’t be done by an individual, Alumni is not done at the national level, Alumni is done at your local level. And of course, like I always say, we are all Alumnus of the School but we are not Alumni members of the Association until when we register, and the only way you resister is by paying your due. So am appealing to everyone to get on board. It is our school and let us do it together.
In what ways has the Alumni Association contributed to the growth and development of the Polytechnic?
RESPONSE: Well, we have an umbrella that we call the FONPAA, forum of Nigeria Polytechnics Alumni Associations, it was established to see how we can have a common form in the affairs of the Polytechnics in Nigeria and to see how we can develop that, but locally when it comes to our own chapter, we have been doing our bit. We try to project our products by showcasing them such that people can know that Polytechnics’ products are not just second class but are a really good product. This you will see in what we have done and what we are doing. Part of what we did recently which was in November last year was to conduct an award to showcase people that are promoting Polytechnic education, those who had done well by supporting us, the people we can ably call ambassadors. It was one of the reasons why we had to do that award ceremony and present them to the World. We are equally involved in things that happens on campus to ensure that there’s peace, we liaise with students, we liaise with lecturers, we liaise with non-lecturers, we liaise with the school management all in a bid to ensure that there’s peace and harmony on campus and even in the community and that is one of the things we are also doing to ensure that everything works out fine and smoothly with everyone living as one big family. The Alumni role cannot be overemphasized, it is a building-builder relationship, and an advocate of peace and progress at all levels.
Fedpoffa is being upgraded to Varsity status, what was the role of the Alumni and what is your take on it?
RESPONSE: The upgrade of the Federal Polytechnic Offa to a University is a welcome development and it gives us a bit of concern, we are part of this process and that you can attest to when we recently made our presentation at the National Assembly during the public debate about it. I was there and we made a presentation, actually to promote the school and to also appeal to the government. Much as it is a welcome development, we would also have preferred that the school as a Polytechnic is given the opportunity to run programmes that can award degree but of course, in the wisdom of the National Assembly, it recently pronounced the bill to convert the school to a university level. I say this is a welcome development and I want to say congratulations to every stakeholder that is involved in this. Let’s hope that this will finally come to fulfillment when Mr. President signs the bill. But one thing that this will bring about is a total rethinking and re-strategizing of the old system. I must say that it looks like a challenge, but I believe that there’s always a possibility and a way out to every challenge. It just means that we need to do more, it will require more and everybody will be happy for it at the end. I believe everybody will benefit from it and I believe it will also promote the name of the school and we can all be proud Alumnus of the school.
You recently held a conference, what is the conference all about and what is it meant to achieve?
RESPONSE: Yes, it was part of the positioning of the school into a great limelight and also establishing our support for the Polytechnic education. like I said, we have a forum for all Nigeria Polytechnic Alumni Association, it’s been on and we are part of it and we’re paying our dues. We recently held the first congress, where we have all Polytechnic Presidents and their delegates come together to reason and brainstorm on the matter of Polytechnic Education in Nigeria with the association of Forum of all Nigeria Polytechnic Alumni Association (FONPAA). We held it at the Federal Polytechnic Offa Campus and we were able to review a lot of things about the Polytechnic education in Nigeria. We touched on the area of challenges and what we need to do next to project and protect the education of the Polytechnic as far as engaging the government to see how they can put more funding into the Polytechnic education. Also, to solicit for the signing of the dichotomy bill. There are so many bills we have been involved with, we have the Polytechnic Act which has been achieved, we have the dichotomy bill which is presently awaiting the assent of the President and recently the one upgrading the Federal Polytechnic Offa to a University. We hope that it will be signed soon. Many other things that can bring development to Polytechnic education are what this Association is all about and I am happy we had a successful hosting. Everyone that came around enjoyed themselves and our school is again projected into greater limelight.
What are the plans and programmes of the Alumni Association for the year 2022?
RESPONSE: So much is in the plan, we are already in February now and we are making a gradual progress. Part of the plan is to ex-students APA which we have done in January, the school itself will be 30 years and we are putting something together to see what we can do to celebrate that 30th anniversary of the school. This will be a part of what we will do from there on till the end of the year. Taking up different celebration styles. Part of what we will do is to launch or release our new magazine which will also capture a lot of things about the school and the products. We also have the plan to lay the foundation for sporting facilities in school and a lot of people had pledged to support us to achieve this. Another programme for the year is our annual general meeting which usually comes up around April/May. All efforts have been put in place to achieve that. I’m happy to say that the necessary aspects of our Constitution that needed to be amended and corrected are almost completed to about 90% and by the next one or two weeks, we should be able to have completed it. Necessary contributions of different stakeholders or offices that are required to support this process are being carried along to achieve this. As at the last AGM, we were able to resolve that we would be going into the elections during the coming AGM of 2022, and that has not changed. As many people that would be interested in vying for offices and who are qualified would be welcome at the appropriate time. Necessary information will be communicated through their email and will also be shared with our financial member. I mentioned financial members because everybody is an Alumnus but not everybody is a financial member. So, when it comes to matters of annual general meetings, it is only financial members that are concerned. So, the registered with financial members with the Alumni will get necessary correspondence to this effect. We are doing our best to ensure that things are in order. We appreciate every form of feedback, but we will appreciate more direct engagement, nobody knows it all and that has always been our stand. We like to liaise, interact, to work with so many people that are available and willing to do and that is why we always like to work with committees. I must say some of those people in the committee are not financial members but because we want to expand and bring everybody on board and encourage them to join, we have always formed the idea of having you be a part of it. So, please, when you have feedback, when you have ideas to share, my numbers are open as the president and members of the executives and board of trustees are also available. You can engage them directly. We are just new and we are trying our best. There was no previous administration, there was no record that we can say okay, let’s work based on this record, everything we are doing is for the first time, so we are trying everything to consult, to research, and to do things right and I can assure you, myself and other members of the team are committed to ensuring that the Alumni Association progresses and have a good progression in everything we do. So, the annual general meeting is coming and the day will be officially announced and there will be election into the board of trustees and executives and for many of us that will be interested to continue to serve, we will make ourselves available and we will continue to build on what we have achieved and also be able to innovate into new levels of the dimensions of the Alumni Association. Like I always tell people that Alumni Association will forever be Alumni Association. There is no age limit to when you can come on board. Once you are an ex-student and you meet the criteria that are required, you can serve up to the national level. We have a lot of branches that we admonish people to join. We need a branch chairman that is committed. We need people that have a good pedigree, that has a good administrative idea that can move the association forward. The leadership which is the pioneer leadership is doing its best. The electoral committee has been briefed to get prepared. Everything will be put in place to make sure we have a smooth transition. All necessary information will be released and other details of the calendar.
What Advice Do You Have for the School Management?
RESPONSE: I will like to appreciate the management of the Federal Polytechnic Offa for what they have done so far and for continuously trying to do much more, I want to appreciate the Governing Council, what I see at the Governing Council, I see people that are passionate about the Polytechnic and I believe they can do much more for the school. Back to the management, I want to congratulate the new acting Rector, Dr. Olarongbe Afolabi, I wish him all the best as the new acting Rector. I must also say that so much is still expected and I’m already in touch with the Rector. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to look at those areas of great concern. Some of the points that I may want to highlight are processing of documentation from the certificate, to the transcript, to reference letter, and major areas that affect all our Alumnus worldwide, we are working to see how it can be fully automated and some other processes can be simplified, especially the charges of double-course. Also, the infrastructural part of the school, we are looking at that to see that no abandoned projects and projects that are also essential are put in place. From an Alumni point of view, we are also looking at how we can form private partnerships to see that some infrastructure can be brought on board especially hostels. My last time monitoring the hostels was dilapidated, it is not too good. We are looking at what we can do within our powers and we are also encouraging people that have the resources to assist us in this direction. So many things to be done. Standard of education on campus is also a priority to us. We hope that more innovative things can be brought up and I also want to mention that some lecturers also need to be put on their toes especially when it comes to engaging with the students. We believe things will get well if everybody plays their roles. Like I said in the past that we don’t have bad students in the Federal Polytechnic Offa, we only have students or youths that are full of youthful exuberance. I hope that the disciplinary aspect of the school management can also shape them such that education will be their priority.
What is your advice for the Polytechnic ex-students who are yet to associate themselves with the Association?
RESPONSE: Again, for everyone that is yet to come onboard the Alumni Association, former student, ex-student… This is a clarion call to you, don’t wait till everything is looking right and rosy, this is the time for all of us to come together and work together to promote our Alma mater. The leadership of the alumni Association can only do much, but with your support and commitment we can always do so much more and I am calling all of us as my cliché is that we are better together! We are better together when we can work together, when we can build together, when we can form an alliance and build our resources together it is not about an individual, it is not about some group of people, it is for all of us. Some of us may have sacrificed to have commenced the whole process and bringing it up to this level and we are still desirous of doing much more but again we need all of you to also come on board and I must assure you that every token, every resource you submit or contribute towards the progress will be well accounted for. It is not about any individual, it is about our collective effort and I want to appreciate those that have always been supportive and those that have always been coming on board to put in their effort, let me say that of course, you are well appreciated.
Sometimes some of us feel like our part is not being taken, but sometimes you only need to consult widely, you reason wide and you look at the best option.
However, one thing that I can assure you, is that you are all appreciated and together we can build a virile Alumni Association, one we can be proud of and I can’t imagine waiting to look back in 25years, in 50years time and say that together we have built this Alumni Association and that we have made a great impact in the lives of our school, colleagues, and associates. I just want to say please come on board, find a local chapter/branch in your location and let us build our Alumni Association together.
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