Lagos State University (LASU) School of Transport is set to mandate professional courses of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria as part of the requirements before graduating students from the school.
This decision was reached when delegates of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to the Vice-Chancellor of LASU Prof. Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun yesterday.
The CILT Nigeria delegates led by its Deputy National President, Mr. Alban Igwe was received by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Adewale Noah.
Addressing the LASU management, the CILT International Vice President, Mr. Francis Ehiguese urged the School of Transport to mandate its students to undergo CILT courses before graduating. He stressed that such initiative would enhance the level of professionalism in the logistics of the students and increase their marketability.
Mr. Francis Ehiguese recalled that when he was National Executive Director, CILT Nigeria, LASU presented about 49 candidates to undergo CILT examinations but he decried the reduction in students from LASU taking CILT examinations.
Francis, who currently represents Nigeria on the CILT International council also called for jointly organized conferences by CILT and LASU’s School of Transport in order to enrich the volume of knowledge about the sector.
However, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Adewale Noah while receiving the delegates said, “We are very happy that you decided to visit us. We are trying to partner with LAG-Buses so that they could help convey our students from the Igando area to school. Next week we are going to be graduating about 6,000 students but our convocation list is more than 40,000 students, this means we need a lot of mechanical manpower”
The Deputy Vice Chancellor was delighted to receive several books and journals from the Institute and he thanked the CILT delegates for the kind gesture.
Responding to the mandatory CILT courses, the Dean of the School Of Transport, Mr. Samuel Odewumi commended the idea, noting that similar initiatives have been utilized in other departments like Accounting where students are required to sit for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) examinations before graduating.
However, Odewumi also lamented the lack of students to patronize the school and called on the CILT delegates to recommend it to its members.
Odewumi, who is also a fellow of CILT Nigeria, agreed that a more robust relationship between LASU and CILT was necessary for the development of the Nigerian transport through capacity. He also noted that the school was reviewing its curriculum in order to enhance the output, but promised to send delegates to begin preparations for annual conferences.
“Curriculum is the software application that every academic institutions thrives on” Odewumi said.
Meanwhile, the CILT Deputy National President, Mr. Alban Igwe solicited for an introduction of online DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) in order to satisfy the yearnings of industry stakeholders who may want to enhance their knowledge and academic qualifications but lack the luxury of going to the universities or may be unwilling to do so.
Alban Igwe has stated earlier that the purpose of the visit was to enhance the capacity in the logistics and supply chain and create a seamless relationship between the Institute and the School of Transport.
“Nobody has gone beyond capacity building. If you do get to that stage, you would find yourself becoming obsolete. So we are here because we want to enhance the capacity here through certain strategic partnerships and to also build on the relationship between CILT and LASU”, he said.
Alban Igwe had noted earlier that more universities abroad have embraced online career compared to Nigeria and Africa at large.
However, the Director General of the African Centre for Supply Chain (ACSC), Dr. Obiora Madu proposed partnerships between the African Centre for Supply Chain and LASU School of Transport to carry out MBA and DBA programmes.
Dr. Obiora, who is also a Fellow of CILT Nigeria, maintained that such programmes would increase the patronage of the LASU School of Transport.
By Kenneth Jukpor
