The Artificial Intelligence for Clean Energy (AI4CE) has concluded arrangements to train fifty students from the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT, Minna) and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai on an industry immersion programme, which represents a major component of the Research Group’s coined Acadoprenuership concept.
AI4CE is a flagship project won by the Advanced Engineering Innovation Research Group (FUT, Minna) with funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom.
The training commences today, Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at the AI4CE Secretariat, CODeL Building, Main Campus, Gidan Kwano.
The month-long orientation exercise is aimed at equipping the students with pre-requisite knowledge and skills needed in the 21st century. Further, it will acquaint them better with the demands of the industry before embarking on the six-month’ mandatory Industrial Attachment Scheme.
In an exclusive chat with the Team Leader, AI4CE, Engr. Prof. Abiodun Musa Aibinu, he stated that the one-month training was to prepare the students on what is expected of them in the industry, in terms of office ethics, use of equipment and communication skills, adding that the training becomes necessary because the students are going to the industry as ambassadors and there is a need for them to project the good image of their institutions.
Prof. Aibinu disclosed that 50 students were selected out of 129 students that applied for industrial placement, noting that the students would be sent to their industry partners to undergo the 6-months IT programme.
He revealed that the training would also involve sessions on how to use hi-tech tools to carry out their assigned duties during the IT Programme, even as he revealed that equipment worth millions of naira have been procured to aid the training process. The Team Leader further disclosed that academic and industry experts would also be on ground to share their wealth of experience with the students during the training.
Furthermore, he expressed optimism that the training would help in bridging the gap between the industry and the academia in Nigeria, create jobs, improve the workforce, provide industry-ready graduates, increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for universities and more revenue for government through taxation.
Equally important, Prof. Aibinu stated that collaboration with the industries has yielded a lot of benefits to the research group in terms of availability of funds for research, as well as commercialization of research prototypes.
He also stated that the Research Group recently won a seed grant from Innovative Advantage Limited, Lagos to solve the company’s research problems, with option for commercialization of the research prototype when completed.
The month-long training is divided into four modules namely; general knowledge, basic technical skills, soft skills development and knowledge development, with speakers drawn from different fields. Some of the key papers to be presented and speakers at the training are; Acadoprenuership: Championing the Realization of Industry-Fitted Graduates in Nigeria to be delivered by Prof. Abiodun Musa Aibinu; the 4th Industrial Revolution to be delivered by Dr. Caroline Alenoghena; Effective Communication and Presentation Skills by Sadiat Adetoro Salau while Engr. Jibril Bala will speak on Industry 4.0: Contemporary Trends and Prospective Applications.
Others are: Connecting to the World of Clean Energy and its Prospects to be delivered by Dr. Lanre J. Olatomiwa while Engr. Abimbola Ajagun’s paper will focus on Module 2: Certification Course on Clean Energy, among others.
A total of 30 students have been shortlisted for the first phase of the training while the remaining 20 students will participate in the second phase of the training.
This programme is supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering UK grant under the Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP-SSA) programme, with project ID HEPSSA1921/3/88.
By Ugboaja, Stanley @Bigflostanley
