Building Materials: Dare Babarinsa Challenges Varsities

By Ayodele Oni

Nigerian Universities of Technology have been challenged to come up with Solution to high cost of building materials and environmental problems in the country.

Chairman/Editor in Chief of Gaskia Media, Mr Dare Babarinsa, gave the charge while delivering 11th Registry Annual Lecture of  the Federal University of Technology, Akure, (FUTA).

The Publisher and Historian noted that “One area in which FUTA can help us find a solution is in the housing crisis.

“We have not been able to device a system where the cost of building houses would be affordable for an average man or woman.  Why can’t we find cheaper materials to build houses like the clay that were used to build African cities in the past?

“Why do we have to spend so much money to reinforce multi-storey building that would consume so much cement and other materials?  FUTA should lead the way to find better and cheaper ways to build houses for the common people.

“We have also realized that plastic bottles, sachets and other containers have become a serious environmental problem for us in Nigeria and the rest of the continent.

“Everywhere you go in this country, there is an empty plastic bottle starring at you.  We need to find a way to convert this problem into our own advantage.”

He also highlighted effects of incessant strikes on students and academic programmes of the university which include unnecessary extension of period of stay.

“One thing that is overshadowing the reputation of most public universities is the annual festival of strikes and industrial disputes.

“This has led to serious disruption in the lives of students and the expectations of parents.  Some students, in the wake of these serious disruptions, may end up spending eight years for a four-year course.

“I am sure this may not be the intention of those who are declaring industrial dispute. Some of these strikes are direct assault on the concept of university autonomy.

“If a university is not having a dispute with its workers, why should the workers go on strike because the employees of another university have a dispute with its workers?

“I am sure the issue may be more complicated than this simple illustration.  Nonetheless, let the wise ones in this citadel ponder on this within the theory and practice of university autonomy.”

Mr Babarinsa, who is also one of the founding Editors of Tell Magazine, stressed the need for proper information management for universities as they were being judged by whatever comes out of them.

“The university is a living entity.  It must manage its information within its various interest groups and the larger society.  It must defend itself and its reputation against assault from within and without.

“The university cannot escape its environment, but must try to dominate it and influence it positively.  In some instances, some university fully dominate their environment to the extent that they become synonymous with it.

“Thus when you talk in academic circles, Ibadan means the University of Ibadan, Ife means the Obafemi Awolowo University, Makerere means the University in Kampala, Uganda.  The same is applicable to universities in Cambridge, Oxford, Legon and other places.

“Knowledge is a universal product and every wise person is in search of it.  The university is expected to domesticate knowledge, seek to own it and help the world to apply it.”

He commended FUTA for some of its strides saying “FUTA is a stronghold for the storage and nourishment of knowledge.  It is a special nursery bed for ideas which can in turn be transplanted into the general community for the betterment of mankind.

“It has succeeded substantially in fulfilling its role and that is why it continued to be reckoned with in the comity of Nigerian universities.  We should not forget what the Founding Fathers of this institution set out to achieve.

“The founders stated that the vision of FUTA is “to be a world-class university of technology and a centre of excellence in training, research and service delivery.”

“In the year 2020, FUTA was ranked eighth among Nigerian universities, including the private ones by the Webometrics ranking agency.  This shows that it is indeed in the big league in Nigeria.

“However, on the universal setting Webometrics ranked FUTA as Number 2172. This ranking shows that FUTA might be big in Nigeria, but on the universal scale, it still has a long way to go.”