The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, has attributed the reason why the fear of retirement grips people, to the inability to properly plan on what to do after retirement, stressing that “The day you come in, begin to plan for the day you will go out”. The Vice-Chancellor was speaking at the monthly meeting of the Forum of Heads of Federal Establishments (FHFE), Ogun State Chapter, hosted by the University at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Oke-mosan, Abeokuta. The Forum is made up of over 40 Federal Establishments in Ogun State.

The Vice-Chancellor, while responding to a question from a member of the Forum on how the University could assist public servants to adequately plan for retirement, recalled the ample preparation that was made a while ago, for a pre-retirement training programme to be held in the University, saying that resource persons had already signified their interest to be part of it. Represented by the Director, Institute of Human Resources Development (INHURD), Professor Francis Showemimo, the Vice-Chancellor noted with disappointment, that due to the retirement phobia, nobody attended the training programme. However, with the request and appeal made at the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor promised that the programme would be re-packaged, adding that if one does not plan, the person had already planned to fail. 

“There is nothing that kills a retired person quicker than lack of anything to do. The money you think you are accumulating would still disappear very soon. Sooner than you think. So it’s better you know what to do before you leave the service, so that you start doing it before you leave the service. So that you are used to it, you already have your customers, you know the market mix, you know what to do at any particular time, you are already a specialist in it before you get out”, he stated.     

Shedding light on the non-availability of FUNAAB products readily at major markets within Abeokuta, Professor Oyewole, said most researchers are breeders and their job only stopped at making the products available, stressing that it was someone else’s responsibility to popularise such products. He was, however, optimistic that the University’s products could compete keenly with other products in the market, saying that University products would be more readily available outside soon. 

On admission, he said the University’s admission was not man-driven but computer-driven. According to him, there is a standard and a cut-off mark. He stressed that there is also a list and a line is ruled across board, saying that the same yardstick is used to access everybody.Oyewole added that the University was making use of the computer to admit, as obtainable in foreign Universities, because it is relatively, devoid of human errors. On the dwindling funds from the Federal Government and how the University had been overcoming the challenge, the Vice-Chancellor stated that the staff were self-motivated, saying that “we have been looking for a way out to survive it”.speaking about the oppurtunity which pre-degree students of the Institute of Human Resources Resources Development (INHURD) had, he stated that the entire University had a capacity of only 3, 500 students. According to him, “the students that came through INHURD would first occupy 60 percent out of the 100”. He, however, added that the remaining 40 percent would compete with those coming from outside.

The Vice-Chancellor had earlier chronicled the metamorphosis of the University, through a power point presentation, from the Federal University of Technology, Abeokuta (FUTAB) in 1983 to FUNAAB in 1988.noted that the University had 10 Colleges, adding that the University operates on a tripodal mandate of Teaching, Research and Extension Services. He reeled out some of the notable research breakthroughs of the University to be the release of two varieties of Ofada Rice, namely FUNAABOR-1 and FUNAABOR-2, otherwise known as Ofada White or Ofada Gold. He also listed other commercialised products to include the FUNAAB Bread, Palmwine, Palm oil, Cashew nut, Honey, Garri, Fufu among others.

Commending the University for hosting the meeting, the Chairman of the Forum, Mr. Michael Famokunwa of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, commented that the Vice-Chancellor had really brought the University to them with his presentation. He stressed that the season of change had indeed come with the innovation FUNAAB introduced into hosting of the meeting. Also present at the meeting from the University, were the Head, Directorate of Public Relations, Mrs Emi’ Alawode and the Principal Assistant Registrar, Council Affairs, Mr Samson Adeniran.