Renowned Nigerian Female Educationist, to Establish Vocational Private University

The Iyalode of Yorubaland, Alaba Lawson, has disclosed her plan to establish a vocational private university in Nigeria, aimed at encouraging young people to seek other opportunities away from white collar jobs. Ms Lawson, a renowned educationist, made the disclosure at the occasion of the launch of Alaba Lawson Group of Schools and ICT Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

She stated that, about ten years ago, she had acquired a vast piece of land towards the project and was, now, only trying to ensure that all academic requirements and due process are met before work commences.

She also said that she was in talks with countries like Canada, which operate similar programmes.

She expressed optimism that the vocational university would see the light of day and be successful. "I am of the conviction that the time is now ripe," she said.

On the ICT centre, she said it was designed to introduce the young people to different fields in Information Technology and noted that technological advancement, today, was growing at the speed of light. "Who would ever think that it would be possible to stand here and connect anywhere in the world in seconds.

A few years ago who could have imagined that you could operate devices just by touching their surfaces. The world has now become a global village and we now have all kinds of information at our finger prints," she said.

"However, the gateway to acquiring all these is through the medium of education.

Young children today need to be introduced to the world of information technology at a very early age.

Pre-teen students have been known to develop applications that are now popular worldwide."