P&G, University of Ibadan Partner on Technology Transfer

Leading consumer goods manufacturing company, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Nigeria and Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan have entered into a strategic partnership that will enhance the technological skills of students of the institution.

Prof Emmanuel Atoo Ajav, the Dean, Faculty of Technology of the University of Ibadan who announced the partnership on Monday, September 29, 2014 during the formal hand over of baby care production equipment and spare parts to the institution by P&G said that the partnership will see some students of the Faculty of Technology of the university undergoing hands-on practical training with the global conglomerate on a continuous basis.

Prof Ajav expressed elation at this development, saying that the partnership will go a long way in helping the premier institution build the next generation of engineers who are well-equipped with quality academic training as well as hands-on industrial experience which are essential requisites for professional excellence in the engineering field.

He expressed the institution’s gratitude to the management of P&G for the partnership while assuring that the faculty will ensure that the expected gains from the facility is well harnessed for the benefit of the engineering profession in particular and the country in general.

Tomasz Szpyt, Manufacturing Director, P&G Nigeria, who performed the formal handover of the manufacturing equipment to the school, said that the equipment, which will be used to endow the technology laboratories,   will provide hands-on training for students of the institution, especially those from the Faculty of Engineering.

According to him, the donation “is part of our efforts towards promoting academic excellence in Nigeria through the provision of an enabling environment for learning in our tertiary institutions.”

In a related development, the company has also donated similar equipment and accessories to the College of Engineering and Environmental Studies of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ibogun Campus, Ifo, Ogun State. Prof Saburi Adejimi Adesanya, the Vice Chancellor of the institution expressed appreciation to P&G for the kind gesture saying that facility will go a long way in improving the standards of the engineering department of the school.

Szpyt explained that the total worth of the equipment and spare parts that will be donated to seven tertiary institutions in Nigeria is worth hundreds of millions and is in line with the company’s global social responsibility principles of ‘Doing the right thing’ which also includes investing in the communities in which it lives, works and serves with the aim of improving lives.

He informed that the donation to University of Ibadan and Olabisi Onabanjo University is the first in the series of donations that P&G Nigeria will make to selected tertiary institutions in the south-west region of the country. Other tertiary institutions that will benefit from this project include Obafemi Awolowo University, the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.

Szpyt further informed that P&G Nigeria has, for more than 21 years, touched and improved the lives of Nigerians through the provision of everyday basics that help create the experience of home and improve everyday health and confidence for people in need.

“Apart from manufacturing goods that bring customer satisfaction, P&G Nigeria has an array of well thought-out social programs that enhance everyday living in Nigeria,” he continued.

He listed some of these initiatives to include the Always School Program, which has a yearly reach of 800,000 Nigerian girls and the P&G’s Pampers Baby Care Hospital Program and Mobile Clinics programs that touch the lives of about two million mothers and babies across Nigeria annually. Others are the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, Pamper/UNICEF Tetanus Vaccine Program, Employee Volunteering programmes and the Building Futures Program, among other initiatives.

Szpyt informed that these programs have been very successful both in reach and impact and expressed his optimism that the equipment donation program will be as successful and urged the beneficiary institutions to deploy the equipment to the purposes for which it was donated.