Federal Poly Ilaro Students Get Psychometrics Scholarship

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

A student of Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Miss Christianah Olafare, has won N100,000 worth of scholarship by the International Psychometrics Centre (IPC), Ibadan, for overall best student in Psychometrics examination, organised for Polytechnic and Colleges of Education students in the country.

Olafare, an HND-I Public Administration student, defeated two other students, Ahmed Oladipupo, an ND-II Mechanical Engineering undergraduate and Emmanuel Ajibode, an HND-II Marketing student, both from the institution.

A statement by the Corporate Affairs Manager of IPC, Patience Udoh, said the three students scored the same marks of 90 per cent, stating that it took the technical team’s efforts that conducted the post-examination oral interview before Olafare emerged the winner.

In his remarks during the award presentation, the Rector of the polytechnic, Dr. Olusegun Aluko, said he was not surprised that three of his students came tops with the same marks because of the institution’s high academic standards.

“We are even looking forward to an opportunity where all tertiary institutions in Nigeria will write the same examination to be able to prove how good we are among the group of schools in the country, and psychometrics is in that direction, and I am happy with their initiatives,” said Aluko. “This scholarship will definitely encourage our students to study more, especially for a course like psychometrics that is being run online, the idea that we have encouraged even before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Deputy Director, IPC, Timiletin Fashola, said psychometrics as a mandatory course was approved by the federal government in 2018 for all tertiary institutions in Nigeria and not only for polytechnics and colleges of education but implementation in universities is slow because of incessant strikes.

He noted that the scholarship award programme took place in four polytechnics, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Akwa Ibom Polytechnic, Gombe State Polytechnic, and Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, stating that in the next two months it will cover four other higher institutions.

The National President, Polytechnic Students Union, Benedict Oladere, commended the IPC for introducing the online course to the schools’ curricular because it helps students realise what and where they are good at and enables them to make the right career decisions.

“What we witnessed here at Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, where three students scored the same high marks, has shown that polytechnic students are brilliant and if Federal government can focus more on the technical education by pumping more funds the Nigeria we are dreaming of will soon become a reality,” Oladere said.