Akintoye: Why Students Must be Equipped with Skills before Travelling Abroad

Ishola Rufus Akintoye is a professor of Accounting and Financial Strategic Management and director of the Centre for Executive Development at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, he explained why it is important for students who travel abroad for greener pastures to be equipped with the necessary skills before they leave, so that they can return home to make an impact. He also stressed the need for parents to face their responsibilities by allowing their children to get matured under them before sending them to the university, among other issues. Excerpt:

You have  just been appointed as the head of Babcock Business School, how would you describe your experience having worked in government-owned universities and private university such as Babcock?

Anywhere you work, what is important is that, you must strive to achieve excellence via accreditation . For instance, when I was appointed at Ogun State University, I was de-accredited before I got appointed as head of department. By the certification of the National Universities Commission (NUC), I got full accreditation. I went to Osun State University and started Accounting and Finance department and got full accreditation. Now coming to a private, I was invited by the management of Babcock to come and commence Ph.D in Accounting . I have been here for 12 years now. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, no university has graduated five Ph.D Accounting. Babcock happens to be the first that started. In 2018, I produced 19 doctoral students in Accounting. I presented them for ICAN and they had competitions with so many universities and to the glory of God, six of them got grants of N500,000, each on their Ph.D. There was no other university that got that. Out of the scholars , three of them have become deputy vice chancellors in Nigeria. Two weeks ago, one of them became a vice chancellor in Rwanda. 

That record seem to be unbeatable to the extent that when they wanted to commence Accounting at the University of Ibadan, I was invited. I can tell you that I am one of the pioneer consultants to University of Ibadan for the establishment of Accounting at the institution. Where I was coming from, I did a good job and as a matter of fact, my impact as far as doctoral programme is concerned happened here. So far, I have done about 50 doctoral students. If you moved round to most of the universities around , you will find Babcock graduates there. 

How would you decribe your efforts on the Executive Development Programme and the Business School?

I inherited the Executive Development programme especially for part-time. I inherited it  three years after they started. Before I took over, there was no graduation at all . There were outstanding results and so many other issues. When I came on board, in the history of part-time programmes, I graduated two sets. Another set just matriculated. Some of the graduates are already on their masters programme now. When I came into Babcock 12 years ago, I developed a five-year strategic plan for the Babcock  Business School which I got approved and I was appointed the first head of the school. We conceived about five departments under that. I wanted to also bring the centre under it. We have the postgraduate academy which is to run all postgraduate programmes to doctoral level, secondly the centre for executive development, the consultancy unit , local collaboration . As we speak, we have signed an MoU with ICAN and collaborating with Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and Chartered Institute of Bankers. 

We also signed a MoU with MAZAR Consulting. These are local collaborations. We are still going to collaborate with aviation and security outfit; Halogen. We also have international linkages and collaborations. As we speak, the School of Aviation , Freetown had been here to sign MoU with us as well as chartered secretaries in the UK. All these MoUs operate under our international linkages and collaborations. We have various lecturers abroad who are teaching on the programmes. What are we trying to do? We developed the 70:30 model (town and gown) in the business school as against the traditional model you used to know. Those lecturers contribute to the 30 per cent ( academic) and others who we call fellows or those in the industry, come to complement what we do. They contribute 70 per cent. We believe that the basic information from them will form the practicals. So all my students must go out for three months for practicals so we can bridge the gap between town and gown. As we speak 69 industry chiefs from banks and courts who are impacting our students. What we are trying to do , is to issue certification that is linked to society and students will be ready- made for the workplace. I got this model from the University of Capetown. So when we started PhD Accounting here, I started with this model. 

You have written various papers over the years, how will you rate research generally in Nigeria?

At the business school, I have six programmes running currently. Accounting up to doctoral level, Finance, Business Admin, Marketing, Economics and Law. We run the hybrid method. We have students  in Canada and UK who are almost completing the programmes, but have never being to Nigeria. They do their classes, seminars and  exams virtually . They come for lecture between 6 pm and 9 pm everyday. One of the requirement in the business school is that , for every course you take, you must publish a paper in high impact journal such as Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, etc. We have a course; seminar one and two. You cannot pass it until you have published, before your results will be ready. We have started Babcock Business School bulletin review. We have done volume one and two, we are going to volume three. With these, we are able to proffer solutions even to some of the challenges confronting the country. Some of the policies you hear of, is from the Babcock Business school. 

Despite the fact that our institutions try to profer solutions to some of the challenges confronting us a nation, people still travel abroad for greener pastures, why is this so?

People have been leaving Nigeria for quite a long time, but it wasn’t so pronounced. Some of the people who are leaving have said they are coming back. For those who are leaving, I don’t have any quarrel against them because we have different levels of shock-absorbing capacity. So far, I have followed through events in the country, I can tell you that there is no success without suffering . No history without story. In school, you go through classes and exams. Students don’t like exams. Examinations and assignments are difficult . All the students that I produced when I was in the state universities, were those I took through discipline. The rule then was that if you have a CGPA of 4.5, your school fees was returned. ‘Japa’ model is not new. Nigeria will be a tourism centre very soon. If you look at the events, we are already at the peak of problems in Nigeria. So what do we do? When you have series of problems, you cannot solve all of them in one day. You need to go through some pains to solving them. 

The hope I have about Nigeria, is very great and those who are leaving will come back. There are jobs available in the country, but not very common. As students, you need to position yourself anywhere you find yourself for entrepreneurship before graduation. You need to have a certification here, so that when you get abroad, you will have something doing. Fortunately, the NUC has already amplified that. What the commission has done on entrepreneurship education, is advantageous to Nigeria. Things will only get better, I am very hopeful. Our problem is that we import more in Nigeria. So if we train our children very well and set them up for export business, for instance, even if they travel abroad, they will come back home.

What is your view about the federal government’s directive on 18 years minimum age for admission into the tertiary institution?

I have no problem with the directive. In all facets of life, maturity is key. Why I am not underrating the possibility of a child of 10 or 12 years doing well in the university, there is a culture. The truth is that experience cannot be bought anywhere. The normal age from the constitution is 18, anything below that , you are a minor and you are supposed to be under the tutelage of your parents . So if you push any child below 18 to the university, you are transferring some of your responsibilities as a parent to the university. If you look at those children when they come to the university, they are very brilliant, but immature. At 18 or above, you are already matured and likely to take your life in your hands. The psychology of a major is already there and you are responsible for your actions. Most of my students are married and working. If the age limit set by the government was 16 and Babcock admitted 16, we have not flouted any rule.

What advise do you have for parents who are pushing their  children who are below 18 into the universities?

Parents should face their responsibilities by allowing their children to get matured under them before they go into the university. Education is more than just being brilliant . It is a total human being. They must develop basic morals. You don’t transfer your responsibility at home to the school. A child that is a minor, is a minor , but at 18, you are matured. So I think government is on the right part on such rule. Some behaviours that you see exhibit by some children, is a function of where they are coming from. The basic tutelage and moral instruction cannot be overemphasised from the home. It is very important.