VC tasks alumni on infrastructure, projects as Adediji emerges EDM president
Members of the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management (EDM) of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, have been tasked on maintenance of existing infrastructure and also undertaking development projects in the premier university.
Eyitope Ogunbodede, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, gave this charge at the inauguration of the EDM Alumni Association where Bode Adediji, a fellow and past president of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), was elected president of the association.
Ogunbodede, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Chris Ajila, reminded the old students that the vision of the university was to develop into an incubator for national policy research and development, pointing out that there were many areas where they could assist.
“Your contribution to the university endowment fund, initiating development projects, maintenance of existing infrastructure, student internship, industrial experience and job placement, scholarship and research grants are some of the numerous ways you can add value to the university”, he said.
Olubola Babalola, Dean, Faculty of EDM, had earlier pointed out that, as the leading faculty in the built environment discipline in Nigeria, most of the EDM Alumni held top positions in consultancy firms, contracting companies, banks, public service, armed forces and other offices in and outside Nigeria.
“It is not by accident that the longest building on OAU campus is the faculty building of professionals in the built environment”, she said, explaining that the faculty consisted of such department as Architecture, Estate Management, Urban and Regional Planning, Quantity Surveying, Building, Fine Arts, Land Surveying and Geomatics.
Adediji, the new EDM president, says he is a man destined to lead and has grown from being a distinguished scholar into a role model in the real estate profession. He assures that he is well positioned to chart a new course for the EDM Faculty through resourceful and qualitative leadership.
Adediji holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Estate Management, emerging as the best graduating student of the department in the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1979. He also holds a Master’s degree in Estate Management (Urban Land Appraisal) which he obtained from Reading University, United Kingdom, in 1984.
He is a member of many professional bodies including the NIESV; Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON); International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI); African Real Estate Society (AFRES); Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce(NSACC) and Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria.
The newly inaugurated cabinet members of the association includes Lasabi Tunde, BiyiAdesanya, Akin Olawore, Leke Oduwaye, ToyinAkpan, Wale Olaoye. Others are Wasiu Akewusola, Sesan Obe, Lekan Adeosun and Olanrewaju Akintilo.
“The newly inaugurated association is aimed to render service and to act as the official link between the OAU and its Alumni; to foster up-to-date and vital information regarding the institution; to encourage all Alumni to retain their interest in and loyalty to the university at all times; to initiate and execute programs and activities aimed at accelerating the overall growth and development of the university and to provide necessary encouragement, including financial assistance, to an effective leadership for the students of the university”, Adediji informed.
He added that the association was also aimed at forging useful links between students, parents, teachers and other friends of the university and its community, and to inaugurate and /or revive branches of the association in all parts of Nigeria and beyond.