The lecture entitled, "From Brain Power to Economic Power" was delivered by Professor James Fabunmi, the Chief Executive Officer, American Heritage Defence Corporation, USA. Professor Fabunmi, in the lecture, explained the need for governments to allocate more resources to innovation to ensure economic development and stability of the country.
He maintained that innovation is the equaliser in today's global economy either in finding new solutions to exisiting problems or solving the entirely new ONES. "It is important that every year, a certain percentage of our resources are used to address key challenges in our society through innovation and good ideas," he said.
Fabunmi also said that investing in innovation would transform college graduates from job seekers to successful job creators. He added that college graduates in many developing economies like Nigeria lack the opportunity to transform their intellectual genius into commercial ventures.
According to him, one of the reasons for this is the absence of infrastructure and instruction that support problem solving and commercialisation of innovation. "Instruction in art and science of innovation and enterprise is in great deman and will be sought after by sponsored graduates who look to become trained as investors, entrepreneurs and business owners," Fabunmi stated.
In his remarks, the Visitor to the University, Governor Rauf Aregbesola urged universities in the country to invest resources in innovation and researches that would lead to productivity.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Higher Education Bursary and Scholarship, Professor Grace Akinola, Aregbesola also expressed need for higher institutions to introduce entrepreneurship skills into their curriculum as this would enable graduates to be job providers rather than job seekers.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Labode Popoola said the public lecture was aimed at preparing graduates for self productivity.
He thanked the guest lecturer for honouring the highly educative lecture and appreciated the Governor and other dignitaries for gracing the event.