LSM Set To Endow Auto Dept At Nigeria’s Technical College

The Automobiles Department of the Government Technical College, Aso-Soba in the Festac area of Lagos, has received a boost as Lanre Shittu Motors (LSM) moves to adopt it in order to boost its academic and practical programmes.

The company said this would involve adequate funding, in-school training and intensive industrial training (IT) with welfare package to encourage more young people to pursue academic career in automotive engineering.

Business Support/Admin Manager of LSM, Mr Babatunde Adenuga, disclosed this in Lagos, in an interview with journalists.

Adenuga represented the LSM Managing Director, Mr Taiwo Shittu, at the just concluded Engineering Week of the college sponsored by the auto company, where he unveiled the plan to the staff and students at the event’s grand finale.

Aside from the needed financial support to make the auto department functional and standard, he said LSM would provide the tools, overall wears/workshop uniform, among others, as part of the welfare package for the students.

He said it would be a win-win situation for the school and the company.

Adenuga said, “The school will benefit immensely from the LSM package for the department as we take the financial trouble of running the department away from them.

“Students from the department can come for their internship at LSM workshops, and getting jobs after school won’t be difficult.

“For us, it will be a seamless arrangement in getting suitable personnel familiar with our training and business orientation.”

He also said the LSM had been absorbing students from the school and others for their industrial training (IT), providing them with useful hands-on training and monthly stipend to keep them going.

The LSM MD, Taiwo Shittu, commenting on the support, said, “We’ll be part of the progress of the school. We want to own a department in the technical college, the automobile department of studies that will enable us to fund the place; take care of the welfare of students, providing the tools, overall uniform and other facilities.”

“At LSM, we see training the youths as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility. Every year, we take in youths into our facility and train them; even while in training, we give them stipends.”

The highpoint of the LSM-sponsored Government Technical College event was the presentation of prizes to outstanding students in the various competitions held for the Engineering Week.

Three of the students whose projects stood out such as locally produced water pumping machine and water heater went home with impressive cash awards.

Principal of the college, Mr Folarin Sunkanmi, expressed appreciation to LSM for the interest in the school, starting with giving the students the opportunity for industrial training and offering them monthly stipend.

The principal commended the LSM efforts of sponsoring the engineering week’s activities, whose theme was given as ‘Engineering for Sustainable Development (Innovators of tomorrow)’

He urged other companies to emulate the LSM example in order to boost the employability chances of products of the technical colleges and engineering departments of higher institutions in the country.

MIKE OCHONMA
Editor