Dr. Jeremiah Yabefa is the Provost of the Bayelsa College of Arts and Science (BYCAS). In this interview with Osa Okhomina of LEADERSHIP in Yenagoa, he spoke of the renewed plan by the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, through an effective educational policy Bill and the rejuvenation of the BYCAS, to use the institution to rebuild the manpower need of the state.
Sir, what is the relevance of Bayelsa College of Arts and Science to the present empowerment programme of the state government, bearing in mind that you have been mandated to develop middle manpower class?
The focus of this new Bayelsa College of Arts and Science is simple, it is the state governments’ vision to employ middle level man power and its interest is basically on information and communication technology, agriculture and bio-technology.? So, basically BYCAS, our acronym, is a school that runs National Diploma Programmes in different disciplines such as science laboratory technology, management sciences, as well as in the arts and applied sciences.
This time around, the focus of the government is more on ICT, in the sense that this is a global world and technology has taken over the whole world. That is why it is in the interest of the governor that Bayelsa youths, not only the youths, but equally the adults, every literate person in Bayelsa should be ICT-compliant. However, we are focusing on ICT in the sense that we want to run certain certificate programmes in computer information technology and such programmes are in the areas of computer application, computer hardware maintenance, computer programming, data base management and administration, computer networking, electrical installation certificate and project management.
?So these are programs we can easily run within the period of six months and achieve immediate results. If we are able to achieve immediate results, it will be a plus for Bayelsa youths and even for the working class. It is the dream of the state government to build new primary schools all over the state, with ICT centers. Practical oriented instructors will be engaged in these ICT centers to train people in all cadres, including those working in companies, ministries and in the offices.? You know we are talking about jobs. If you are looking for middle level manpower in the companies and industries and you are not computer literate, you cannot be employed. Some people have no knowledge of computer, if you ask them what a PC is, they will not know what a PC is.? So if our youths are trained in these centers and they are ICT compliant, they can easily be employed. They can even open their own private ICT centers with the prospect of being employed by multi-national companies.
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Now that you are at the helm of affairs, when do you hope to reopen the institution towards total restructuring?
The truth of the matter is that, we are going to reopen very soon. We are working in conjunction with the contractors who put some of these infrastructure in place to come forward for talks on how to start renovation programme and complete the facelift for the school. The state ministries of local government affairs and education shall also be co-opted into a peaceful dialogue with the contractors for smooth re-opening. As soon as this is done, we shall take off.According to the governor, his administration is fully prepared to provide all necessary facilities for the newly improved BYCAS.? And for the start, with the ICT centre, we need to equip the laboratories.? We have already discussed with a consultant who works with internet facility in town to come and assess the four laboratories so that they could be able to liaise with government and equip the laboratories within three to four weeks.I believe that since the governor is education-friendly, he is prepared to promote education in the state within his restoration agenda.? We believe that we will quickly get the funds ready to equip the four ICT Laboratories for us to kick-start in earnest.
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What is your assessment of the take-off grant to properly put infrastructure on the ground within the ambit of the governments’ provision?
With respect to cost, from the assessments we made from one or two consultants, with the ICT laboratories and basically the information technology laboratories, we were given a cost for initial take-off, not for the whole school. For immediate take-off, with the ICT programme, the governor has promised that he will provide every necessary facility for the college
?But for the science technology laboratories, which are three major laboratories, the Bio-chemistry laboratory, the Chemistry laboratory and the Physics Laboratory, including a Technical Drawing Studio, which would be readily equipped by the government. However, the governor is very ready to foot the bills of these laboratories for initial take-off because we have not been able to get the total cost of all the necessary facilities, but for a take-off, we are taking it gradually, one at a time, to achieve immediate results. So this is what I can say for now.? But the government did promise that there will be an extension in these premises to build a befitting library. So we believe that when everything is through, this place will serve as an international center where people from outside will come in to learn as well.
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How many students do you have in mind for a take-off?
Well, from the assessment and discussions we had with the consultants, we are trying to equip four ICT laboratories and each laboratory will take about sixty (60) students.? We shall run these ICT programmes in batches because each laboratory can take about sixty (60) students. We are therefore planning to take about 480 students on the whole in the first batch, so that we can get achievable results within six months, in a bid to raise competent graduates.
?Consequently, we want to ensure that we select only qualified ICT professionals who are good on the job as instructors.? Decisions will be on a one-on-one basis with the computers, as the whole thing will be practical-oriented.? That is why in our selection process, we want to ensure that we interview instructors on a practical ground. They shall be involved in practical mock lecturing exercise for about 10 to 15 minutes to enable us ascertain their competency.
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Apart from ICT, which other areas do you intend to focus on?
Apart from ICT, it is the interest of the governor to focus on agriculture, because agriculture is the mainstay in this world.? So we shall be focusing on agriculture and bio-technology to improve varieties of foods. Under agricultural technology, we are planning to engage in bee farming for honey production and poultry farming, if government provides land for that purpose. We shall also introduce entrepreneurial skills to the students to enable our graduates to become self reliant. Apart from agriculture, we need to pursue the National Diploma Programme, when we get provisional license from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
?As I mentioned earlier, the old BYCAS was running National Diploma Programmes and most of our students have been very good students.? When they graduated, they got direct entry to other universities like Abraka, UNAB in Ogun State, some universities in the north, Anambra State University etc. Bayelsans will ever remain grateful to the governor for re-establishing this all important college, which was scraped in the last administration. My thanks go to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Konbowei Benson Friday and the honourable members, who speedily passed the bill on the re-establishment of the school. The people of the state are equally very happy to hear that the governor approved that the State University (Niger Delta University) gives direct admission to our students on graduation. I was privileged to be with the Vice Chancellor of the University, who also is very interested in the programmes of the new BYCAS .
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Would this Diploma be admissible at the State owned University and others outside the State?
Our graduates from the National Diploma Programme now have direct access to NDU. That is one step ahead in the governor’s new vision for education in the restoration agenda. However, this can only take place when we have started with the immediate programmes; we have to pursue the professional license from the National Board on Technical Education.? We will invite them for an advisory visit and when they come, they have to see our new facilities and give us a go ahead order to start the National Diploma Programmes. We are prepared.
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What will be the use of your professional certificate programmes?
?Certificate programmes are very useful because we are partnering with ICT Vendors like Cisco and Microsoft for authentication of these certificates, so they are very important for every literate person in the state and beyond.
You said you are partnering with Microsoft, how visible is the partnership and what are the benefits accruable to your institution?
?The partnership is very visible because we have started talking with them.? Our consultant in Lagos is in a training programme with a Chinese company and he did inform me that he has already discussed the partnership with them and they said, once our laboratories are equipped, they will come for a facility tour and further equipments. And once that is done, they will approve it for us, so it is very easy.? It is an interesting thing to be here as Provost to pioneer these laudable initiatives of the governor.
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Will the certificates from BYCASS be acceptable for employment?
Yes. They can work with it anywhere in the world after certification.
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Are you considering having residential accommodation for the students?
Well, for now the beautiful structure we have does not have hostel facilities for students, even for lecturers. We are believing that students will come from their homes, because, this place is not far from the city (Yenagoa).? It is just a ten minutes drive, Elebele and Opolo communities. For transportation, we believe that anywhere there is business, the transporters will quickly relocate, but probably, we will look into arranging transportation assistance from government, but I know that for a start, transporters will immediately divert to this route when the school kick starts, because that was the case with the Niger Delta University and the Federal University (Otueke). So I believe that the same thing will happen here.
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Do you share in the education policy of Governor Dickson?
Yes, the governor’s education policy will work. The governor is trying to use young and pro-active men and women to pursue his restoration agenda. Without sounding apologetic, I believe that this government is not for lazy people. Governor Dickson is looking for hard working people to engage in his development agenda. The governor wants to work with people with ideas. I believe that very soon, the whole state will be turned around for good. So, the governor’s transformation agenda is already working, because people are achieving positive results. And it will work beautifully for the new BYCASS too.
What are those things new intakes must be mindful of before they even intend to purchase the form to your school?
This is a very vital question. I wish to state categorically here that in line with the policy thrust of the state government under the umbrella of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, we shall not condone any act of thuggery, cultism or anything inimical to the progress of the school, in whatever form. It is a straightforward policy. We shall not admit cultists. We shall have zero tolerance for crime in the re-established BYCASS.
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