Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
As part of its efforts to support medical education in Nigeria, the Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative(ASR Africa) has embarked on a N500million 3D medical laboratory building project at the Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The ASR Initiative, which was established by philanthropist and business mogul, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, owner of BUA conglomerate investments, embarked on the construction of the state-of-the-art medical laboratory at the institution as part of efforts to support the development of the healthcare sector in the country.
Speaking at the Ground Breaking Ceremony, on Wednesday, the Managing Director of ASR Africa Initiative, Dr. Udoh Ubong, said that the 3D medical laboratory building was donated to the school because of the students’ high performance in education and the quality of its graduates.
Ubong, who said that the laboratory building was part of the Alhaji Abdul Samad’s contributions to strengthening the education system in the country, said when completed, the laboratory would enhance the training of medical students, especially Nursing education at the university in order to become exceptional medical practitioners.
The MD stated that the medical laboratory would be completed within six months because it’s a N500million project, saying that the ASR Initiative only give grants between N250million to NI billion to either public or private institutions whose students perform excellently in public examinations like ICAN.
He said, “As part of the Abdul Samad Rabiu contributions to developing the education space, we have the Tertiary Education Grant Scheme. These tertiary education grants are awarded to beneficiaries who are qualified universities; they get grants ranging from N250 million each to N1billion for either education needs and challenges that they have that they need to solve within the universities.
“Of course, this is Alhaji Abdul Samad’s commitment and evidence to strengthening education system. In terms of criteria, it is open to both private and public institutions. You have to apply, so once you apply we have what we call prioritization filter. We run your application through that filter and then develop with universities.
“We don’t presume to tell the universities what they want. The universities tell us what they want to use the grant for and we sit with them together and see what is the most accessable to everyone and and could satisfy gender needs. It is going to be impactful socially and we get the project implemented.
“Even the Federal Colleges of Education(FCE) have benefited and there are so many institutions in the country. So, the criteria are very easy. You have to have good ranking, proof of visionary leadership within the institutions, which is very important to us as you can see in Crescent University. Also, the quality of your graduates, we look at the review of the scores, the Federal examinations each university is taking, they are getting a 100% pass rate in the school of nursing and other professional examinations like ICAN.
“This institution is always scoring very high; those are the kinds of things we look at when we want to partner with any institution. We expect that projects under N500million are implemented within six months and projects up to a billion are implemented in 12 months. So, we are going to be on the contractor to ensure that we can get this done so that we can come for the commissioning,” he added.
In his remarks on the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor of Crescent University, Prof Ibraheem Gbajabiamila, expressed gratitude to ASR Africa for the generous donation, stating that the medical laboratory will greatly enhance the university’s medical programme.
Gbajabiamila stressed that the school authority was proud that most of their students in medical profession, including Nursing, who took public examinations, came out in flying colours.
“We are indeed very proud, most of the students have already qualified. They have taken public exams and are qualified for the courses,” he noted.
The Registrar of Crescent University, Barrister Zakariyyah Ajibola, thanked ASR Africa Initiative for setting up the medical laboratory building project in the school.
“We are quite elated at this kind gesture, not only as a fillip to our infrastructural development in this university but ASR Africa’s willingness to add to its name to the line of prestigious endorsement on our campus. It is evidence that this will be our best building in terms of aesthetics and equipment. We are very proud of that,” he said.
Earlier, the Proprietor of the institution, Prince Adesegun Ajibola, lauded Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu for the 3D medical laboratory building in the school, saying it was a partnership in great idea.
