Onitsha Business School Commemorates 10th Anniversary, 3rd Convocation Ceremony in Grand style

By Olisemeka Obeche

The Onitsha Business School, OBS Onitsha, last Friday (September 6, 2024) commemorated its 10th founding anniversary and 3rd convocation ceremony in grand style. On the occasion, the institution issued certificates for doctorate (PhD), masters (MBA and MSc) and bachelors degrees in different fields of study. Also issued to the graduating students were master-class certificates in Business Innovation, Strategic Management and Project Management. 

The colourful ceremony, which was held at the OBS Campus, along Regina Nwankwu Avenue, GRA Onitsha, Anambra state, was a collaboration of town and gown, as it attracted the top echelon of persons from all walks of life, of course, including members of the School’s Advisory Council, Governing Council, faculty, staff, students, graduands, relatives and well-wishers. 

The founder, director general and chairman of Governing Council of OBS, Prof. Olusegun Oludapo Sogbesan, in his brief remarks, expressed gratitude to God that the Onitsha Business School had not only survived its first decade but also evolved from a mere idea to a thriving center of excellence in business education. 

“Today, we stand proud as we celebrate the achievements of our graduate masters and PhD graduates, who have honed their skills and knowledge to become leaders in their respective fields. 

“OBS is a global vision for Africa. For the past 10 years, we have stayed true to our principles, practice and procedure. We have adhered strictly to the pattern of being flexible when dealing with identified problems and challenges of our ecosystems, using Domicile African Concepts (DAC). This has been our confidence and distinctive strategy. The spirit of innovation and indigenous entrepreneurship in excellence has become our drive and anchor.    

The registrar of the Onitsha Business School, Dr. Sylvanus Ailegbo Izebhokhae, also in his address, disclosed that the School had, through its innovative programmes such as the Industrial Skill Acquisition and Application Center (ISAAC), the Obi Nnaemeka Achebe Indigenous Management Center (ONAIMC), raised a new crop of responsible executives and leaders cultured to meet the growing demand for competent and quality leaders of thought in both public and private sectors across the country and globally.  “It has indeed been, for us, a decade marked with excellence in education and leadership development,” Izebhokhae said. 

Dr. Vincent Nwani, a former director at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), in his keynote address as guest speaker, traced Nigeria’s worsening socio-economic crisis to its faulty educational system. Speaking on the topic: ‘Education and Socio-economic Development in Nigeria, Private and Public Sector Alignment,’ Nwani argued that Nigeria and its citizens would have fared better if the educational system had been designed to cater for its socio-economic development needs rather than churning out graduates who parade mere certificates with no value addition. 

“Nigeria seems to have become the capital of out-of-school children in the world with over 20 million. Nigeria also looks like the capital of illiteracy with 75 percent of Nigerian youths, between the age of seven and 14, unable to read or write or solve the simplest arithmetic. What this means is that the future is bleak, compared to what we have today. 

He also bemoaned the negative impact of incessant industrial actions on the collapsing education system in Nigeria. 

Nwani condemned the federal government’s recent controversial policy on age restriction on university admission in Nigeria. According to him, such policy would do more harm to the education system and the society than good.  “This policy will lead to waste of time and talent,” he added. 

“Nigeria’s educational system is lagging behind and short-changing our ability to develop socially, economically and even mentally. Over the past 25 years, you will find out that increasingly, to even be able to hire graduates is becoming more difficult. They are not available in the market. 

He also lamented the gross shortage of vocational skills, artisans and technicians in the country and the fact that the attention of Nigerian youths had shifted to fast ways of making money. 

He called for overhaul of the educational system, with the introduction of new curricular that can realistically serve the development needs of the country.  “We have reached a stage where we need to fix our curriculum and the people that deliver those curriculums. It’s a big challenge because the output is not really adding value to our society at all. 

The misalignment between the needs of the industry and the products of the Nigerian school is a very big problem. The handouts used to teach in the 1980s are still being used in our schools today. It’s not that graduates are not available but the quality is very poor. If you hire, you have to train and train to get them to the standard. 

The way forward, according to him, is to trace the point of alignment where government core interest which is improving the lives and wellbeing of citizens intersects with the core of private sector interest which is profit maximization. “The determinants are government delivering quality and effective government goods – right infrastructures, enabling environment – that will attract the right funding from the private sector, right job and innovations and good corporate behavior and taxations etc. 

There is need for collaboration, engagement, partnership between the private and public sector.”

Prof. Kingsley Chiwuike Ukaoha, a computer science expert and programme director, College of Science and Computing, Wigwe University, also lamented Nigeria’s inability to use education as a tool for socio-economic development. 

According to him, that misalignment between education and socio-economic development objectives was responsible for the huge gap in the number of public and private funded higher education institutions to cater for the educational needs of the country.

Prof. Ukaoha, who is also a faculty member of OBS, said: “Right now, we have only 63 state universities and 62 federal universities. 

That is not enough as we have 125 universities to cater for more than 100 million students. And each year more than 2 million candidates sit for UTME and less than 100,000 manage to gain admission. So, where do the rest go? 

To help us bridge the gap, we now have private universities coming up. And today, we have 149 private universities and numerous others as polytechnics and service institutions like Lagos Business School, Onitsha Business School etc.

He praised the management of OBS for delivering high quality education to Nigerians. “Onitsha Business School provides their students with skills that will equip them to thrive in a vastly changing global economy. And she also fosters innovation and entrepreneurship. 

And that is where it is making a big difference in our society by contributing to the reduction of unemployment and creation of sustainable businesses.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr. Kenneth Uchenna Nzegwu, a faculty member had remarked that the Onitsha Business School had become a citadel of excellence in business education in Nigeria because of its track record of grooming students in an academic environment that nurtures innovation, critical thinking and entrepreneurship.