THE Management and Accountancy Department of the Federal Polytechnic Offa recently hosted a top executive and the incoming President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, (ICAN), Alhaji Rasaq Jaiyeola FCA.
The visit paved way for collaborative opportunities for the Polytechnic as Alhaji Rasaq announced his interest to initiate a working partnership that would see the Polytechnic building skills and expanding the frontiers of learning.
Receiving the visitor, the Polytechnic Rector, Dr. Lateef Olatunji welcomed him, acknowledging the professionalism that he had been identified with. He added that the Polytechnic is pleased to host him. Alhaji Rasaq, however, felt honored and overwhelmed by the number of people in attendance despite the short notice.
Among issues discussed during the meeting is the District Society; Alhaji Rasaq disclosed that the Institute intends to build more Districts and wanted the Polytechnic and Offa community to benefit from the gesture avail members more opportunities from the Institute. He briefed ICAN members of the Polytechnic on requirements needed to have a District Society and enjoined them to speedily work on meeting up with the requirements.
Shedding light on Account Technician Scheme (ATS), Mr. Jaiyeola said ATS is a programme design for School Certificate/GCE and NECO Certificate holders who intend to pursue careers in accounting. He said those who would handle the subjects are highly required. He instructed the interim executive to source for tested and trusted accounting lecturers who could impact required knowledge. He added that lecturers could be sourced internally since there were qualified and reliable lecturers within the Polytechnic. He concluded that, at extreme need, there might be need to source externally for high caliber professional.
Discussing the issue of “Catch them young” he said, it was an aspect of the Institute targeted at secondary school students. He told the meeting that during the last one held in Offa Grammar School, twenty students each were selected from twenty Schools and it was funded by the Institute.
The Bursar, on behalf of the entire Polytechnic community appreciated Mr. Jaiyeola for finding time to interact with the Staff of the Polytechnic and ICAN members and for broadened their knowledge about the Institute while Alhaji Jaiyeola appreciated the Polytechnic in return and pledged his continual support to the Polytechnic on the District formation and other matters.
Also present at the meeting were the Proprietor, Lens Polytechnic, Mr. Azeez; immediate past head of Accountancy Department, Mr. A. Y. Salman, other senior lecturers and Bursary staff of the Polytechnic.