MTI: Nigeria recording tremendous success under Fakuade, say group

The Advocates for Social Justice for All (ASJA) and Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation (CCSOT) has passed a vote of confidence on Olabode Fakuade, chief executive officer, Metallurgical Training Institute.

According to both civil society organisations, the CEO has recorded tremendous strides since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

Established in 1981, MTI is a parastatal under the ministry of mines and steel development, mandated to train Nigerians in the area of maintenance engineering with the aim of fast-tracking technological development.

After over three decades of neglect and mismanagement of funds, MTI has witnessed a reawakening in terms of infrastructural development and purposeful leadership, the groups said.

At a press conference on Thursday and statement co-signed by Joseph Gamji Guona and Boluwaji Bewaji ASJA’s executive director and CCSOT’s secretary-general respectively, both groups expressed utter shock at recent calumny campaign against the CEO.

The CSOs said this plot is “nothing but the handiwork of distractor who are not happy with the multiple gains that are being recorded in the Institute and the fact that he is not an indigene of the locality”.

Under Fakuade’s tutelage, the group said MTI achieved unprecedented level of growth, “evident in the fact that the MTI avails various calibers of Nigerians the opportunity to acquire technical education that provides for necessary skills for gainful employment, self-employment, and job creation.”

The Advocates for Social Justice for All and the Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation is conversant, therefore, warned distractors to desist from such acts so the Chief Executive Officer can effectively carry out the mandate given by president.

Read full statement below:

On behalf of the leadership of the Advocates for Social Justice for All and Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation, we warmly welcome you all to this press conference organized in the light of the tremendous achievements recorded in the administration of the Metallurgical Training Institute.

This press conference is indeed intended to put issues in proper perspective and to advise some paid distractors that have been commissioned to smear the character of the Chief Executive Officer of the Metallurgical Training Institute.

The Advocates for Social Justice for All and the Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation wishes to state that the recently launched campaign of calumny against the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI is nothing but the handiwork of distractors who are not happy with the multiple gains that are being recorded in the Institute and the fact that he is not an indigene of the locality.

We wish to state that since the assumption of office of Mr. Olabode Fakuade as the director and Chief Executive Officer of the MTI, the Institute has indeed reclaimed its spot as one of Nigeria’s foremost training institute. This much is evident in the numerous achievements that have been recorded in the annals of the Institute in recent times.

The MTI under the leadership of Mr. Olabode Fakuade has witnessed an unprecedented level of growth that is evident in the fact that the MTI avails various calibers of Nigerians the opportunity to acquire technical education that provides for necessary skills for gainful employment, self-employment, and job creation.

Under the leadership of Mr. Olabode Fakuade, the Institute has witnessed unprecedented infrastructural development as about 600 meters of deep concrete drains have been constructed to link the tunnel adjoining Onitsha-Owerri Expressway to channel erosion water, training equipment/ facilities upgraded and students hostels are witnessing total rehabilitation.

The Institute is taking advantage of the solar power system as an alternative source of energy supply both to our workshops to boost training activities as well as the offices for efficient service delivery. The Institute has also witnessed the constant training and retraining by undertaking capacity building programmes to improve their efficiency at work.

The Advocates for Social Justice All and the Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation consequently wishes to state that those faceless groups that have been paid to make unfounded allegations against the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI had better desist from such nefarious acts in the interest of the continued growth and development of the MTI.

The attacks on the person of the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI is unwarranted and unnecessary given the fact that the allegations are not only baseless, but of poor taste, and can be best described as a distractive exercise aimed at making the Chief Executive Officer of the MTI lose focus from the task at hand.

The hogwash been peddled that Mr. Olabode Fakuade is not qualified to lead the MTI is a figment of the imagination of those that are not happy with the giant strides been recorded in the MTI in recent times.

This much is evident in the accolades have continued to pour in from various quarters, including students of the Institute that indeed described the leadership of the Institute led by Mr. Olabode Fakuade as innovative and transformative.

The Advocates for Social Justice for All and the Concerned Civil Society Organizations for Transformation is conversant with the ongoing innovations at the Institute and consequently wishes to sound a note of warning to the distractors to desist from such acts so the Chief Executive Officer can effectively carry out the mandate given to it by Mr. President.

The Advocates for Social Justice for All and the Concerned Civil Society Organization for Transformation, therefore, demand that in line with Mr. President’s principle of merit and hard work above mediocrity and ethnic bigotry, Mr. Olabode Fakuade should be allowed as a Nigerian to function effectively and not be derailed.

It must be noted that success does not recognize ethnicity or religion and the fact that Mr. Olabode Fakuade is delivering on the mandate given to him by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, nothing else should matter.

This much the distractors of Mr. Olabode Fakuade should know and hence the need for them to give him a chance to succeed.