Covid-19: Ilaro Polytechnic Needs Upgrade To University For Producing Ventilator – Senator Adeola

MICHAEL AKINOLA

As the global efforts continue to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Solomon Adeola, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, has commended the Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Arc. Olusegun Aluko and engineers of the institution, for their initiative and ingenuity in quickly designing and producing a ventilator used in the treatment of COVID-19.

Reacting to the news of the positive development over the weekend, the Senator, also a member of the Senate Science and Technology Committee, said he is impressed by the acumen and ingenuity of the engineers of the 41 years old tertiary institution in rising up to the occasion to produce this scarce and costly equipment locally after research and trials in less than two weeks adding that it is even more reassuring that the Rector declared that the ventilator can be produced in two days with necessary support from the Federal Government.

“The feat of this institution in producing the critical medical equipment that is in urgent demands with the COVID-19 pandemic goes to show the ingenuity and talents of Nigerians that needs to be tapped. The pandemic has demonstrated that even with globalization, each nation is left to solve their problems before attending to others. The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, has demonstrated that we can rise to the challenge of developing indigenous technology to solve even worldwide existential problems. I am glad that the Rector said the design could be taught to other institutions for mass production” he stated.

Senator Adeola said the feat of the tertiary institution has further justified the need for the passage of one of his bills presently before the 9th Senate for the upgrade of the school to a University of Technology stressing that the bill, which was set for Second Reading before the lockdown, is further supported by the existing infrastructures and vast land for the upgrade as well as the need for encouraging technological development as demonstrated by the school.

“I want to call on the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, Federal Ministries of Education, Science and Technology as well as Health to get in touch with the tertiary educational institution to mass produce this equipment that cost less than a million Naira to produce instead of waiting to import similar equipment that are scarce in the international market at prohibitive cost ranging from N10 million and above” the Senator stated.