With great delight and adoration to God Almighty, I warmly welcome staff and students in the College of Natural & Applied Sciences to this new academic session accompanied with a guarantee that, with their cooperation, the session will be successful, enjoyable, and tranquil. I seek assistance from academic staff and students to ensure that the session is the most memorable in terms of academics, socials, and spirituality.

The College of Natural and Applied Sciences (COLNAS) among other colleges from inception of the University started academic activities on October, 2012 with sixteen students and three Departments, namely; Biological Sciences, Physical & Computer Sciences and Chemical Sciences. Presently, College of Computing was carved out leaving following programmes namely, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Microbiology; Biotechnology, Industrial Chemistry, Industrial Mathematics and Physics. These programmes are currently run on full and part time basis and are all approved by National Universities Commission (NUC) with crop of eminent scholars, committed and highly motivated staff.

The objective of the college is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills in the natural and applied sciences in order to meet nation’s demand for graduates in the areas of biochemical and microbiological sciences, cell & molecular biology, bioinformatics, computational biology, mathematical sciences, and research and development. The college concentrates its instruction in these areas. College’ students are taught in an ecofriendly and green environment with state-of-the-art laboratories, workshops, and modern technological facilities, interactive teaching/learning facilities to impart knowledge and enhance research activities. COLNAS has been engaging in interdisciplinary research collaborations within and outside. It facilitated establishment of ‘Think Tank’ research group across the University community for grants awards. Several publications have been published by members of academic staff in various high impact journals both nationally and internationally. College seminar series is being organized at least once in a session to heralds its path findings research outcomes to the University community and environs. There are students’ associations and literacy group within the College that enable students to find expression towards social living.

To equip students with the necessary practical knowledge and technical skills for self-employment and effective involvement in Nigeria’s industrial growth.

Established in 1971, the Industrial Training Fund has operated consistently and painstakingly within the context of its enabling laws Decree 47 of 1971 as Amended in the 2011 ITF ACT. The objective for which the Fund was established has been pursued vigorously and efficaciously. In the four decades of its existence, the ITF has not only raised training consciousness in the economy, but has also helped in generating a corps of skilled indigenous manpower which has been manning and managing various sectors of the national economy.

Over the years, pursuant to its statutory responsibility, the ITF has expanded its structures, developed training programmes, reviewed its strategies, operations and services in order to meet the expanding, and changing demands for skilled manpower in the economy. Beginning as a Parastatal “B” in 1971, headed by a Director, the ITF became a Parastatal “A” in 1981, with a Director-General as the Chief Executive under the aegis of the Ministry of Industry. The Fund has a 13 member Governing Council and operates with 10 Departments and 4 Units at the Headquarters, 38 Area Offices, 4 Skills Training Centres, and a Centre for Industrial Training Excellence.

At establishment, it was discovered that the widest skills gap that existed was in the area of vocational and technical skills. The Fund, therefore, developed the National Apprentice Scheme (NAS) in the late 70’s to provide the policy framework and facilitate our Apprenticeship programmes nationwide.

Today as Nigeria is experiencing significant economic changes, we embarked on a structural reorganization and expansion of the scope of our operations to effectively cover the whole country. To complement the efforts of employers to improve the proficiency of their staff, the ITF has developed and built its internal capacity, which has positioned it at the forefront of industrial skills training in Nigeria.

“In response to population explosion and the phenomenon of rising youth unemployment, we developed short term vocational skills training programmes that have trained hundreds of thousands of Nigerians across the Federation.”

Our performance as a corporate entity hinges on the strategic investment we have made to improve our system and people. These investments cover everything from the building and maintenance of skills training centres to procuring the equipment and technologies to run these centres.

The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a Skills Training Programme designed to prepare and expose Students of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Technology, Colleges of Agriculture and Colleges of Education for the Industrial Work situation they are likely to meet after graduation. The Scheme affords Students the opportunity of familiarizing and exposing themselves to handling equipment and machinery that are usually not available in their Institutions.

Before the establishment of the Scheme, there was a growing concern that graduates of our Institutions of higher learning lacked adequate practical knowledge and that the theoretical education in Higher Institutions was not responsive to the needs of the Employers of Labour.

It is against this background that the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) initiated, designed and introduced SIWES Scheme in 1973 to acquaint Students with the skills of handling Industrial equipment and machinery.

Source: ITF

Specifically, the objectives of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) are to:

1. Provide an avenue for students in institutions of Higher Learning to acquire industrial skills and experience in their course of study, which are restricted to Engineering and Technology including Environmental Studies, Sciences and other courses that may be approved.
2. Prepare students for the industrial work situation they are to meet after graduation.
3. Expose students to work methods and techniques in handling equipment and machinery that may not be available in their Institutions.
4. Make the transition from school to the world of work easier and enhance student’s contacts for later job placement.
5. Provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge in real work situation thereby bridging the gap between theory and practice; and
6. Enlist and strengthen Employers involvement in the entire educational process and prepare students for employment in Industry and Commerce.

By the directive of National Universities Commission (NUC) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF), the Unit is mandated to carry out the following functions:

1. Seeking of industrial placement for undergraduate students enrolled in disciplines scheduled for participation in SIWES.
2. Supervision of the students undergoing their Industrial training in the various place of IT
3. Processing of  students’ logbooks, ITF forms and industrial attachment  reports upon which is based on the Federal Government funding of supervision and  students’ allowances.
4. Fostering of close links between the university and industries participating in SIWES programme.
5. Provision of advisory guidance to participating students on career employment opportunities.
6. Monitoring of compliance with the requirements of SIWES on the part of students in eligible disciplines as a condition for graduation.
7. Facilitation of the disbursement of the students’ allowance to deserving students through e-payment