The Ogun state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barrister Yusuph Olaniyonu, has described the continued practice of making students undergo industrial training as part of the requirements for their graduation as a laudable gesture capable of enhancing their productivity when they get to the labour market.
Olaniyonu gave this description at the Governor’s office Press Centre while addressing some students in the Mass Communication Department of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, who undergo an eight-week internship at the Ministry under the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES).
The Commissioner, himself an alumnus of the Polytechnic remarked that the internship must have helped exposed them to some realities and practice of what they were taught while in school as well as help them make informed decisions about their careers in the future.
Congratulating them for its successful completion, the commissioner posited that under-going the programme in the Ministry had a comparative advantage as they had been exposed to different units involved in news production, programme and documentary production, filming and photography among others as against other media stations where they are most likely to be restricted to just one unit.
“As you must know, this is Ministry of Information, we are the mouthpiece of government, we are involved in all brands of communication, journalism through our daily OGIS news bulletin and monthly Ogun Update production, broadcast and public relations through our various public enlightenment programmes, in fact we do some form of advertising too. I understand that you have all been taken round and exposed to the different units, this obviously is good for you” the commissioner noted.
While enjoining them to be good ambassadors of the Ministry as they are leaving, he enjoined them to internalise all the experiences garnered and make them to reflect in their subsequent academic activities, charging that they must shun all acts and social vices capable of tarnishing the image of the school.
Earlier in his remarks, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Abdul Fatai Opebiyi, urged the students to face socio-economic realities in the country and begin to think of becoming employers of labour, rather than waiting for paid white collar jobs that may not come after all.
According to him, experiences acquired while the training lasted could come handy in this respect in the nearest future.
Responding on behalf of her colleagues, one of the 62 students, Miss. Funmilayo Oloke, described their eight week stay in the ministry as worthwhile and rewarding, promising that as they are returning to their school, they would strive to apply all what they have been taught into their classroom activities.
She said: “Very sincerely, the training has exposed us to many things which would be beneficiary to us by the time we get back to school. It has really broadened our scope about journalism, reporting, newspaper production, programme production and what make news story.”
