The Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Thursday commissioned the Senator Oluremi Tinubu Dream Centre at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, describing the facility as a platform designed to inspire young Nigerians to pursue their dreams with purpose, patience and discipline.

The commissioning ceremony, held on the university campus, attracted dignitaries including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi; wives of some state governors; the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE; the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adebayo Simeon Bamire; royal fathers, university officials and students.

The event marked the formal handover of the centre, which was created to motivate students through storytelling, mentorship and reflection, with a focus on nurturing confidence, resilience and vision among young people.

Speaking at the ceremony, Senator Tinubu expressed delight that her life story—shaped by faith, service and determination—had been preserved in a space intentionally created to strengthen the confidence of young Nigerians. She noted that the Dream Centre was established to remind students to walk patiently with their own dreams rather than covet those of others, stressing that achievement requires consistency, discipline and perseverance.

Warmly received by students, the First Lady emphasised that the centre was built for both boys and girls, reflecting her belief in equal encouragement and opportunity for all young people. She explained that the facility houses inspirational books, including her four-part work, The Journey of Grace, which documents how divine guidance shaped her life and serves as a resource for students seeking motivation and direction.

Senator Tinubu recalled that the project began as a proposal for a modest pavilion but later evolved into the Dream Centre after she decided to create something that would outlive her and serve as a lasting legacy for students. She expressed joy that the vision had become a reality, particularly in a university renowned for producing influential personalities across the country.

In his remarks, the Ooni of Ife traced the history of the project to 2019, when he approached the then Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ogumbore, and Dr. Akio Adijuwa to request a space within the university to honour Senator Tinubu. He explained that the university senate initially resisted the idea due to its tradition of reserving such recognition for founding fathers, but approval was later granted for a three-kilometre road to be named Senator Oluremi Tinubu Way.

According to the monarch, the project suffered delays during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 but was revived when Senator Tinubu became First Lady, a development he described as divine timing. He praised the First Lady—whom he fondly called “Mama”—as a woman whose service and achievements continue to inspire the nation, noting that the Dream Centre symbolises perseverance, recognition and collective commitment to supporting young Nigerians.

Also speaking, NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa said the Dream Centre provides a space where storytelling, learning and reflection converge to help students appreciate the values of resilience, leadership and vision. He noted that the centre allows students to engage with the First Lady’s life story in a structured environment that reinforces the belief that dreams can be achieved through steady effort, patience and confidence.

In his welcome address, Vice Chancellor Prof. Bamire described the commissioning as a milestone for the institution, noting that the centre complements existing facilities by offering a dedicated space for inspiration, creativity and mentorship. He said the project aligns with the university’s commitment to nurturing leaders and innovators whose aspirations can shape the nation.

The vice chancellor added that the Dream Centre reflects the university’s dedication to strengthening students’ academic, moral and emotional growth, describing it as a gift for the future and a place where dreams can take shape.

The Oluremi Tinubu Dream Centre was conceptualised and donated to the university by the Ooni of Ife, while NITDA provided the IT-enabled devices installed in the facility, underscoring the collaborative effort behind the project.

The ceremony ended with a guided tour of the centre by stakeholders and guests, many of whom expressed optimism that the facility would play a critical role in inspiring students. The consensus was that the Dream Centre represents not just a building, but a realised vision that will influence how students think, grow and pursue excellence for generations to come.

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TECHDIGEST – The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, has advised university lecturers to involve students in problem-solving from their first year in the university as this would prepare them to become employers of labour.

He said Nigeria must go beyond using research for requirements to graduate and obtain a degree if the country wants to move forward.

He spoke on “Research, Innovation, and Sustainable Development,’ at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday, during the first annual lecture, unveiling the model of the Africa Centre of Excellence design studio and commissioning of Incubation Centre and Researchers’ lodge in the university.

He noted that the future is no longer dependent on natural resources but on knowledge-based, and research must lead students to gain innovative ideas that would make them graduate as potential employers.

READ ALSO: Pantami Calls For Contributions To National Digital Skills Strategy

“Research must be linked up with innovation. Students should partake in problem-solving. They should be engaged in critical thinking. Research should go beyond the requirements to graduate. They should be given topic three years before graduation so that they can come up with creative ideas.

Innovative ideas can make student graduate as potential employers.

“There is a need for reorientation and changing of perception about research.

We have talent in Nigeria but we don’t think of improving on what we have achieved. Research should go beyond the requirement of graduation. Otherwise, we are heading to an era where certificates will not be meaningful,” Pantami added.

The leader of ACE, Prof Ganiyu Aderohunmu, explained that the OAK park was to aspire to stimulate creativity and excellence in research and innovation and expand learning opportunities for OAU staff, students and other researchers from the region.

“To develop the next generation of scientists, researchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and product developers through appropriate practice-anchored capacity building measures, including industrial immersion schemes. This will entail the production of a critical mass of much-needed manpower for research and innovation,” he added.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of OAU, Owelle Udoji, and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebayo Bamire, said OAU is committed to promoting all programs and activities in her pursuit of attaining and maintaining the full stature of a world-class university.

Source: sunnewsonline

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TECH DIGEST – In an article titled: ‘The Role of Research in Digital Economy’, Prof. Aderounmu reiterated that the business of operating an economy in the contemporary world is no longer business as usual.

“It has become one of the innovation recipients of the digital age we are in. The ubiquitous digitalisation that is transforming all aspects of life is also transmuting the economic landscape. Economic activities are getting smarter and faster, propelled by the power of an ever evolving digital technology. Knowledge is the new dominant resource or factor of production; digital data is its determination of value. Electronic commerce is the new marketplace.

“The world trades in digital goods and services. Now, critical and large transactions can be conducted on the Internet or at the tapping of digits on mobile devices, as boundaries of space and time collapse into virtualisation and globalisation of economic activities. Social intercourse is increasingly digitalised, while governance and public services are also being delivered smartly with digital technology.

“As digital technology evolves, the modern economy is being transformed by innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Blockchain, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mobile, Big Data, Machine Learning, Robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(Drones), Cloud Computing, Fintech and so on. These powerful technologies are, autonomously or in convergence, instigating improved productivity and business innovation, which in turn are leading to increased employment opportunities, creation of wealth, and formation of greater value and growth in the economy. In the digital economy, governments of nations are also enabled with technologies that help them analyse public policies and improve governance as they deliver better public services to citizens more efficiently”.

 Defining the Digital Economy, the Immediate Past Dean, Faculty of Technology at OAU, quoted a World Bank Digital Economy report referencing Ernst and Young, saying “the part of economic output derived solely or primarily from digital technologies (ICT) with a business model based on digital goods or services.”

The report further expatiates that “digital economy is made up of various components, including a platform economy, a gig economy, an industry 4.0, a digital economy, data analytics, robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, 3-D printing, and e-commerce, among others.”

“In other words, the digital economy as it is today encompasses wide-ranging economic activities that leverage digitised information and knowledge as fundamental dynamics of production. Diverse innovative digital technologies, as earlier mentioned, are deployed to gather data, store data, analyse data, and then share the same data digitally to facilitate more effective interactions and efficient transactions in modern society.”

Beaming the light on ‘The Role of Research’, Prof. Aderounmu, noted that the simple sum total of the role of research in digital economy is that it enables innovation.

“There is no disputing the assertion that research is quite imperative in driving innovation in any sphere of life. In fact, just as there can be no progress or development without innovation, there is no innovation without research. Most, if not all, innovative technologies in history till date are products of research. In the digital economy, research is even more organically indispensable because innovations are what drive, grow and sustain economic digitalisation.

“Universally, due to its acclaimed significance for socio-economic development, research commands great attention among smart nations. That is why, as claimed in the UNESCO Institute for Statistics report, “global spending on Research & Development (R&D) has reached a record high of almost US$1.7 trillion.” The report also adds that about 10 countries contribute 80% of the above-mentioned R&D spending, just as some others have committed themselves to considerably increasing public and private R&D investment together with the number of researchers by 2030, in a drive towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This stoutly underscores the crucial role of research in attaining development.

“It is obvious then that if countries of the world could be investing trillions of dollars in Research & Development as reported by UNESCO, the digital economy cannot exist, survive or grow without research. Specifically, research shapes the digital economy in a number of ways. For one, research helps in creating design options for the optimum utilisation of the immense latent possibilities of economic digitalisation. That is why serious organisations and universities always invest in assorted research projects in order to discover new products, new ways of doing things or improving on existing products or processes. In so doing, research facilitates the path to innovations that stimulate the growth of the digital economy.

“So, it is a fact that scientific research delivers new insights. As scientists and researchers within and outside universities engage in research, they develop new knowledge, approaches, systems and technologies with which productivity is improved towards creating better products or services. The strategic outcome is that research helps to deepen the innovation capabilities of nations, while aiding their sustainable prosperity and global competitiveness in the digital economy. It is the reason that developing economies that want to evolve their own digital economies need to provide requisite funding to citizens and institutions with inventive scientific ideas to undertake research and development activities that can yield innovative products to benefit society.

“This naturally brings us to the world of innovation hubs or incubators which are also catalytic players in the research ecosystem in building the digital economy. Research supports incubators which are usually situated in technology parks, such as the OAU ICT-Driven Knowledge Park (also known as an Africa Centre of Excellence) hosted at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria”.

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