The Directorate of the Human Resources Development Centre, University of Lagos and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria have pledged continued collaboration to quality manpower training and capacity development in the country.
The institutions made this pledge when the Director/ Head of HRDC, Dr. Lateef Odekunle, led the university team to engage the management of CIPSMN at the Lagos office of the institute.
He stated, “In a bid to revitalise the long-lost partnership, we wrote to the institute, and we were invited to discuss the way forward. I’m happy that we were able to discuss the suspended collaborative arrangements.
“The likely issues that led to the fall or collapse of that collaboration were discussed, and then we agreed that henceforth, we should come back together to revitalise what appeared lost and create a kind of robust strong strategy for future and thriving collaboration that will stand the intended purpose.”
He stressed that the collaboration will expand the frontier of manpower training for both organizations and the country at large.
Speaking further, Odekunle explained that the collaboration between the two organisations was necessary to enhance the provision of requisite manpower and professional training for organisations.
He added, “As you know, we are a capacity-building centre for the University of Lagos. The Institute is also established by an Act of Parliament as a professional body to provide human capacity-building as well.
“The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria and the HRDC University of Lagos used to have collaboration; however, somewhere along the line, the collaboration broke down for reasons beyond our control.
“We saw in the record as we came on board that there was an existing collaboration.”
On expectations from the collaboration, the HRDC-UNILAG Director said the manpower training that will be provided by both organisations is beyond procurement alone.
“There’ll be Storekeeping, Business Law, General Management, Soft Skills, Organizational Behavior, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Accounting, Computer, and so on,” he said.
The CIPSMN team, led by Dr Aliyu Mohammed, the Registrar/CEO lauded the HRDC-UNILAG initiative aimed at revitalising the lost collaboration between the institute as a professional body and the University of Lagos as an educational institution.
He added that the collaboration between the two knowledge-sharing and reputable educational sectors is to further provide requisite quality skills for professionals from diverse fields of human endeavours.
“The partnership is basically about capacity building and certification programmes which will last for not less than a year or thereabouts. The programme will feature professional certification in Procurement and Supply Chain Management, quality record keeping, modern professional storekeeping and warehousing and many more. Collaborating with the institute as a professional body will give added value and recognition in all areas of the partnership arrangements.
“This is because nowadays, any certificate earned must be backed by professional certification, which an institute like CIPSMN, as the only professional body in Nigeria charged with such responsibility by Act of Parliament 21 of 2007 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to provide such professional knowledge,” he said.
He pledged the continued support of CIPSMN with the HRDC-UNILAG and assured that the institute would not relent in its advocacy for professionalism in procurement best practice in Nigeria despite all challenges.
“For us at the institute, it will add to the quality of the certification that we jointly collaborate to produce. It only means that from the two ends, we’re combining knowledge in a university setting with professional practice from the Institute.
“So, at the end of the day, we have people that are well-built with skills and competencies. I have noted with great pleasure that the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria and the University of Lagos have a collegial relationship in that CIPSMN is promoting excellent professional education while the University of Lagos is promoting educational academic excellence which it is designed for.
“In specific terms, UNILAG has such degree programs as industrial management and natural resources management since management is developing into a science with universally applicable techniques, there is a strong basis for the University of Lagos Faculty of Management Sciences and CIPSMN to cooperate and interact to harmonize some of their objectives.
“This view, I think, has been supported by the fact that this reunion which I understand, has been very successful, featured lectures from academics and closer cooperation can be achieved by the two bodies – CIPSMN and UNILAG
“Finally, a respected gentleman of the press, we have no doubt this renewed marriage this morning will work with superior strategy,” he said.
He added, “I would like to commend and thank the Director/Head of HRDC, Dr Lateef Adekunle, and his team for their impressive effort. I hope that my remarks have succeeded in providing us with some tale away from the mind.”
