The collaboration is to boost socio-economic and infrastructural development in the state.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State gave the assurance during a courtesy visit by the Chairman, University of Pittsburgh Department of Industrial Engineering, Pennsylvania (USA), Prof. Bopaya Bidinda, to the deputy governor’s office at Alausa, Ikeja on Thursday.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat said this would be done through the building of a manufacturing capacity in the state.
Expressing his delight on the proposed partnership, the governor said the state government was willing to learn from what had been done in Pittsburgh in terms of enhancing manufacturing in the community and getting people together.
According to him, Lagos state is ready for the partnership which will be achieved through capacity building for manufacturing concern.
“We are ready for this and we will make sure it comes to fruition. We have the people that will push it, and this is how we can plant the tree of development and then pass it down.”
The governor also assured of more and bigger Assistance Centres, to enhance the community.
Similarly, the Special Adviser to the governor on Innovation and Technology, Mr Olatunbosun Alake explained that the MAC project which was implemented in the Lagos State University (LASU), and in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh was to drive manufacturing skill capacity in the state.
Alake added that the Manufacturing Assistance Centre would have equipment for the students to learn manufacturing skills and boost manufacturing capacity in the state.
According to him, manufacturing is the bedrock of any economy.
The Vice Chancellor of LASU, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello said that the collaboration of LASU with Pittsburgh University which she described as a more experienced university with focus on manufacturing, would be of immense benefit to the people.
Olatunji-Bello noted that the collaboration would help turn unskilled people to skilled personnel.
She further added that it would give the people opportunities to develop their industries through the Assistance Centre.
“The centre will help the people of Epe and the Lagos East Senatorial Zone to drive development because the centre will be located in the Epe Campus of the University.
“It will also propel the emergence of more industries in the community, while more employment opportunities will be created,” she said.
Earlier in his remarks, Bidinda, commended the vision of the state government on transformative change in the state and in the education system.
The professor said the collaboration was about reaching out to the community, for better living and enhancing the industrial and manufacturing sector in the state.
Bidinda noted that industrial engineering techniques made processes faster and better.
“It adds value to a process by making it work more efficiently and has been embraced in the developed countries.
“Also, the United Nation economics significantly benefits using the industrial engineering techniques,” Bidinda explained.
He, however, urged government not just for financial and material support but also on policies to drive the initiative.
He also added that the Industrial Engineering Strategy would be in place in addition to the manufacturing assistance centre.