University of Benin (UniBen) and the Benson Idahosa University (BIU) have become the first of Nigeria’s top universities to sign partnership agreements with Retail Development and Investment Company Limited (RDIC), an information technology company, to help digitise, store and publish data for the universities through the company’s publication engine, www.iwemi.com.
RDIC, which primarily focuses on content management and distribution using technology tools, recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with both universities in Edo State, agreeing to manage the universities’ digital assets, implement their e-Textbook programmes and integration, provide library content platforms and services as well as anchor the schools’ content distribution, among others.
Speaking during the Uniben signing event, Ikponmwosa Omoruyi, chairman of Uniben public private committee and deputy vice chancellor of the university, said the partnership was aimed at driving academic excellence through the ease of access to information that digitisation would provide.
“This event is epochal in our quest for driving academic excellence in our university. Our university’s partnership with RDIC will not only make for easy access to educational content for our students and academic staff through online storage of theses, dissertations and other publications, but will also boost the school’s revenue generation, completely eliminate intellectual property loss, facilitate ease of reference to specific project materials and provide global visibility of the school’s project work to multi-national companies and project financiers,” Omoruyi said.
Omoruyi promised to give the partnership all the necessary support to ensure that it succeeded in its objectives, and urged members of the university community to avail themselves of the opportunity the partnership offered them to enrich their academic experience.
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Also speaking, Michael Osasuyi, public relations officer of Uniben, said he was very optimistic about the potential of the agreement to boost the profile of the school.
“University of Benin is a trailblazer in the academic world and has got a number of firsts to its credit. This agreement, which is another first of its kind in the history of this country, will go a long way in projecting this citadel of knowledge in the best light and will earn it a place of pride amongst its peers locally and internationally,” he said.
Ejimofor Akah, the project director of Iwemi.com, expressed his delight at the formalisation of the partnership and pledged to deliver on the expectations of the university. “I am delighted to be part of this partnership between the University of Benin and the RDIC. I convey our organisation’s commitment to providing quality and timely delivery of the services which we have been appointed to provide in such a manner as would bring about overall excellence and prosperity to the university,” Akah said.
Regarding Iwemi.com, Akah explained thus: “Our platform engine enables lecturers to publish their academic textbooks, teaching aids and peer-reviewed faculty journals within minutes. The lecturers determine the sale price of their content, and on a successful sale, our partnership with Fidelity Bank plc ensures that the lecturer’s royalties are paid within 48 hours. Our team will also work with Uniben to scan and digitise project work submitted from 2001 till date and will also assist in preparing these records in a format that can be accessible on iwemi.com or any database,” Akah said.
