UNILAG graduates 17,464 students on Jan. 15

CHINYERE IKEANYI

The 54th Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Lagos come up between January 15 and19, 2024 with a total of 17, 464 students graduating.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola, OON, FAS, who disclosed this on Wednesday during the Pre-Convocation Press Conference held at the Senate Chambers, stated that the ceremonies would be preceded by a Special Jumat Service on Friday, January 12 at the University of Lagos Central Mosque at 2pm.

The Vice Chancellor said on Monday, January 15, 2024, there would be the opening of the exhibition at the Senate House car park opposite JF Ade Ajayi Auditorium at 10am, adding that this is to showcase and celebrate the inventions and innovative ideas of the students and faculty members.

“There will be no Commissioning of Projects at this convocation as the commissioning of the new 484 bed hostel donated by Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, was commissioned on the 3rd of January by the Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas

“At noon on same day, the Convocation Lecture titled “Decolonizing African Higher Education for Transformational Development” will be delivered by Professor Toyin Falola a distinguished professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin under the able Chairmanship of Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, Chairman of Tanus, one of the most successful MDs of Daily Times, and former Pro-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (O.A.U)”

The congregation for the award of first degrees, diplomas, certificates, and prizes to graduating students across all Faculties and the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), will take place in morning and afternoon sessions, from Tuesday, 16, and Wednesday 17 January 2024.

On Thursday, January 18, 2024, Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters, and Ph.D. degrees including DBA and EMBA will be conferred on graduates of the School of Postgraduate Studies and the University of Lagos Business School (ULBS).

The highlight of the day will be the conferment of Honorary Doctorate degrees in recognition of personalities who have distinguished themselves by significantly contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields. This year we are awarding degrees to 3 such persons 2 men and a woman Professor Toyin Falola, OON, – Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, is a globally acclaimed influential humanities scholar whose wide-ranging scholarship has placed him at the zenith of the global academy.

Professor Phyllis Kanki, DVM, – a professor of Immunology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston through her work in West Africa was the first person to isolate HIV2 which causes a milder form of AIDS that was more commonly found in West Africa. She has contributed significantly to Medical Education, HIV research and building research capacity across Nigeria, in Nigeria, and Africa. In fact, the story of the Nigerian HIV response cannot be written without mentioning her contributions.

Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, OFR – a Professor of Political Science, a sound intellectual, an astute administrator with a strong sense of ethics who revolutionized Nigeria’s electoral process and conducted an internationally acclaimed free and fair election.

Later on that day there will be a private luncheon with the doyens followed at 6pmwith the Convocation play: Midnight Hotel (The Musical) by Femi Osofisan’s at JF Ade Ajayi Auditorium.

Stating that on Friday there will be a Long service Award ceremony at 10am at the Tolu Odugbemi Hall, the VC said the Ceremonies would formally come to an end on Sunday, January 21, 2024, with a Thanksgiving Service at the Chapel of Christ Our Light, University of Lagos starting at 10am.

On the statistics of the graduating students, Prof. Ogunsola stated: “This year, we will be graduating 17,464 students. Of these, 10,578 will receive first degrees and 6,886 are postgraduate. Of those with first degrees, 340 are first class with 97 coming from Management sciences, followed by Science with 57 and Engineering 47. From the Faculties of Pharmacy, Basic Medical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, there were 39 distinctions 24 of which were from the Faculty of Pharmacy”.

According to her, “3374 graduated with Second class upper; 4547 graduated with Second class lower and 1,832 with 3rd class. 188 graduated with a pass and 250 had unclassified degrees from Pharmacy, Basic and Clinical Sciences.

“The overall best graduating student who is also the best graduating student in Science is David Oluwatomiwa AKANMU, from the faculty of Engineering, with a perfect score of 5.00, while Ibrahim Abiodun QUADRI, of the Faculty of Management Sciences with CGPA of 4.94 is the best graduating student (Humanities)”.

The VC further stated that of the 6,886 postgraduate degrees, “we have 465 graduating with a postgraduate diploma, 6,266 are graduating with a Masters of which 377 have distinctions.

“Most exciting is that 31 of the Masters students are International students all with MSc degrees who were supported by World Bank grant through the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal medicine development and Regulatory Science (ACEDHERS) the centre Director, Dr Bola Ademilua worked extremely hard with her team to achieve this. This is the first time we will have such a harvest of international students at one convocation in the history of this University and this further reiterates and validates the aggressive internationalization drive of this administration and previous administrations”, she added.

Continuing, Prof. Ogunsola said: “This year, 155 graduands will be awarded the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in various disciplines. The overall best Ph.D. Thesis award for this year which is also the best PhD in the Sciences goes to Aminat Olawunmi IGE, with a Ph.D. in Mathematics. The best PhD in the humanities goes to Issa Akanji ADEDOKUN with a Ph.D. in Private and Property Law.

“The University of Lagos Business School will be graduating its first of students as an autonomous school this year. In repositioning the business school, to be more globally competitive we unbundled it from the School of Post graduate Studies, so it now has its own recognized certificate. 62 students will be graduating from the Business School this year and the overall best graduating student is Abiola Oluyemisi ITAKPE with a CGPA of 4.84 who obtained the Master of Business Administration”.

Thanking members of Senate, staff and all stakeholders for their commitment and loyalty to UNILAG despite the challenges of last year, the VC said the University recorded many significant wins “despite our challenges especially successes in the quality and quantum of research and grants, improved collaborations and partnerships with other universities and industry within and outside Nigeria, as well as exchange programmes for staff and students”.

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