- Varsity graduates 17,464, produces 340 First Class
By Gabriel Dike, Lagos
A Faculty of Science student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, David Oluwatomiwa Akanmu has recorded a perfect score of 5.00 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for the 2021/2023 academic session.
The Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, who disclosed this at the pre-convocation briefing, said the university produced 340 First Class graduates with 97 from the Faculty of Management Sciences, followed by Faculty of Science with 57 and Faculty of Engineering 47.
The VC said Akanmu emerged as the overall best graduating student. She asked also revealed that 39 students obtained Distinctions from the medical courses.
According to her, UNILAG will graduate 17,464 students, 10,578 are to receive first degrees and 6,886 for postgraduate. She also explained that 155 graduands will be conferred with PhD.
“Most exciting is that 31 of the masters students are International students with MSc degrees, who were supported by world bank grants 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 internationalisation drive of this administration and previous administrations,” she noted.
The VC announced that the overall best Ph.D. thesis award went to Aminat Olawunmi Ige, with a Ph.D in Mathematics, Faculty of Science. While the best PhD in the humanities is Issa Akanji Adedokun with a Ph.D. in Private and Property Law.
Ogunsola further disclosed that the University of Lagos Business school will graduate its first set of students as an autonomous school this year.
“In repositioning the business school, to be globally competitive, we unbundled it from the School of Post graduate Studies, so it now has its own recognised certificate. Sixty two students will graduate from the Business School and the overall best graduating student is Abiola Oluyemisi Itakpe with a CGPA of 4.84, who obtained the Master of Business Administration.
The university convocation lecture titled: “Decolonizing African Higher Education for Transformational Development” will be delivered by Prof. Toyin Falola, a distinguished professor of History at the University of Texas and under the chairmanship of Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, Chairman of Tanus, and former Pro-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (O.A.U).
She said the highlight of the convocation will be the conferment of honorary doctorate degrees to three scholars, who have distinguished themselves by contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields.
Ogunsola mentioned the three honoraries to include Prof. Toyin Falola, a chair of University of Texas, Prof. Phyllis Kanki, 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 and
Prof. Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, a Professor of Political Science and former INEC chairman.