LASU 29th/30th Combined Convocation: Harvest Of Honours As Olatunji-Bello Enters Coveted Circle Of Distinguished Professors.
Seest thou a man (genderless homosapien) diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men (of low estate; of insignificant value) Proverbs 22 v:29.
This ageless, colourless, tribeless and
transgenerational declaration of infallible stature has played out in the life of Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello PhD, a professor of physiology; the first of her kind in the history of the Lagos State University (LASU); the ninth substantive, second female and current Vice Chancellor of the globally envied academic citadel – LASU.
The occasion was the Day Four of the ongoing combined convocation activities of the university in the Tunji Bello Hall on the Epe Campus where the LASU-drilled students of various Engineering and Agricultural disciplines were awarded their well deserved and hard-earned diploma and first degree certificates.
Exceptional graduands of the two combined academic sessions who proved themselves eggheads among others, were called out to receive their prizes as cheers filled the hall almost unceasingly while the Elegant Amazon, the VC, gave them the highly privileged regal handshake one after the other.
Then came the moment of infectious envy — the turn of the person of the Vice Chancellor, Prof Olatunji-Bello to be decorated and welcomed into the prestigious, coveted rank of a Distinguished Professor!
This was when the whole hall got ecstatic with thunderous clappings in standing position.
In his post-award speech on the occasion, Prof Rafiu Olaoluwa Okuneye, another eminent scholar who was also colourfully robed as a Distinguished Professor, hardly spoke about his own honour but rather poured encomiums on Olatunji-Bello even as he summerised her feats — all tenable and visible in the Lagos State University even ever before she became the substantive Vice Chancellor, a position she has explored to propel LASU to its current height of global commendation.
The equally Distinguished Professor hailed Olatunji-Bello for championing the academic and structural expansion of the university and thus making the institution a point of reference in the comity of Ivory Towers.
Earlier, the erudite university registrar, Mr Emmanuel Fanu, read out a long list of academic and professional laurels already garnered by this Amazon from eye-brow institutions in Nigeria and many others abroad, culminating in the day’s capping as a well-deserving Distinguished Professor that she now is.
It is worthwhile to mention that Olatunji-Bello, with an admixture of administrative sternness and motherly passion, worked herself into the hearts of the staff and students of the university community such that she earned the appellative title of Senior Abiyamo of Nigeria (SAN).
