Text of the 26TH CONVOCATION PRESS CONFERENCE OF LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY BY THE VICE CHANCELLOR, PROF. IBIYEMI OLATUNJI-BELLO, mni, NPOM

PROTOCOL

1. Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Professor Olufunsho A. OMOBITAN
2. Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Adenike Omotunde BOYO
3. University Registrar and Secretary to Governing Council, Mr. Emmanuel A. FANU
4. University Bursar, Mr. Said Babatunde OLAYINKA, FCA
5. University Librarian, Dr. Emmanuel Layi ADEBAYO
6. Provost, Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Professor Abiodun ADEWUYA
7. All Deans of Faculties/Schools
8. All Professors here present
9. Directors of Centres
10. Heads of Teaching and Non-Teaching Departments
11. Coordinator, Centre for Information and Public Relations
12. Coordinators of Centres
13. Our Dear Media Friends
14. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Gentlemen of the Press, I am delighted to welcome you to the 26^th Convocation Ceremonies Press Conference of Lagos State University for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 Academic Sessions. It is also my distinct pleasure to announce that our great University clocked 40 this year having been founded in 1983. This year’s Convocation Ceremonies will therefore be a 2-in-1 programme as we will be celebrating it alongside our 40^th Anniversary. 

As it has become the tradition, you, the distinguished members of the media, are the first of our critical stakeholders to be informed of Convocation activities because of the role you play in disseminating such information to our wider audience and the general public. As a University, we sincerely appreciate your efforts so far in working with our administration in projecting us positively to the world, and in the process, supporting our vision of becoming the best University in West Africa. You have been a dependable and valuable partner to us and we do not take your efforts for granted.

It is pertinent to say that we will continue to count on you as you keep up the good work, being objective and professional in your reports about our University.

Gentlemen of the Press, finally after months of anticipation, our Convocation is here and we are excited at the prospect of sending off another set of young men and women who are not just educated but literate and empowered to be solution-providers at a time when our nation is in desperate need for them. I am particularly excited because as you know, the 26^th Convocation Ceremonies will be the second under our administration.

Permit me, therefore, to roll out activities for the 26^th Convocation Ceremonies which is commencing today Wednesday, 14^th June with the Press Conference and will run till Thursday, 22^nd June, 2023

The Pre-Convocation Events also include the Convocation Sports Competition for Staff, which will hold on Thursday, 15th June, 2023 at the LASU Sports Centre by 10:00 a.m.

On Friday, Friday, 16th June, 2023, the Day 3 of the Ceremonies, we shall hold the Jumat Service at the University Central Mosque, Main Campus, Ojo by 10:00 a.m, and on Sunday, 18th June, 2023, we shall hold the Special Thanksgiving Service at the University Chapel of Light, Ojo, Lagos by 10:00 a.m.

On Monday, 19th June, 2023, which is the Day 5 of the Ceremonies, the Coconut Breaking and Cultural Festival will hold at the Badagry Gate Entrance, Main       Campus, Ojo by 9:00 a.m.

On the same day, the Command Performance and Convocation Play by the Department of Theatre Arts and Music titled Belly-Bellows written by Akinwunmi Ishola and Directed by Yeside Dosunmu-Lawal will hold at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Main Campus, Ojo by 2:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, 20th June, 2023, the Day 6 of the Convocation, we shall be holding the Convocation Lecture titled: The Impact of Digitalization on Higher Education in the Digital Age. The Convocation Lecturer is Architect Sonny S.T Echono, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). Chairman of the Convocation Lecture is Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC). The Lecture will hold at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Main Campus, Ojo by 11:00 a.m.

On Wednesday, 21st June, 2023, the Day 7 of the Ceremonies, the Award of Diplomas, First Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and Master’s Degrees will hold at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Main Campus, Ojo by 10:00 a.m.

On Thursday, 22nd June, 2023, which the Day 8 and final Day of the Ceremonies, we shall be holding the Award of Doctorate Degrees (PhD), Distinguished Professorship, Conferment of Honorary Doctorate Degrees and Appreciation Award for some eminent Nigerians at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Main Campus, Ojo by 10:00 a.m.

I want to use this opportunity to invite you to all the events.

The following are the breakdown of the graduating students:

 (A)  DIPLOMA PROGRAMMES IN THE UNIVERSITY

        Class                                       

        Distinction                   42                   

        Upper Credit             236                   

        Lower                       153                   

        Pass                             1

        Total                        432

(B)   FIRST DEGREES PROGRAMMES IN THE UNIVERSITY

        Class of Degrees

        First Class                                                     282       

        Second Class (Upper Division)              3,375

       Second Class (Lower Division)                5,311

       Third Class                                          1,105

        Pass                                                        36

        Non classified Degrees (MBBS & BDS)         74

        Total                                                         10,183

(C )  SUMMARY OF GRADUANDS FOR HIGHER DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Postgraduate Diploma:                 451

Academic Masters                        475

Professional Masters                     557

Doctor of Philosophy                    115

Professional Doctoral Degree            6

        Total:                                        1604

Permit me to highlight some noteworthy information concerning the summary of graduands.

The breakdown of the number of first class graduates are as follows:

• 2020/2021 Academic session: 148 Graduates
• 2021/2022 Academic session: 128 Graduates
• Sandwich (2022 Modular Year) – 6 Graduates

Total:   282 Graduates

With the total of 282 first class students in the two academic sessions, the University is therefore graduating her highest number of first class in her 40 years history.

I am happy to announce our best graduating students for the two academic sessions- 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic session in this year’s ceremony.

• 2020/2021 Academic Session: LOPEZ Feyisayo Divine, Department of Physiology, Lagos State University College of Medicine with a CGPA of 91 [First Class Honours].

• 2021/2022 Academic Session, we have YUSUF Aminat Imoitesemeh, Law, CGPA: 5.00 [First Class Honours]

I am also glad to announce that YUSUF Aminat Imoitesemeh, with a CGPA of 5.00 [First Class Honours] is LASU’s Best Graduating student in history. I congratulate her, her family and the Faculty of Law on this laudable feat.

Apart from the 121 individuals who will be awarded doctorate degrees, we shall be conferring Honorary Doctorate Degrees and an Appreciation Award on eight eminent Nigerians who have made valuable contributions to the development of our University and the nation at large. They are as follows:

Furthermore, the Senate of the University has also conferred the title of Distinguished Professor on two respected and accomplished academics in the University. They are:

• Professor Dapo Folorunsho ASAJU of the department of Religious and Peace Studies and
• Professor Babajide Olufemi ELEMO of the department of Biochemistry.

Gentlemen of the press, in our march towards the fulfilment of our six strategic goals and ultimately, the vision to become the best University in West Africa, we have recorded some modest achievements since my last Convocation address to you. Permit me therefore to use this medium to highlight some of those achievements: 

1. Academic Development:

As an academic institution with teaching as one of its tripods, we have in the last 12 months mobilized our human and material resources to strengthen the teaching and learning process, set a higher standard of academic excellence by which we want to be known for and made modest achievements on that basis, as follows:

• The University was ranked the best State University in Nigeria by the AD Scientific Index in 2022;
• LASU secured 96% full accreditation in the 2022 National Universities Commission’s Accreditation Exercise. This is a fulfilment of the first strategic goal of this administration, which is to ensure that all academic and professional programmes are and remain accredited by the relevant bodies. We also secured accreditation for professional programmes being offered in the University, from relevant accreditation bodies. Of note, is the re-accreditation of our Accounting programme by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN);
• LASU secured and sustained collaborations with top institutions and reputable Bodies within and outside the University, including but not limited to University of Dundee, United Kingdom, the Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, India, Michael Imodu Institute of Labour and Strategic Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Delta State University, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, amongst others;
• Within the last three months, the University successfully undertook the NUC Resource Verification exercise for programmes under the following new Faculties and school:

1. Faculty of Pharmacy
2. Faculty of Allied Health Sciences

• Faculty of Environmental Sciences

1. School of Library, Archival and Information Science

On the strength of our preparation and preliminary reports that we have, we expect nothing but full approval to begin the admission of students for these programmes and they are:

• Sc. Architecture;
• Sc. Building;
• Sc. Estate Management;
• Sc. Quantity Surveying;
• Sc. Urban and Regional Planning;
• Sc. Environmental Management

• A. Linguistics
• LIS Library Information Science
• Ed. Special Education
• Sc. Taxation

• Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D)

• A. Fine Arts
• Sc. Science Laboratory Technology
• BMLS Medical Laboratory Science,
• Sc. Radiography and Radiation Science and Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) programmes
• Eng. Industrial Engineering;
• Civil Engineering;
• Sc. Industrial Design;
• Sc. Survey and Geo-Informatics

• As part of our administration’s commitment to encouraging healthy competition among our students in order to bring out the best in them, we gave out scholarships worth 50% of tuition fee to over 600 students who were on CGPA of 4.5 and above. This is a policy that we will continue to sustain;
• I am also glad to announce that our Africa Centre of Excellence for Innovative STEM Education (ACEITSE) has recorded a 100% graduation of Ph.D students in record time (3 years). We also had an accreditation of all programmes of the Centre by the World Bank. Currently, we are doing International Institutional Accreditation Gap Analysis through Quality Assurance Agency of the United Kingdom;
• Within the same period, we revamped the LASU Foundation Jupeb programme and expanded its scope to offer more academic services. Against that background, the University Senate approved the renaming of the programme LASU School of Basic and Advanced Studies (LASUSBAS) even as we continue to expand her facilities and manpower to sustain the development;
• Our Sandwich Degree Programme is also growing in leaps with the recent partnership agreement that we had with two Colleges of Education:
• Topmost College of Education and
• Industry and Royal College of Education.
• We also just recently conducted the matriculation ceremony for the 2023 Modular Year.

• Four of our professors at the College of Medicine were announced among the top Scientists in Nigeria and top two percent (2%) globally;

• At this point, it is worth stating that these modest achievements would not have been possible without the provision of a conducive environment for our staff and students. In recognition of our effort in that area, the University was ranked the best University in West Africa by the UI Greenmetrics Global Ranking for year 2022, making us the most eco-friendly University in West Africa;

• We further made a bold claim to the eco-friendly nature of our university by being the first public university in Nigeria to introduce scooter-riding in addition to the AWA Bike as an alternative model of transportation for our students within the campus;

2. Research

The Administration took great strides to achieve our second strategic goal to make the University a Research, Innovation and Development Hub for Lagos State And National Development. This is by encouraging Academic Staff members to pursue research works in their fields of specialization with a view to making the outcomes of such research works available to the Industries and Governments for national economic growth.

In the pursuit of this strategic goal and as a result of our efforts:

• Through the University Senate, we instituted a Five Million Naira (N5m) Research Grant for academic staff in the University;
• two Research Teams in the University won TETFund 2020 National Research Fund (NRF) Grant to the tune of Sixty-Six Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N66,800,000.00);
• Thirty (30) Academic staff were granted a total sum of Fifty-Two Million, Nine Hundred and Two Thousand (N52,902,000) under the institutional based research;
• three senior academic staff members of the University won a cumulative research grant in the sum of Nine Million Naira (N9m) awarded by the Lagos State Science and Research Innovation Council (LASRIC);
• Two researchers from our University won the sum of Five Million Naira (N5m) LASRIC Sargassum research grant;
• The LASU Centre of Excellence for Sargassum Research emerged the overall winner in the tertiary institutions category of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation Expo in Abuja in January, this year;
• We successfully organized a research ethics workshop and Research & Innovation Fair, the 4th in the series;
• And facilitated the commencement of construction of Technology Hub for staff and students of the University by the Lagos State Government

3. ICT Innovations

As a 21^st-Century University driven by vision to become the best University in West Africa, we understand the place of technology in the quest to provide quality educational opportunities for as many knowledge seekers as possible, consequently, we have continued to invest heavily in technology in the last one and a half year of this administration.

In view of this, we have continued to leverage on technology to adopt a hybrid system of teaching and learning for our full-time students.

1. Today, majority of our general courses are done in hybrid mode, even as we provide more opportunity for knowledge seekers through our thriving Open and Distance Learning and Research Institute.

• It is also well documented that practically all our processes and procedures in LASU are digitalized to reduce human contact to the barest minimum. I am proud to inform you that students related processes, from the point of admission screening to the point of certificate collection upon graduation, are fully digitalized for all programmes in the University. I believe we are blazing the trail in this regard, in Nigeria. Specifically, we have made modest efforts in:
• Digitalisation of all University Records
• Automation of all Diploma programmes with result portal
• Introduction of digital forensic training with participants from multinationals and other sectors
• Commencement of online clearance and uploading of results of Postgraduate students, amongst several other innovations.

1. Our drive for digitalization also received a major boost as we secured the intervention of the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy for the deployment of broadband Internet connectivity throughout the main campus. This will not only strengthen teaching and learning, but also research efforts in the University;
2. Similarly, we have upgraded our campus radio – the LASURadio 95.7fm for improved performance with the purchase of new transmitters and other equipment.

4. IGR Drive

Our fourth strategic goal is to improve the Internally Generated Revenue and as part of efforts to achieve this, our administration strengthened the LASU Ventures to take over non-performing income generating programmes and products and revitalize them for optimal productivity.

In furtherance to this:

• the LASU Printing press was unbundled for optimal performance and income generation;
• the LASU Bakery was established and equipped to produce quality bread for the benefit of the general public and in the process, increase our IGR. I am glad to inform you that the bakery is functional and thriving;
• The Lagos State Government has begun the construction of hostels in furtherance of the new residential policy of the University. Many of the hostels are currently at advanced stages of completion. It is our expectation that by the commencement of the next academic session, the hostels will be available for use;
• Three blocks of LAGOS HOMS flats were completed and handed over to the University by the Lagos State Government to serve as staff quarters, and I am glad to that our staff are now living in the quarters.
• We have also facilitated the construction and completion of 800-seat Lecture Hall sponsored by Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, Former Speaker of the House of Representative and current Chief of Staff to the president;
• We also embarked on a University-funded construction of a twin cafeteria for students of the LASU School of Basic and Advanced Studies (LASUSBAS) in Badagry, Lagos;
• Our administration also built and furnished a one-story staff club building, which we opened for our staff during our first year anniversary;

Other capital-intensive interventions embarked upon by the University are as follows:

1. installation of CCTV Cameras at strategic location of the main campus and at the LASUSBA Campus, Badagry;
2. we have also revamped and upgraded the LASU Health Centre for efficiency,

     amongst others.

5. Staff and Students Welfare

Driven by the passion to encourage motivation and reward system culminating into optimal performances, we have continued to make the welfare of our staff and students a priority. To this end,

1. We have constructed a beautiful and a befitting staff club on the ojo campus;
2. We have renovated the staff club at the Epe campus;

1. We have sponsored a number of staff both Academic and Non-Academic to local conferences and workshop;

1. Prompt payment of salaries on or before 23^rd of each month

It is noteworthy that our staff and student are also doing us proud and are worth celebrating.  A few of the beautiful stories include:

• Five of our students from the Department of Fisheries, emerged winner of 2022 Annual Millennium Oceans Prize that is worth Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000)
• Our Debate Society emerged winners of the JAW-WAR 2023 National Debate Championship held in May, 2023
• Our Faculty of Communication and Media Studies also emerged runner-up at the ARCON Pitch Contest
• We established the Centre for Response and Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Violence to pass a clear message that LASU has zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence in any form.

Gentlemen and Ladies of the press, we have continued to blaze the trail in all areas of socio-academic activities and have also vigorously pursued our vision of becoming the best University in West Africa through the clearly stated six (6) strategic goals.

1. As part of our commitment to achieving excellence, in particular, in the area of Sports, Lagos State University is working in partnership with the University of Lagos for the forthcoming FASU 2024 games, a sporting competition that will be hosted by the two institutions.

Appreciation

Let me appreciate the Governor of Lagos State and the Visitor to Lagos State University, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for his immeasurable and invaluable contributions to the growth and development of our University.

I equally thank the immediate-past Special Adviser on Education, Hon. Tokunbo Wahab, Chancellor, Professor Gbolahan Elias, SAN, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council, Sir David Sunmoni, FCA, KJW and all Members of Governing Council, well-meaning stakeholders including, Members of Management, Senate, LASU Alumni, Staff and Students of the University. 

I thank you all and God bless.

We are LASU, we are great!

Professor Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello, mni, NPOM

Vice Chancellor,

Lagos State University.