Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday says the state remains committed toward making the Lagos State University (LASU) the best in global ranking.
Ambode, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, said this at the university’s 22nd Convocation for Higher Degrees.
“We have a responsibility to continue to ensure that the academic standard of this institution is sustained, ‘’ the governor said.
According to him, the government will continue to make education a priority through initiatives and strategies to drive growth and development.
Ambode urged graduating students to prove themselves by putting the knowledge they acquired to good use for economic development and promotion of peace and progress of the state and country at large.
“LASU is an institution of pride to us in the state as it has continued to produce employable and qualified manpower for both the public and private sectors.
“To you the graduands of today, the university had prepared and certified you fit to enjoy the life ahead.
“It is now left for you to prove yourselves and put the knowledge acquired to good use for the promotion of economic development, peace and progress of the state and the country at large.
“You are also required to maintain the integrity of the certificate issued to you by the university, ‘’ he said.
The governor lauded the efforts of the university management and governing council.
Ambode urged both the management and the governing council to continue to key into the vision of the administration by producing the manpower needed to facilitate and improve productivity.
In his address, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, said the university was proud of the graduating students.
Fagbohun said the graduands were adequately tutored, nurtured and assessed before certifying that they were worthy in both characters and learning.
He promised that the institution would continue to produce highly-skilled and qualified manpower for the development of Nigeria, Africa and the entire global community.
The vice chancellor said that the university graduated 8,028 post-graduate students for the 2016/2017 academic session.
According to him, 7, 982 were postgraduate students and 46 PhDs.
Prof. Adebayo Ninalowo, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the university said there were rooms for strategic expansion and qualitative academic research in the institution.
Ninalowo said the institution had constituted a committee with the mandate to develop a strategic plan for setting up an endowment fund to complement the efforts of the LASU Directorate of Advancement (LASUDA).
According to him, this is because the state government’s subvention and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) were not enough to achieve the strategic plan mapped out for the institution.
He, however, lauded the state government, the Federal Government, National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Ninalowo also commended Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) Assessment and other government agencies for their support to the university.
The university graduated 29,710 students for the session and 26 students made First Class division.
Also, 21,481 graduands are for the first degree; 201 for diploma; 7,982 for Post- graduate and 46 PhD graduands.
Adetoro Ogunsanya of the Department of Business Administration was named the best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) of 4.78.
