ADDRESS BY THE VICE CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR A. IDOWU OLAYINKA, FAS AT THE CONGREGATION FOR THE AWARD OF POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMAS AND ADMISSION INTO MASTER’S DEGREE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN ON THURSDAY, 15 NOVEMBER, 2018

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships)

Registrar

Bursar

University Librarian

Provosts of the College of Medicine and of the Postgraduate College

Deans of Faculties and of Students

Directors of Institutes and Centres

Heads of Departments

Members of Senate

Members of Congregation

President and members of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association

Members of the Students’ Representative Council

Honoured Graduands

Parents and Guardians of our Graduands

Gentlemen of the Press

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

This is the fourth of my five-part address but second address to Convocation for admission into Higher Degrees of Master and Master of Philosophy Degrees. It is, therefore, with distinct pleasure and honour that I welcome our parents, guardians, guests and well-wishers and Alumni to the fourth day of our graduation ceremonies which also coincided with the 70th Anniversary of the University of Ibadan. Today’s convocation ceremony is a continuation of the admission into Masters and Master of Philosophy Degrees in the Faculties of Agriculture, the Social Sciences, Education, Veterinary Medicine, Technology and Pharmacy, like their colleagues who had their Coonvocation over the last three days, they have passed the endurance test and are now found worthy in character and in learning.

I am highly delighted to welcome our graduands of today and rejoice with your families on this important milestone in your academic pursuit. As I expressed yesterday, it is my hope that you will positively impact the various sectors of the Nigerian economy and the challenges that we face as an upcoming economy.

Post graduate Education

University of Ibadan through its Postgraduate College has consistently maintained excellence in postgraduate education and research, while producing the highest number of high level manpower in Nigeria and indeed, West Africa, an assertion which is yet to be rivalled. In furtherance of this laudable objective, our Postgraduate College has, over the years organized series of interdisciplinary discourse delivered by renowned personalities from academic and business world within and outside Nigeria to share experience with the University of Ibadan on the broad theme of Education and National Development. This is in addition to the several workshops and seminars funded, quality manpower needed to propel development in Nigeria. This is supported by the large number of Ph.D degrees in different disciplines that would be awarded on Saturday.

The College has also continued to be a major driving force in our desire to transform into a research and postgraduate institution. As a result, new post graduate programmes, some of which were mentioned yesterday, are being introduced and internal administrative restructuring for effective implementation of the programmes is at an advanced stage. All these are in a bid to meet the demands of our society and industry as well as sustain academic scholarship.

At this juncture, I wish to reiterate that the vision of the University is anchored on the pursuit of the national goals of development through knowledge creation and dissemination, with a view to promoting national transformation. The realization of this vision is reflected in our commitment to the continuous development of teaching, learning and research programme that would provide the required skills for internalizing the development process and to serve as catalyst for the political, social and economic development of the nation.

Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday, 1,765 graduands received their higher degrees from six Faculties of Arts, Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Law. I am glad to report that today, a total of 2,700 candidates will be receiving their higher degree certificates from six Faculties of Agriculture, the Social Sciences, Education, Veterinary Medicine, Technology and Pharmacy as well as seven Institutes and Centres. This figure comprises 13 candidates for M.phil, 2,218 academic Master degree, 342 Professional degree of Master and 127 candidates for postgraduate Diplomas.

The figure comprises graduands for the Masters of Philosophy (M.Phil) in the Faculties of Agriculture, the Social Sciences, Education, Veterinary Medicine, Technology, Institute of African Studies, African Regional Centre for Information Science (ARCIS), Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV) and Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), Professional Master degree from the Faculties of Education, Technology and candidates for postgraduate Diploma from the Faculties of Education and Pharmacy as well as the Institute of Education.

A further breakdown of the academic Master degrees to be awarded shows that 431 are candidates from the Faculty of Agriculture, 427 from the Social Sciences; 768 from Education; 50 from Veterinary Medicine; 331 from Technology; 29 from Pharmacy; 66 from the Institute of Education, 58 from the Institute of African Studies 72 from African Regional Centre for Information Science,(ARCIS) 100 from Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV) and 220 institute of Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS) respectively, 90 from Centre for Petroleum Energy Economics and Law, (CPEEL); 45 from Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and15 from School of Business respectively.

At this occasion, I can only reflect on a few of our modest achievements in academic since the beginning of this session, it is my pleasure to inform you that some of our staff and students have continued to receive national and international recognition for their remarkable contributions to knowledge. Some of these are:

Ø For the 2018 convocation is being celebrated in grand style with Institute of African Studies opening a month-long exhibition themed “ Contesting the Past” and the renaming of the Institute’s Museum after its first Curator and former Director of the Institute of African Studies, late Professor C. Adepegba.

Ø Mrs. Cynthia Olufade, an MA student in Diaspora and Transnational Studies of the Institute of African Studies is the 2018 Winner of the prestigious African Thesis Award given by the African Studies Centre Leiden in the Netherland.

Ø Adebowale Oluwabukola, an MA student of the Institute of African Studies won a Travel grant awarded by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) the Netherlands to attend the 2018 edition of the Africa-Asia conference that held at the University of Da res Salam, Tanzania from 20 to 22 September, 2018

Ø Gogo Porokie, MA graduate of the Institute of African Studies won the IIAS travel fellowship for his paper on “The Lagos Confucius Institute and Chinese Cultural Diplomacy in Nigeria”

Ø A Master degree student in the Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management, Pius Oko won the Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) for the year 2018.

Ø 11 postgraduate students of the Department of Acquaculture and Fisheries have been employed by leading Acquaculture and Fisheries Industries in Nigeria through the attraction which the Department facilitated

Ø A Master student in the Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management, Adewumi Lukmon won the Federal Scholarship Board Award for 2017/2018 academic session.

Ø Pius Oko, Master student of the Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management won the Barack Obama’s Young African Leader Initiative (YARI) for the year 2018

Ø Professor R. A. Aderinoye of the Department of Adult Education was appointed a member of the Governing Council of the National Teachers Institute, NTI, Kaduna

Ø Three Postgraduate (Master’s) Students in the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management namely: Miss Akanmu Olajumoke; Miss Helen O. Awe and Miss. Olalere A. Opeyemi were given various forms of scholarships for the completion of their M.Sc project work using Grand Cereal Feed Development Support Grants.

Ø The Senate of the University has approved the curricula for postgraduate programmes in the three newly established Departments in the Faculty of Economics i.e: Departments of Accounting, Banking and Finance and of Marketing and Consumer Studies.

Ø The Department of Adult Education received the Director, UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja, Mr. Ydo Yau during the Department’s International Conference on Literacy in January, 2018.

Acknowledgement of Benefactions

The University of Ibadan has continued to receive tremendous goodwill and benefactions, which are listed separately in the order of Proceedings. We express our profound appreciation to all these benefactors and pray that the good Lord will continue to shower blessings upon you in all your endeavours.

Closing

Before I close my speech, I wish to once again, rejoice with all graduands who are having your convocation today for your academic achievements at the University of Ibadan. Having obtained a postgraduate degree in this era, the challenge of reviving and re-invigorating our comatose economy and society at large through the knowledge and competencies acquired in the course of your studies with your energy and creativity lies squarely in your hands. I therefore urge you all to be good ambassadors of this University in whatever capacity you find yourselves.

In conclusion, I pray that as you journey back to your various destinations, God will grant you all journey mercies.

Thank you for your attention.

Professor A. Idowu Olayinka, FAS

Vice Chancellor