By Adesina Wahab

Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State on Sunday held its 23rd convocation ceremony during which 3,568 got degrees in various disciplines, with 243 graduating in the first class category.

This is just as the university, the first private university in Nigeria to start operation, also graduated 217 persons in the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The highest number in the history of the institution.

Delivering his address, the President/Vice-Chancellor of BU, Prof. Ademola Tayo, expressed happiness at the exponential growth of the university in the last decade.

Tayo, who is concluding his second term in office in December this year, said all the

university’s academic programmes were fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the West African College of Physicians, the International Board of Education( IBE), and the Adventist Accrediting Association (AAA).

“We have all our courses 100 percent NUC’s fully accredited, and the agency has also given approval for us to run programmes in Cybersecurity, Information System, Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.

“As the VC, I would be leaving the office on December 1, 2025, I am happy to note that the university’s faculty members have won many research grants for life-changing projects in the last one year, even as graduates of the school continue to take leadership roles in various spheres of life,” he stated.

He also said the institution’s Centre for Open and Distance Learning has its first set of graduates during this convocation event.

The VC said the University would continue to pursue the path of excellence with passion and spirituality, urging the graduates not to keep their eyes on the things that are transient but on those wholesome values and virtues that they derived from the institution.

“So, go out there, explore the available opportunities. You have responsibilities for Nigeria and the rest of the world. Use your knowledge and skills, engage in volunteer service to your communities, be prayerful and continue to learn. Wherever you are, be a good ambassador of Babcock University.”

In his commencement speech, Dr Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a Zimbabwean,  underscored the importance of university education, urging the graduates to use their acquired knowledge and skills to make substantial contributions to the development of Nigeria and Africa as a whole

According to him, “Nigeria is the biggest market in Africa, and you should explore the opportunity, be innovative, and bring new technology to impact Africa.”

The Chancellor, Prof Bassey Idoh, commended the university’s management for their hard work and commitment to producing graduates that are positively impacting their societies.

Fatimah Lawal of the Department of Economics emerged the overall best graduating student with a 4.97 CGPA on a scale of 5.

The overall best postgraduate in the PhD programme was the duo of Oladele Alabi and Emmanuel Okpechi, both with a CGPA of 4.91 on a scale of 5, while Oluwabamise Adeniyi was the overall best Master’s degree graduate with a CGPA of 4.89 out of a possible 5.0 points.

Fatimah also won the President’s Award for being the overall best performance in leadership, academics, community, and spiritual services; Senior Vice-President’s award, School Deans Award, and Best Academic Programme Award.