Funmi Ogundare
It was celebration all the way, weekend, as Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, recorded 136 first class graduates in various faculties out of the 2,480 students that graduated from the institution.
A breakdown of the graduating students showed that 2,065 finished at the undergraduate level, while 415 finished at the postgraduate.
Miss Ngozi and her twin sister, Nnenna Philip, 24, were the cynosure of all eyes as they were called out to receive their prizes and awards for emerging the overall best-graduating students from the Department of Education, School of Education and Humanity as well as Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.95 and 4.80, respectively.
Ngozi said, “Reading at night didn’t work for me at all, no matter how hard I tried. I also tried as much as possible to revise every lesson we had. This is what I do every 24 hours and ensure that it doesn’t accumulate because I am a very bad crammer.”
Nnenna told THISDAY that despite being involved in an accident in 300 level, her CPGA did not drop, saying she “was in and out of hospital and I could barely read. My results from previous years were what boosted my CPGA.”
She attributed her success to studying at the beginning of the semester and doing revisions after each lesson.
Their parents (Bestman and Victoria Philip) were delighted about their daughters’ feat.
Speaking at the 21st undergraduate and 12th postgraduate convocation ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ademola Tayo, described the graduation as unique, saying that it is the first time the university will be producing PhD graduates in Nursing, History, Economics and Finance, adding that over the years, it has thrived and grown in its commitment to academic excellence.
Tayo admonished the graduating students to carry forth the values instilled during their time at the university to impact society.
The acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Dr. Chris Maiyaki, represented by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, stated that the commission in its efforts to reposition the Nigerian University System (NUS) for excellence and global competitiveness, has embarked on some laudable projects which include: curriculum re-engineering from Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) to Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), in which universities are allowed to develop 30 per cent of their programmes to suit their local peculiarities.
He explained that the CCMAS also prioritised acquiring 21st-century employability skills as a top priority.
“It is encouraging to see that Babcock University is strong in creating entrepreneurial minds, as demonstrated by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who graduated from the university and went on to start Paystack, a global financial technology platform,” Maiyaki.
