NiBS DBA Scholars Create History as 11 Intakes Graduate Altogether

Mary Nnah

The Grace Garden Event Place located in the Lekki axis of Lagos came alive when friends, colleagues and family members converged for a dinner date in honour of 11 history making Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) intakes of the Nobel International Business School (NiBS) who all successfully completed their higher degree program.

The well-attended event anchored by MC Lamo of Unilag FM also witnessed the presence of captains of industry and members of the press who came to catch a glimpse of the NiBS DBA graduates. Guests present at the event were treated to an exciting time-out at the occasion in celebration of the Class of 2021 graduates, with other side attractions including a red carpet, exotic plum and a variety of meals while the ObJazz band stand provided a rendition of old skool hits.

In his opening remarks the class President for the graduating DBA intakes of the NiBS, Dr. Ocholi Etu said; ‘‘When we started, we were all yearning for more knowledge and if we all had an idea of what the process entailed probably some of us have backed out.

‘‘But we thank God that we all made the bold move and then COVID-19 came and we had to rejig our learning process by engaging in online lectures via Zoom especially at weekends and it was quite interesting because you could see your colleagues and sort out whatever issues therein related to our studies for the DBA programme.

“It was quite an interesting journey that stretched us but most of all it afforded us the opportunity to get to know and understand ourselves better and made us take the process more seriously. We travelled together (11 in number) faced panels and wrote comprehensive exams (with no syllabus) together for two days.

“We all also scaled through the gruesome but engaging part of our thesis and I am very proud of my colleagues and I want to thank you all for deeming me fit to be the leader of the group. It has been an honour and this is just the beginning of good things to come”, he added.

While speaking during the event, the Programes Director Academics (PhD) of the NiBS, Dr Johnson Okeniyi, highlighted the uniqueness of the grandaunts when he noted that it is the first time in the history of any business school in the world where a class started with 11 DBA intakes and ended with 11 graduating students.

He also stated that during the public defence of their thesis which had other students from Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ghana and other parts of Africa, the DBA contingent from Nigeria stood out in the way and manner in which they defended their thesis.