Address of Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe, the vice-chancellor, University of Lagos, at the 51st (2019) convocation lecture of the University of Lagos, Nigeria at the J. F. ADE-AJAYI AUDITORIUM on Monday, JULY 5, 2021.
Protocol
The Visitor – President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR,
Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives,
The Honourable Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu,
Other Honourable Ministers here present,
The Executive Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Babajide Sanwo-Olu,
Your Excellencies, Governors of other States here present,
The Guest Lecturer, His Excellency Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
The Chairman of the Convocation Lecture, The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Dr. Tunde Bakare
The Chancellor, His Royal Eminence, Alhaji (Dr.) Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, CFR, Shehu of Borno,
Pro Chancellor and Chairman of UNILAG Governing Council, Senator Dr. Lanre Tejuoso
Kabiyesi, Your Royal Highness, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos,
Other Emirs and Royal Fathers here present,
Captains of Industries,
Visiting Vice Chancellors from other Universities,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps here present,
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Academics & Research), Professor Oluwole B. Familoni,
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Development Services), Professor Ayodele V. Atsenuwa,
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Management Services), Professor Lucian Obinna Chukwu,
The Registrar, Oladejo Azeez, Esq.,
The University Bursar, Mr. Lekan Lawal,
The University Librarian, Dr. (Mrs.) Yetunde A. Zaid,
The Provost, College of Medicine, Professor David Oke,
Other members of Council of the University of Lagos,
Deans of Faculty,
Members of Senate,
Directors,
Heads of Department,
Deputy Registrars and Deputy Bursars,
Other members of the University community,
President and Members of the Alumni Association,
My Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
Presidents of Professional Bodies here present,
Presidents of the various Faculty Associations,
Our Dear Students,
Gentlemen of the Press,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Great Akokites!
We are pleased to welcome you today, to commence the activities of the 51st Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Lagos. It is a great honour to have you great men and women from various spheres of life sitting in this auditorium to show your support for the University.
The Convocation Lecture is indeed an important aspect of the Convocation Ceremonies as it affords the University an opportunity of inviting an eminently qualified individual as Guest Lecturer to address any national or international issue of concern. At the last Convocation Lectures the University had the opportunity of inviting the former Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode whose lecture was titled, “Inclusion: Path to a new Nation”; and the Vice President of the Federal Republic, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, whose lecture was titled “Nigeria Rising: The Path to Prosperity”.
You will agree that both lectures addressed pressing national issues. So, the Convocation lecture is an opportunity for the University to bring in town and gown together for the purpose of discussing issues affecting our ever-changing world.
This understanding formed the basis of our choice of the 51st Convocation Guest Lecturer. Our choice of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria as Guest Lecturer was as a result of careful look at his pedigree, profile and achievements in the banking sector and as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. His vast experience qualifies him to address this issue.
His passion and many of the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria under his leadership are focused on solving the perineal problems of unemployment and poverty amongst youths. I recall paying a courtesy visit to Mr Emefiele in his Office to discuss areas of collaboration with the University. We discussed various ways this collaboration can possibly happen, but one prominent issue we both agreed on was the need for empowerment of the youth through entrepreneurship education. The Governor therefore challenged the University to support the Government in its guest to get rid of unemployment amongst the youth.
We have also carefully selected the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Dr. Tunde Bakare an as Chairman of this Convocation Lecture for his passion for the University of Lagos and the nation at large. His concern and interest in the development of the University has shown that he is a true alumnus of the University.
It is important to note here that, today’s Lecture entitled “National Development and Knowledge Economy in the Digital Age: Leapfrogging SMEs into the 21st Century” falls within the over strategic plan of the University. This is because we are aware that there is a need to empower our youth if we are serious about moving the economy of this nation forward.
For the University of Lagos national development is a key consideration in our academic activities. Thus, we are at the forefront of developing critical manpower required for building and developing our nation. Our courses and research thematic areas are focused on preparing our students for nation building and solving societal challenges.
It is within this context that the University established the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre for promoting entrepreneurship activities and orientation among the university students and staff. This is embedded in the 25-Year Strategic Plan of the University of Lagos which seeks “to promote Self-reliance, Entrepreneurship and Exemplary Leadership skills and Capacity in our students”. Since my assumption as the 12th Vice-Chancellor of this University, I have pursued this vision vigorously.
Our dream is to produce 5000 serial entrepreneurs annually from our student population. We have been able to train a lot of them in various areas and attracted mentors for them. We have also perfected the modalities to register companies for them. These students we are certain will create jobs and reduce the burden of unemployment in the society.
We appreciate support received from various individuals and organisations to accelerate the vision. The Bank of Industry specifically is supporting the University with N250m as soft loans for students whose business ideas are seen to be viable.
We therefore strongly believe that this Convocation Lecture will further stimulate debates on how best Universities can create the much-needed environment for developing and harnessing the students’ ingenuity for nation building.
Let me assure you that the University of Lagos will continue to take the lead teaching, cutting-edge research and community development.
Read also: COVID-19: Nigeria records 535 new cases, highest since detection of Delta Variant
In this regard, permit me to highlight so of the University’s achievements in the last one years particularly, in the areas of research, internalisation, infrastructure upgrade and other facets. Our students are winning laurels, locally and internationally, depicting the academic excellence the University portrays. Our members of staff, both teaching and non-teaching, have not been left out of the shower of laurels and recognitions too.
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS
As we were settling into 2020 the news of COVID-19 which started in China broke out. No one ever envisaged it would eventually become a global pandemic. By the middle of March 2020, many countries had shut down their airports and entered lockdown of various degrees. The Nigerian Government, in line with international best practice, announced measures to curtail the pandemic too. The Universities had to stop all academic activities and send staff and students away from Campus for safety. Many of the University’s plans were adversely affected and disrupted. In fact, we are yet to recover from the disruption of our academic calendar.
However, the University of Lagos responded through its Home Economics Unit of that produced facemasks, the Department of Chemistry and Faculty of Pharmacy produced hand sanitizers to help arrest the spread of the virus. A team of faculty members led by Dr. Hakeem Amuda of the Faculty of Engineering conceptualised and developed a low-cost ventilator machine that can be easily deployed for COVID-19 patients and other patients in need of ventilators the hospital. A proof of concept was demonstrated to the Lagos State Government who then funded a prototype of the ventilator through the Lagos State Science, Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC). The team was also able to file a patent from the project. They also showcased the product at the National Research Festival in Abuja.
When the Federal Government cleared all universities to reopen in January 2021, we realised we must take extra precautionary steps for the safety of our staff and students. In doing so, the University Senate approved the virtual mode to conduct teaching and examination for the semester. We also commenced training for our staff to give them adequate skills required to conduct the online teaching. We identified tutors in various departments to provide relevant assistance to other colleagues in their departments. The University upgraded the alternative power supply to the server to ensure uninterrupted power supply. In addition, the Speaker of House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, also procured additional hotspot equipment to light-up internet facility at the Faculties of Education, Law, Management Sciences and Social Sciences.
Over 40,000 students were excited and on the first day we witnessed a huge traffic online. All meetings and businesses on campus were done online as our robust IT infrastructure could support these activities. At the end of the semester our year 1 & 2 students all had their examinations online with the University providing free internet data to enable them to participate fully in the examinations. We also conducted the Post-UTME for over 30,000 candidates online and our postgraduate examinations were also online. Although we have now resumed physically, our large classes still remain online. Cynics thought the idea of online lecture was completely impossible in a Federal University in Nigeria, but our faculty members proved doubters wrong. I must therefore congratulate them for being resolute and committed to the noble cause.
IMPROVED RESEARCH
Our University is reputable for being one of Nigeria’s leading institutions especially in the area of research and innovations, and this path which we have consolidated under my watch has taken us further to be ranked as the 1st in Nigeria and 12th in Africa just last year. A vital ingredient for the success being recorded is the unwavering focus we have placed on providing high quality teaching based on cutting edge research. Let me inform you that the ranking released in January this year has seen us ranked as the 1st in Nigeria and consequently moved the institution four places to 8th in Africa. A clear evidence of our recent approach to research output, internalisation and quality of staff and students.
In so doing, our academics have attracted over N14b in research grants from both locally and internationally. This is a pointer to the renaissance of research culture in the University. Our researchers also had 6 patents in 2019 and 5 in 2020 out of which 2 in each year have been prototyped.
Scholars of the University of Lagos continue to raise the bar of research excellence. Drawn from across Departments and Faculties, some scholars recently had their research proposals approved for generous funding with grants from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) in different categories that includes Science Engineering Technology and Innovation (SETI) Research, Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Research and Climate Change Research.
I had mentioned earlier the low-cost ventilator produced by a research team in this University, we have also last week test drive an electric car produced in the University. This shows our faculty members are ready to respond to societal challenges through their ingenuity.
As a leading tertiary institution, we are driven by the passion to always achieve more and enhance our reputation nationally and internationally. For this reason, we have always ensured that the academic programmes being run in the University are relevant to the needs of people within the University’s catchment area and the country at large by providing an excellent balance between the essential principles of theorem and the practical applications of scientific, innovative or creative endeavour. These programmes are geared to produce critical manpower with the requisite skills to make our students future titans in their chosen fields of endeavour.
Pursuant to making the Institution a world class hub of creative thinkers and harnessing potentials not just in Nigeria but internationally, the University continues to build partnerships with reputable institutions, the public sector, industry players, commercial enterprises and crucially, the media in achieving our laid down objectives as evident in my six-point agenda.
INFRASTRUCTURAL SUPPORT
Let me highlight some of the projects recently being commissioned on campus and several others embarked upon are testament to the University vision of being a leading brand in Infrastructural growth coupled with the growing need to transform the scope of learning. Our Alumni and friends of University of Lagos, have also risen to the clarion call of this Management:
• On January 1, 2021, we received the Speaker of the House of Representatives paid an inspection visit to the site of a hostel project which he donated to the University. The donation flows from the workings of the P3P strategy under my administration, which encourages well-meaning individuals to support the university’s quest for continued growth and global competitiveness.
• Specifically on Thursday, April 22, 2021, the University of Lagos recorded yet another developmental milestone by commissioning and officially opening its incubation and co-working hub tagged the BOI-UNILAG Incubation & Co-Working Hub. This is in actualisation of part of the UNILAG vision to ensure all UNILAG graduates have dual capabilities; one in entrepreneurship, innovation and problem solving and the other in their natural course of study.
• One of the friends of the University and Chairman of Platform Capital, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, gifted the institution a befitting space (meeting rooms) to our newly established University of Lagos Business School (ULBS). Todays’ reality meant that University had to go through the route of public-private arrangement that has been triggered by changes in funding modalities in university governance, accountability frameworks, as well as growing competition among higher education institutions and the evolving student population. We are optimistic that the school can become the lead others can follow in transforming enterprise into successful high-impact ones.
• Alhaji Femi Okunnu sponsored the vertical upgrade of the Faculty of Law Building. The Building now has an additional floor with a remodelled exterior work.
• Sir Olu Okeowo donated a Physiotherapy Centre to the College of Medicine. The building is worth N750m.
• Renovation and furnishing of the Senate foyer by Dr. D.K Olukoya.
• The Alumni Set of 1997 of the College of Medicine undertook a renovation worth N16m of the toilets and bathrooms in Blocks 4 and 8 of the Students’ Hostel.
• N12m renovation of the Wing B (OPH) Female Hostel toilets, bathroom and kitchenettes by 1998 Alumni set in the College of Medicine.
• Renovation and furnishing of the Faculty of Dental Sciences’ Library by Dr. Bolaji Ogundare (an Alumnus).
• Rehabilitation of the Medical Students Hostel Access Road by Chapel of the Healing Cross, CMUL.
• The sponsored Remodelled Lagoon front.
• The University of Lagos Business School (ULBS) lecture halls has been completed at the HRDC building with academic and administrative operations now in full swing.
• The completed National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) IT hub sponsored by NITDA.
We want to sincerely thank all our donors for their kindness and philanthropic gesture which is helping in great measures to uplift the University of Lagos.
In closing, let me once again sincerely appreciate the Governor of Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele and the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Dr. Tunde Bakare for accepting to be our Guest Lecturer and Chairman respectively. I believe today’s Convocation Lecture will be stimulating and create the awareness needed for developing our nation.
Thank you.
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