The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, has charged newly-admitted undergraduate students of the University to be diligent, focused, aspire for greatness and avoid wasting their time and resources on the social media or engaging in unprofitable ventures, in order to attain academic success. A total of 3,900 students were admitted into the University for the 2016/2017 Academic Session. Breakdown of the matriculated students spread across the 10 Colleges, viz: College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development (COLAMRUD – 366), College of Animal Science and Livestock Production (COLANIM – 523), College of Engineering (COLENG – 216), College of Environmental Resources Management (COLERM – 400), College of Food Science and Human Ecology (COLFHEC – 312), and College of Plant Science and Crop Production (COLPLANT – 481). Others are: College of Veterinary Medicine (COLVET – 41), College of Management Sciences (COLMAS – 747), College of Biological Sciences (COLBIOS – 329) and College of Physical Sciences (COLPHYS – 481).
Professor Oyewole, who is also the President, Association of African Universities (AAU), congratulated the students on their admission, noting that the Matriculation Ceremony was the fifth and the last he would preside over as the Vice-Chancellor. He appreciated both the academic and non-teaching staff, as well as other stakeholders in the University for their co-operation and support towards ensuring that students admitted into the various programmes in the University completed their academic programmes in record time. The Vice-Chancellor pointed out that the University had witnessed unprecedented growth and development in all ramifications, as espoused by its founding fathers, while assuring that the University would continue to strive within the limits of the resources at its disposal, to make the environment conducive for serious academic activities and cautioned that FUNAAB has zero tolerance for cultism and other social vices.
The Vice-Chancellor disclosed that FUNAAB remained one of the best universities in Nigeria. He noted that for quality assurance of its various courses, the National Universities Commission (NUC), accreditation teams visited all the academic programmes of the University and 96 per cent of the academic programmes were accredited while four per cent had interim accreditation. Professor Oyewole assured that the academic programmes with interim accreditation would be re-visited in May 2017, even as he charged the students to be disciplined, shun examination malpractices, fully utilise campus facilities for optimal academic success, be well-dressed, engage in responsible students’ unionism and take good care of their health. He disclosed that the University was striving hard to accommodate all its students on campus, but due to financial constraints, had not been able to achieve its goal. Professor Oyewole, therefore, called for Public-Private Partnership initiative, to assist in constructing campus hostels since government alone cannot do it all. The University Registrar, Mr. Mathew Ayoola, administered the matriculation oaths on the students.
Meanwhile, the fifth Commencement Lecturer of the University and the Vice-Chancellor, Mountain Top University, Lagos, Professor Elijah Ayolabi has challenged the fresh students to see their admission into the University as an opportunity to learn, nurture, acquire knowledge and skills that would prepare them for national development. Delivering the Commencement Lecture titled; “University Education and National Development”, which signalled the beginning of academic sojourn for the newly-admitted students, Professor Ayolabi pointed out that considering the present economic dilemma in the country, it was obvious that the nation was in need of young people, who were in their transitional stage of physical, psychological and spiritual development rebuilding and developing our nation.
On the importance of University education, Professor Ayolabi described the university as a citadel of learning, housing egg-heads and intellectuals scholars from whose fountain students can drink from, thereby resulting in transfer of knowledge. The Don, who stated that university education, would always guaranty knowledge, self-discovery, self-esteem and freedom, noted that where there is lack of knowledge, there would always be insecurity, corruption, poverty, hunger, disease, lack of development and economic growth.
Professor Ayolabi said that University education opens up the brains of students and enlarges their capacity to think and reason, adding that any student who successfully passed through the university education, can conveniently form opinions and develop ideas on issues not connected to what they had studied, simply because while going through their course of study in the university, they must have achieved mental alertness and sharpness of the mind.
Explaining how University education impacts on national development, Professor Ayolabi said that a nation develops according to the aggregate of the development of its citizens, hence, university education promotes the culture of productivity by enabling individuals to discover the creative potentials in them and apply same to their self and social aspirations, thereby bringing about personal, societal and national development. He urged the students to be dedicated and hardworking, be good team players with forgiving spirit; be research-oriented; must be original; must be focused and determined; must be calm and cheerful; must be polite and respectful; and must be diligent and humble.
Meanwhile, some of the fresh students have expressed their joy for securing admission into the University. According to Taiyelolu Jonathan and Kehinde Jonathan who are identical twin boys and popularly called ‘J-Twins’, both in the Department of Agricultural Administration, College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development (COLAMRUD), they both decided to study in FUNAAB because they felt that it was the best University, where they could further develop their passion in agriculture. The ‘J-Twins’ said of all the agricultural courses in the University, they chose Agricultural Administration because it was an all-encompassing course with touches all the aspect of agriculture.
They disclosed that being students of the University was a dream come true for them, said they had always been together all their lives attending the same school, sitting in the same class and dressing in similar clothing. Although, they admitted that people found it very difficult to identify them, the twins said they were similar in almost everything, including academics, while adding that they were above an average student, intending to graduate with a First Class honours degrees and foreseeing themselves in the next 10 years as chief executive officers of their agricultural firms. For Toheebat Akiode of the Department of Business Administration, College of Management Sciences (COLMAS), she opted to study in FUNAAB because she believes that it is an institution with good moral standing, where she could attain academic excellence. She dreams of graduating with First Class honours degree and would want the University to continue to offer management science courses.