Ogun Offers Automatic Employment to Crescent Varsity Best Graduating Student
Dapo Abiodun
The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has offered immediate employment to the best graduating student of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Miss Halimat Abdulsalam of the Department of Biochemistry, College of Natural and Applied Sciences.
With a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.93, she surpassed 413 graduands, the best ever to be achieved by any valedictorian of the institution.
Speaking at the 11th convocation ceremony of the institution recently, the governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, said his administration, would continue to lift the education status of the state through partnerships with educational institutions.
The ceremony also witnessed the conferment of honorary degrees: Doctor of Science (honoris causa) in Public Administration and Mass Communication respectlively on the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo and the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Adegboyega Dosunmu, while Dr. AbdulRahman Altamami of Riyadh Ministry of Education bagged Doctor of Letters in Islamic Studies.
Responding on behalf of the honorees, Oba Gbadebo stated that globally, university education is designed to sharpen the intellect of its beneficiaries so that they could attain the highest level in life, and appealed to the graduands to be good ambassadors of their alma mater.
Applauding the vision of the founder/Proprietor, Bola Ajibola, who sold virtually all his assets to start the university one-and- a-half decades ago, Oba Gbadebo added that “We will see what we can do individually for this university.”
Meanwhile, the management of the institution has reacted to online reports with the headline ‘Crescent University Convocation Turns Violent as Angry Parents Beat Journalist, Curse Management’, stressing that the reports were biased, subjective and unbalanced.
A release by the public relations office stated that the alleged parents and the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) reporter Jumoke Onafowora arrived the Bola Ajibola Auditorium venue of the convocation about two hours behind deadline set for graduands and guests to have been seated.
According to the release, “all over the world, universities have rules and regulations guiding their ceremonies especially on punctuality, timeliness and conduct. Crescent University is not an exception in this academic culture. All students, parents and their guests had earlier been notified that they must be seated by 9.30 am before the procession of the university chancellor at 10 am.
“We are appalled that the journalist in question had, according to the report, struggled with the parents to gain access into the convocation hall around mid- day, more than two hours after the deadline, whereas there was an alternative marquee where screen monitors projecting the programme had been adequately provided for those who arrived late.”
The statement added: “Since our vision was not only academic, but with moral rectitude, no guest, including the journalist in question could have been allowed by the security staff after procession of the chancellor and even reprentative of the governor had been seated and the programme was already halfway.”
The university also lamented as unethical, sensational and judgemental the rush to the press by the said journalist without contacting any official of the institution for balance and fairness of the story.
The university therefore counselled journalists and other Nigerians to embrace the culture of punctuality and orderliness in all they do.
Other dignitaries present at the event were the Chancellor, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Alaafin of Oyo; the Pro-Chancellor, Alhaji Najib Husseini Adamu, the Emir of Kazaure; the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Ibraheem Gbajabiamila; a Board of Trustees member, Adesegun Ajibola SAN and visiting vice- chancellors from other universities.
