By CHINYERE NWACHUKWU

The University of Lagos, Akoka, has offered employment to no fewer than 100 graduates of the university, who made First Class in various fields of studies in the university.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, made the disclosure at a pre convocation news conference on Monday in Lagos.

He said the employment gesture was aimed at retaining some of the best brains to take the university to its desired goal.

“We have, however, suspended this initiative for a while, in order to carry out a review of the entire thing.

“We started it sometime ago and no fewer than 100 of our first class graduates were given employment here in the university.

“But after a while, some of them had to travel out. Some resigned while others are still on ground. That is what gave us the room to do a review and as soon as we are through with the review, we will take the next step.”

The vice-chancellor announced that the university had secured N250 million funding from the Bank of Industry to support entrepreneurship drive in the institution.

According to him, the university has also attracted about N7 billion for research from local and international agencies.

“We have received provisional approval to host the World Bank Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement, which is an 11-million dollar project for the South West geo-political zone.

“More faculties are now interested in research as we have created the environment for them to thrive,” he stated.

Giving a breakdown of the graduating students, the vice-chancellor stated that a total of 13,489 of them would receive degrees, diplomas and certificates at the convocation ceremonies, commencing on March 9.

He said that 281 of the students bagged first class degrees while 13,489 others would receive degrees, diplomas and certificates in various fields.

Ogundipe said that Dr Stella Adedevo, who lost her life on Aug. 19, 2014, while preventing the spread of Ebola virus in the country and a former Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe were among prominent Nigerians that would be honoured at the convocation event.

He said that the convocation lecture would be delivered by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami on “The Role of Disruptive Technologies in Sustainable Economic Transformation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highpoint of the news conference was the unveiling of the university’s anthem. (NAN)

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