By Uthman Salami
The Executive Chairman, Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd. Akintoye Akindele, has charged graduates of tertiary institutions to acquire more knowledge, explore and remain students of communication and leadership.
Akindele gave the charge while delivering the 11th convocation lecture of Caleb University located at Imota near Ikorodu, Lagos State, on Saturday.
The theme of the lecture was, “The Rhetoric and Reality of Youth as Game Changers.
According to him, young people are Africa’s most important asset and are at the epicentre of the continent’s changing narratives.
“Our continent is the youngest in the world, with a median age of 19.7 and almost 60 per cent of Africans are under the age of 25. By 2050, the youth population is expected to reach 830million.
“By then, people under the age of 40 will be behind the driver’s seat of the continent’s economies.
“ If we are to achieve higher growth and economic development therefore, we need to properly harness this opportunity, “ he said.
He urged the graduates of the university to always be good ambassadors of the country as well as the university.
Akindele also advised them to always think about their alma mata by way of giving back to it, in a bid to contribute their quota to its growth.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie, said that it graduated 965 during the 2020/2021 academic session.
In his address titled: ‘Game Changers in Lagos’ the Vice-Chancellor noted that of the total graduating students, 823 of them were conferred with first degrees.
He noted that of this figure, 49 of them were admitted into the first class category, while 14 others had distinctions.
Explaining the breakdown of the graduating students, the Vice-Chancellor noted that 373 of the graduating students were admitted into the Second Class Upper category, 386 others into the Second Class Lower and 15 into the Third Class categories respectively.
“ A total of 124 others were admitted into the Pass category,” he stated.
He added that a total of 142 of the graduating students were conferred with higher degrees.
The Vice -Chancellor said that Iredia Ejehi of the Computer Science Department, emerged as the overall best graduating student (female), with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.92.
He added that Ifezue Humphrey also of the Computer Science Department emerged as the overall best graduating student (male ), with a 4 .84 CGPA.
According to him, Victor Oladapo emerged the overall best graduating postgraduate student in Business Administration (MBA).
Admonishing the graduands to go out to the larger society to conquer and overcome, he said the required training, capacity and skills have been bequeathed to them by the school.
“There is none of you who is second best. You are meant for the top only, but don’t only put God first, but rather, let him be your one and only, “ he admonished them.
He said the institution is witnessing the unfolding of change that does not involve playing games, thus, the pace of varieties of developments has been frentic.
He thanked God, parents, alumni and other stakeholders of the university for being part of the significant history.
“They are the game change agents who know that change is not about playing games without being part of the solution, “ he said.
The Vice Chancellor further assured the institution’s stakeholders of its position ahead of competitions and called for their partnership to further mainstream it to relevance.
“As far as competition is concerned, we are not looking at another institution anywhere in Africa or beyond. We just want to grow the Caleb dream as its own niche,” he said.