UNILAG to graduate 379 first-class graduates at 54th convocation

By Sodiq Adelakun

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is set to produce 379 first-class graduates at its upcoming 54th Convocation.

The announcement was made by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, during a pre-convocation press conference held on Wednesday.

The convocation, scheduled to take place on January 16 and 17, 2024, will see a total of 17,464 students graduating from UNILAG. Among them, 10,578 will receive their first degrees, while 6,886 will be awarded postgraduate degrees.

David Akanmu from the Faculty of Engineering achieved a perfect score of 5.00 and was named the overall best-graduating student and top in the Science category.

Ibrahim Quadri from the Faculty of Management Sciences was named the best-graduating student in the Humanities with a CGPA of 4.94.

The convocation lecture on January 15, 2024, will be delivered by Prof. Toyin Falola and will focus on the importance of decolonising African higher education for transformational development.

“This year we will be graduating 17,464 students. Of these,10,578 will receive first degrees and 6,886 are postgraduate. Of those with first degrees, 340 are first class with 97 coming from Management Sciences, followed by Science with 57 and Engineering 47. From the Faculties of Pharmacy, Basic Medical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, there were 39 distinctions 24 of which, were from the Faculty of Pharmacy.”

“3,374 graduated with Second class upper, 4,547 graduated with Second class lower and 1,832 with 3rd class. 188 graduated with a pass and 250 had unclassified degrees from Pharmacy, Basic and Clinical Sciences.”

“The congregation for the award of first degrees, diplomas, certificates, and prizes to graduating students across all Faculties and the Distance Learning Institute, will take place in morning and afternoon sessions, from Tuesday, 16, and Wednesday 17 January 2024.”

“On Thursday, January 18, 2024, Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters, and Ph.D. degrees will be conferred on graduates of the School of Postgraduate Studies and the University of Lagos Business School,” she stated.

Ogunsola said that the highlight of the convocation would be the conferment of Honorary Doctorate degrees in recognition of personalities who have distinguished themselves by significantly contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields.

She added, “This year we are awarding degrees to three such persons two men and a woman. Prof. Toyin Falola, of the University of Texas at Austin – a globally acclaimed influential humanities scholar whose wide-ranging scholarship has placed him at the zenith of the global academy.”

“Prof. Phyllis Kanki, a professor of Immunology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston through her work in West Africa was the first person to isolate HIV2 which causes a milder form of AIDS that was more commonly found in West Africa and Professor Attahiru Jega, a Professor of Political Science, a sound intellectual, an astute administrator with a strong sense of ethics who revolutionised Nigeria’s electoral process.”