AJAYI CROWTHER UNIVERSITY TO HONOUR AKEREDOLU, ANGLICAN PRIMATE, ARCHBISHOP AT CONVOCATION AS 85 BAGS FIRST CLASS
Eighty-five students of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo are set to graduate with first-class honours during the combined 12th and 13th convocation ceremonies of the institution scheduled for Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4, 2021.
The Senate of the university also announced the conferment of honorary degrees on Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu; the Primate Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, and the retired Archbishop of Lagos Province of Church of Nigeria, Most Reverend Dr Ephraim Ademowo.
This was revealed by the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Timothy Adebayo, during a press briefing held in Oyo Town on Monday to herald the ceremonies that will hold on two separate days in order to accommodate all graduating students in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While giving the breakdown, Prof Adebayo said that 990 undergraduate students graduated in the 2019/2020 session with 51 bagging first-class honours while 1,165 students graduated during the 2020/21 session including 34 with first-class honours, adding that postgraduate students will also be awarded at the event.
He noted that the trio of Akeredolu, Ndukuba and Ademowo were selected to receive Honoris Causa awards because of their “immense contribution in their sphere of influence as clergymen and public servants,” noting that the awards will serve as encouragement for them to continue to contribute positively to the society.
While noting that physical and academic developments in ACU are being funded through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Adebayo urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to amend the law establishing Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to enable private universities to benefit from TETFUND’s financial support.
He said: “The private universities have been helping to mitigate the pressure of public universities, but they have been greatly hampered by funding given that most of them do not receive subvention from any other source outside the school fees paid by the students, and donations from some philanthropists.
“We give quality education to students, and it requires funding to do so. Staff and students of private universities are Nigerians and should not be deprived of benefiting from public funds to which they contribute. This would alleviate funding problems, and perhaps, mitigate the fees they charge. Education is such a vital service that it cannot be totally privatised.
“The Federal Government should urgently consider extending the intervention of TETFUND to private universities in order to put them in a position to alleviate the pressure on public universities for admission.”
He further listed the new developments in the school to include the construction of a 64-bed hostel to accommodate some of our postgraduate students, two new duplexes built as residential quarters for principal officers of the university, a welcome centre where visiting parents will meet their children and wards.
He also noted that the university has also expanded its bakery with the provision of a new oven and new building, the procurement of a new bottling machine for the water factory and the establishment of the Ajayi Crowther University farm.
“The National Universities Commission has given full accreditation to our new programmes including courses in Faculties of Education, Basic Medical Sciences and Environmental Studies, thus expanding the options for students who desire to study with us,” Prof Adebayo added.
