By 
……VC Begs Govt To Wade Into Institution’s Land Encroachment
Kwara State University, Malete, (KWASU) is set to award first-class honours degrees to 183 graduating students.
This was disclosed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh, during a pre-convocation press briefing held at the institution’s campus in Malete, Moro Local Government area of Kwara North senatorial district, today, Tuesday.
The Vice-Chancellor while addressing the Journalists to highlight activities lined up for the combined convocation said a total number of 16,315 will be graduating as 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 sets.
Given the breakdown, he said 11,096 first degrees and 767 higher degrees for the 2021/2022 academic session and 4,107 first degrees and 345 higher degrees for the 2022/2023 academic session.
Said cumulatively, from the two sets, there are 183 First Class, 5,145 Second Class Upper Division, 8,420 Second Class Lower Division, 1,455 Third Class, 195 Ph.D, and 917 Masters Degrees.
“The convocation activities officially begin today, with a press conference, followed by the Convocation Exhibition and 1st KWASU Book Fair, a football match between the Teaching and Non-teaching staff.
“By 3 pm on Wednesday, there will be Convocation Play titled Madam Tinubu by Akinwumi Isola to take place at the University Auditorium.
“By Thursday, the erudite educationist and accomplished administrator, the Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
JAMB, Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede CON, fNAL will deliver the Convocation Lecture titled “Learning, Relearning and Unlearning: Prerequisites of the Digital Age” and commissioning of three major TETFund infrastructure projects by the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund TETFund Architect Sonny Echonu.
“The buildings are the magnificent Senate Building, the Centre for Sustainable Energy Building, and the Engineering Workshop Complex.
“The grand finale is on Saturday, December 16, 2023, with the Award of First and Postgraduate Degrees. This event is to be capped by the Convocation Luncheon at 2.30 pm where the University will be giving the first-ever “Best Researcher Award” and “Best Non-teaching Staff Award” to staff, said the University instituted these awards during the Strategic Plan writing exercise in 2021 to encourage research and service excellence.
Speaking on the achievements recorded over the year, the VC said “We are glad to report that we have maintained our tradition of stable academic calendar despite many odds facing tertiary education in Nigeria.”
The VC expressed appreciation to the proprietor, Kwara state government under the leadership of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for what he called the creation of an enabling environment that encourages dialogues and joint consideration of issues towards resolving them.
He added that the institution has full accreditation status in virtually all the academic programmes, added that since 2021, KWASU has secured NUC’s approval to commence twenty-four new programmes.
The VC also disclosed that the Centre for Sustainable Energy engineering team has successfully converted a petrol-engine bus into an electric-powered one.
This achievement followed the removal of the subsidy on petrol and the resulting increase in the price of PMS.
“We consider it a major achievement, not just for our Green Initiative but for our determination to add value to the state’s economy and its populace.
“This initiative ensures higher efficiency in powering automobiles, helps our environment to be less polluted, and has attracted partnerships with the Kwara State Government and private institutions.”
Speaking on the student’s and staff’s welfare the VC said “We prioritize welfare by prompt payment of salaries and allowances. We increased the payment of hazard allowance to first 75% and subsequently to 100%. We maintained the same rate for school fees payable by all categories of students and also instituted the school fees relief grant which waives N100,000 from school fees of 4 biological children of the confirmed staff of the University who are running their undergraduate programmes in KWASU.”
The VC however listed some challenges facing the institution to include bad access roads from the Shao community to Malete and pleaded for state government intervention in some existing intra-campus road networks.
He also expressed concern over the institution’s land encroachment by some individuals said this can be a flashpoint of conflict between the University, communities and individuals and urged the state government to wade in by by constituting a land review committee to review the status of the land ceded to the University to prevent all forms of encroachment.
Comments