By Celephina Onovo
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has splashed the best graduating student of the Lagos State University with a cash donation of N5million as well as awarding him scholarship to pursue his masters degree programme in a university of his choice outside the country.
Responding to Ogunsanya Adetoro’s request for scholarship to go for masters’ study outside the country, Ambode said he would personally finance the student’s education in any university of his choice anywhere in the world.
Ambode added: “In response to the best graduating student’s request, Lagos State Government does not generally give scholarship anymore but only bursary. So, I adopt him.
“His story is too compelling and it reflects on my own story. So, any university he wants to go, I will do it personally; I will be responsible.
“In addition to that, because he is the best graduating student, I dash him N5 million.”
Adetoro, the best graduating student at the Lagos State University, in the 2016/2017 academic session, said he failed his first WAEC and NECO examinations due to health challenges.
Adetoro, 24, and a graduate of Business Administration, with a Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate of 4.7, said during the convocation on Wednesday that he inherited cataract from his father.
According to him, the health challenge greatly affected his performance in the final examination in secondary school.
He said the cataract, which initially affected one eye, later spread to the other and this affected his academic performance.
Adetoro said: “My Parents helped me to seek medical help but the first operation I had was not successful.
“When my first WAEC and NECO came out, it was dotted with F9s, so I left home and went to stay with my uncle and his wife.
“My uncle and his wife also helped me to seek medical treatment at the University College Hospital, Ibadan and the operation was successful.”
Adetoro said following the treatment, he went back to secondary school to rewrite his WAEC and JAMB, after three years of staying at home.
He said: “I was able to make four A’s and three B’s and scored 215 in JAMB to gain admission to LASU.”
According to him, he had applied for Accounting at LASU but opted for business administration as because Accounting was not accredited at the time.
Adetoro noted that his academic journey was rigorous and herculean, even as he lost his father in 2015.
He said: “But my doggedness and tenacity yielded a good result.”
He urged employers to trust Nigerian graduates as “they have been fortified with the capacity to significantly change the corporate world”.
He said: “We have internalised the new LASU mantra and will represent the institution in the outside world positively by being good ambassadors and providing solutions to societal problems.”
Adetoro lauded Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for his investment and commitment to LASU.
He also hailed Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, the Vice-Chancellor, for re-branding the institution and making it enviable among Nigerian universities.
In his remarks, Fagbohun said the graduating students had been well tutored and certified to succeed in the corporate world.
The VC, however, urged the students to be good ambassadors of the institution and give back to their Alma Mata.
Fagbohun said the university graduated 29,710 students for the session, out of which 26 students made First Class division.
He said 21,481 students graduated with first degrees, 201 with diplomas, 7,982 in the Post-graduate cadre and 46 PhDs.