***Dangote, Kekere-Ekun, Adesola receive honourary doctorate degrees, as VC gives farewell speech
*Photo: Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu*
The Governor of Lagos State, and Visitor of the Lagos State University (LASU), Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday announced a cash gift of N20 million each for the Best Graduating Students of the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 sessions.
The beneficiaries are Ayilara Lawal Olawale (2024/2025 Session), who graduated with a First Class Honour of CGPA 4.96 in Project Management Technology, and Adebanjo Samuel Oluolamide (2025/2026 Session), who graduated with a First Class Honour with 4.97 CGPA in Aerospace Engineering.
Governor Sanwo-Olu announced the cash gifts during the 29th and 30th Combined Convocation ceremonies of the Lagos State University, held at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Main Campus, Ojo on Wednesday.
The convocation also featured the conferment of honorary degrees on distinguished Nigerians, including Aliko Dangote, Akin Kekere-Ekun, and Bola Adesola.
The Governor charged the 20,604 graduands of the Lagos State University to be good ambassadors of the state-owned institution, Lagos State and Nigeria, urging them to deploy their knowledge, character and courage to solve problems and contribute meaningfully to society.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who described the ceremony as his sixth and final convocation as Visitor to the Lagos State University, said the occasion marked both a celebration of LASU’s achievements and his farewell to the university community.
“Some of you crossed this stage carrying stories that only your families know. You traded in the morning and read at night. You studied by phone light when the power failed. You buried loved ones in the middle of a semester and still returned to sit your examinations. Your certificates are not merely earned; they are testimonies. When you rise today, rise for every version of yourself that wanted to quit and did not.
“You remind us that in this University, learning has no ceiling. To you falls a special duty: expand the frontiers of knowledge, mentor those coming behind you, and keep scholarship in the service of human progress,” he advised.
Reflecting on LASU’s growth, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the university, established over 40 years ago by the administration of the late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande and founded on the vision of making university education accessible to Lagos residents, had since grown into a major university, recording significant achievements in student demand, rankings and research.
Ĥe saìd: “For two years running — 2025 and 2026 — this University has been the most subscribed in the whole of Nigeria, with more than eighty-four thousand young people choosing LASU first, above every other institution in this country.
“Times Higher Education has ranked LASU the best state university, and the fourth-best university overall, in Nigeria. For four consecutive years, from 2022 to 2025, LASU has been rated the best university in West Africa on the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, and she serves the world as Co-Chair of the United Nations Academic Impact Hub for Affordable and Clean Energy.
“And now, LASU has been selected as the sole South-West home of the TETFund Three Billion Naira Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cyber Sciences — placing this University at the very frontier of the technologies that will define this century. Excellence is no longer something LASU aspires to. Excellence is now something LASU is asked to explain.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu also highlighted infrastructure and educational investments made by his administration, including the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu Library Complex, a student union building, investment in student accommodation and additional lecture theatres and halls.
He said: “Standing here today, at my final convocation as your Visitor, I can report to you, with humility and with joy, that we kept faith with that covenant.
“On this very campus, we built and commissioned the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu Library Complex — the largest university library in all of West Africa. Your students have given it a name that no committee could have invented: they call it the Theatre of Dreams. I can think of no higher review.
“We built the largest student union building of any university in this nation — because we understood that leadership, too, is a curriculum, and that the men and women who will one day govern Lagos and Nigeria are learning their first lessons in those halls today.
“We invested in new student accommodation, so that the distance between a student and her dream would no longer be measured in bus fares along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway. We raised new lecture theatres and halls across this campus, so that no student of this University would ever again have to learn excellence while standing at a window. Brick by brick, hall by hall, we matched the ambition of your minds with the dignity of your surroundings.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu further said his administration had expanded access to tertiary education by increasing the number of state-owned universities from one to three, with another specialised university for medicine and health sciences in the pipeline.
The Governor also urged corporate organisations, alumni and philanthropists to support LASU through endowments, research funding, scholarships and infrastructure development.
“Let me extend an open hand to the corporate citizens, alumni and philanthropists of our land: come and build with LASU. Endow a chair. Fund a laboratory. Sponsor a scholar. Few investments on this earth pay dividends for as long as a mind that has been set free,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu also commended the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of LASU, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, describing her tenure as a period of growth and increased visibility for the institution.
He noted that the convocation was also Olatunji-Bello’s final ceremony in office, meaning both their tenures were ending at the same ceremony.
“Appointing you in 2021 was one of the finest decisions of my tenure, and the records now speak for themselves: under your watch, this University became the most sought-after in Nigeria and the pride of West Africa. You did not merely manage LASU, Madam. You lifted her. History will be kind to you, because you were kind to history.
“And as if providence wished to gild this farewell, the Senate of this University has conferred on you — alongside Distinguished Professor Rafiu Olaoluwa Okuneye — the rare and coveted rank of Distinguished Professor. I congratulate you both. Decades of pioneering research, mentorship and scholarship have earned you a title that no tenure can take away,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu also congratulated the three honorary graduands honoured by the university — Mr Akin Kekere-Ekun, Mrs Bola Adesola and Alhaji Aliko Dangote — describing their careers in banking, governance and industry as worthy examples for the graduands.
Speaking earlier, Chancellor of LASU, Oba Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, who presided over his first convocation ceremony, commended Governor Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State Government for investment in education. He urged graduates to become creators of solutions rather than mere consumers of knowledge.
Also speaking, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. Babatunde Ogala (SAN), stressed the importance of research, innovation and technology in strengthening LASU’s global competitiveness.
The Vice Chancellor of LASU, Prof. Olatunji-Bello, while presenting her five-year scorecard, said her administration achieved key objectives in academic expansion, research, digital transformation, infrastructure development, financial sustainability and human capital growth.
She disclosed that LASU secured research grants, expanded academic programmes, improved accreditation outcomes, increased digital services and completed more than 50 infrastructure projects during her tenure.
The Vice Chancellor said the university’s Internally Generated Revenue rose from about N3 billion in 2021 to N13 billion in 2025, while student welfare initiatives, scholarships and accommodation were expanded.
Speaking during the event, Dangote, represented by his daughter Fatimah Dangote, announced that first-class engineering graduates of LASU would be offered employment opportunities at the Dangote Group after completing their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
