FUTA Confers First Degrees On 6,405 Graduands at 34th and 35th Convocation

The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) on Friday, 29 November 2024 awarded first degrees to 6,405 graduates from the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic sessions, and special prizes to students with outstanding academic performance at its 34th and 35th convocation.

519 graduated with First class degrees across various Departments, 3,408 with Second Class (Upper Division), 2,139 with Second Class (Lower Division), and 339 with Third Class degree.

Top achievers for the sessions include Ifeoluwa Faith Faromika of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Johnbull Aanuoluwapo Vitowanu of the Industrial and Production Engineering Department as joint valedictorians for the 2022/2023 session, both with CGPAs of 4.96, while Oluwasegun Joshua Ajakaye of the University’s Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering was the valedictorian for the 2023/2024 session with a CGPA of 4.95.

In her address to the graduands, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji, FAS, praised them for their dedication and perseverance through the years and reaffirmed FUTA’s commitment to further supporting excellence. She said that graduates from FUTA are molded to excel in character and learning and equipped to impact the world positively hence FUTA’s sustained distinction globally.

While highlighting FUTA’s milestones, including its position among Nigeria’s top ten Universities, groundbreaking research collaborations, and global recognition of 40 academic staff as part of the world’s top 2% scientists Oladiji emphasized that the University was committed to producing graduates who are not only employable but also job creators. She therefore charged the graduands to remain committed to the pursuit of excellence and jettison distractions at all costs, urging them to put to proper use the skills they had acquired and remain good ambassadors of the University at all times.

The University’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, Senator (Professor) Nora Daduut further charged the graduands to be exemplary in all things and at all times. She lauded the efforts of the University management in training students worthy in both Character and Learning and pledged the Governing Council’s continued support in driving the University’s success while thanking the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for the opportunity to serve in the University. She noted that the ceremony was the recently congregated Council’s first convocation at FUTA and the beginning of a milestone.

Giving thanks to God and appreciating everyone who had contributed in one way or the other to the successful conclusion of their programmes in the University, one of the three Valedictorians, Ajakaye Oluwasegun Joshua encouraged his peers to embrace resilience, quoting Maya Angelou as saying “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” Vitowanu Johnbull Aanuoluwapo, another Valedictorian, in his speech recounted achieving laudable success by overcoming personal trials, emphasizing leadership, perseverance, and compassion, while Ifeoluwa Faith Faromika urged his peers to stay busy and lead with courage, challenging them to meet high technological demands of the ever-changing world. He reminded his peers of the value of contributing meaningfully to society, emphasizing adaptability and purpose-driven leadership as major keys to success in the larger world.

A major highlight of the event was the the convocation lecture delivered by the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo who canvassed better relationship between town and gown saying Public Private Partnerships offer an avenue to scale university-led innovations and commercialize security technologies thereby creating sustainable security solutions especially in solving the prevalent insecurities in the country.

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