Copyright leadership
A total of 240 out of the 2,747 students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, will be graduating with first class as the institution holds its 36th convocation ceremony of the institution. The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Adenike Oladiji, who disclosed this at a press conference to herald the convocation ceremony of the school, said 1,479 graduated with second class honours (Upper division), 912 students have second class honours (lower division) while 116 are graduating with third class. Professor Oladiji revealed that Akindunbi Aduragbemi Isaac from the Department of Civil Engineering is the Overall Best Graduating Student with Cumulative Grade Point Average (CPGA) of 4.98 out of 5.0. According to the VC, the university will also confer Postgraduate Diploma on 86 students, Master of Tech degrees on 627 while 154 others will bag Doctoral degrees. Prof. Oladiji further disclosed that no fewer than 3,000 students from the institution are currently benefiting from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). “Talking about NELFUND, the level of awareness by the students is quite low. We are trying to get them to be aware of it. And then the disposition also, a lot of people think that why should they go to school on credit? “So many people do not want to take the loan. So if the number is not huge, it’s not because the government is failing, it is because many people are not applying. As we speak, the Bursar says we have over 3,000 students benefiting from the loan scheme,” the VC said. While describing FUTA as a key player in the global academic arena, Prof. Oladiji said, the institution is living up to its billing as one of the country’s leading citadels of academic excellence and destination of choice where cutting-edge research and product development tailored to address societal needs have become a culture and the norm. “FUTA is firming up its reputation as a leading research-intensive institution and a foremost citadel of excellence in technological education tailored to meet emerging challenges of its society and the global arena. This is more so in the area of climate and space science, agriculture, engineering and computing and digital expertise. “In FUTA, members of faculties and students are becoming increasingly relevant in the scheme of things in the global academic arena with participation and involvement in cutting-edge research and product development. FUTA is also pulling its weight in the area of providing solutions to food insecurity in the country,” Oladiji stressed.
