Crescent University Abeokuta, Ogun State has installed Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s former president, Mohammadu Buhari, as its new Chancellor during the institution’s 15th Convocation held over the weekend, official statement said.
According to report, Prof. Gambari was also conferred along with three other eminent Nigerians namely His Highness Oba Moshood Ola Yusuf , Mr.Yakubu Layi Gobir and Dr. Babatunde Wale-Okewale with Doctorate of Science (DSc.) Honoris Causa in appreciation of their numerous outstanding contributions to business, education, philanthropy, healthcare and Accounting profession.
Installing the new Chancellor, the Proprietor and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the university, Prince Muhammed Mahruf Adesegun Ajibola
(SAN) described him as a revered academic, frontline diplomat, statesman and most suitable to replace the former Chancellor, the late Alaafin of Oyo , Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.
He assured that Crescent University under his leadership would continue to live up to expectations and prayers of its founding father by consolidating the gains of the past while exploring new areas for improvement or staff and students’ welfare and structural development.
He lauded huge amount of financial resources invested by the late Judge of the International Court of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola into the transformation of the university, promising to contribute his quota for further development.
The Chancellor who congratulated the graduands and the three awardees commended the university for ensuring that the only those found worthy in character and learning earned its degree certificates.
“From my findings, this university was established to fly on two wings of “learning and character” since learning alone is not enough to better the society from its rots. Learning without character is the bane of our society while character makes learning complete and beneficial to humanity.
“Most recently, one of our past best graduating students, Halima Abdusalaam who finished from the Department of Biochemistry received a letter of commendation from Nottingham University, UK, for her superlative performance in both academics and character during her Master’s degree programme in Bioinformatics. This testimonial vividly is a reflection of *Academic Plus* Halima had received here in Crescent University.
“Another alumnus, Lukman Oloyede, who finished with a first class at Crescent University has now been made a brand ambassador of University Strathclyde, Scotland plus scholarship for his Master’s in Media and Communications tagged *Dean’s International Excellence Award.
“Insha Allah, I will commit myself to further development and upliftment of this project in my capacity as the chancellor. I have dedicated my life to the services of the Almighty Allah and humanity. This is one of those services”, he promised.”
Similarly the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Gbajabiamila described the knowledge acquired by the graduands in the university as invaluable gift that should always be part of them , urging them to be ready to confront challenges that might come their way in future.
“Our graduands are doing well in the wider marketplace and academia in Nigeria and overseas. They are not only getting top-notch jobs but also entrepreneurs and giving back to society. We proudly invite you to be joining the Community of Crescent University Alumni “, Prof. Gbajabiamila stated
He vowed that the university would never compromise quality, listing all the institution’s academic programme as having full accreditation of the National Universities Commission.
High point of the convocation was the conferment of first and post graduate degrees on graduands as well as honorary degree of Doctor of Accounting conferred on Oba Moshood Ola Yusuf, alongside Mr. Yakubu Gobir, honoured with Doctor of Science Honoris Causa in Business Administration while Dr.Babatunde Wale-Okewale was conferred with Doctor of Science Honoris Causa in Health Science.
Oba Moshood Ola Yusuf, on behalf of other awardees, pledged their respective commitment to sustenance of the tradition of academic and moral excellence as well as development of Crescent University.