JABU approves N29m cash awards for outstanding graduates

The Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, has reaffirmed its commitment to merit-driven academic excellence with the approval of N29 million in cash awards for outstanding graduates in the 2024/2025 academic session.

Speaking during the university’s convocation ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olasebikan Fakolujo, said the policy underscores the institution’s determination to encourage hard work, celebrate excellence and incentivise students to strive for top performance.

Fakolujo revealed that the university’s Chancellor, Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, endowed N24 million for distribution among first-class graduates and other exceptional students, describing the gesture as a long-standing tradition aimed at raising the bar of academic achievement at JABU.

He added that the best female graduating student also received N5 million, donated through the endowment fund of the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to promote female scholarship and leadership.

Announcing the top honouree for the session, Fakolujo disclosed that Blessing Agboola of the Medical Laboratory Science Department emerged as the overall best graduating student with an impressive CGPA of 4.93.

He noted that the reward system not only motivates students but also reflects the university’s broader policy of nurturing excellence, character and industry—core values that JABU was founded upon.

The VC further highlighted an impressive academic feat, noting that the university’s 400- and 500-level Medical Laboratory Science students recorded a 100 percent pass rate in their professional examinations.

He also disclosed that 10 of the 79 students inducted into the nursing profession bagged first-class honours.

He said: “This year, we present 729 outstanding first-degree graduates and 142 distinguished postgraduate scholars, a total of 871 ambassadors of knowledge and godly service.

At the pinnacle of academic achievement, 57 of our graduates earned First Class Honours, a distinction that places them among Nigeria’s finest young minds.

“Even more impressive, 323 graduates achieved Second Class Honours (Upper Division), meaning that nearly 52 percent of our entire undergraduate cohort performed at the highest academic tiers.

When we combine these with our Second-Class Lower Honours graduates, an extraordinary 90 percent of our students are in the classifications of second class lower to first class, a statistic that speaks not just to individual brilliance, but to an institutional culture where excellence is the standard, not the exception.

On his part, the Chancellor, Prof. Adegbulugbe, who described higher education as a cornerstone of societal progress and global advancement, emphasised that universities must inspire purpose and nurture responsible citizenship, particularly in an era he said has been marked by rapid technological transformation and environmental challenges.

“The future belongs to institutions that cultivate innovation grounded in moral values. Our goal at Jabu is to develop graduates who can think critically, act ethically and lead courageously – men and women who will advance science with conscience, enterprise with empathy and governance with integrity,” Adegbulugbe stated.

With the visitor to the institution, Pastor Samuel Oladele, who is the President of the Apostolic Church Nigeria and Overseas, urging the graduands not to measure their success by titles or possessions, stated that their contributions to humanity should be the ultimate.

He said, “Beloved graduands. You have been to JABU, the first entrepreneurial university in Nigeria, and have been impacted by your lecturers and your parents too, to the best of their ability. However, you have much more to do as you go forth into the world.

Whatever knowledge you acquired in this university was meant to be like a seed sown which should germinate and bring forth harvest.

“Above all, lay all your laurels before God, who is the giver of all. Do not ever take any credit for yourself, no matter how tempted you are to do so.”