As the University of Lagos (UNILAG) turns out 10, 578 first degrees and 6,886 postgraduate students, the institution will at its 54th convocation unveil David Akanmu, from the Faculty of Engineering, with a perfect score of 5.00 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) as the overall best-graduating student.

This is as the institution disclosed that of the 10, 578 first-degree graduates, 379 made First-Class graduates at its 54th Convocation.

Speaking on Wednesday at the pre-convocation press conference held at the chamber of the Senate building, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, the Vice-Chancellor, disclosed that Ibrahim Quadri of the Faculty of Management Sciences with a CGPA of 4.94 emerged as the best graduating student in Humanities.

She said, “This year we will be graduating 17,464 students. Of these, 10,578 will receive first degrees and 6,886 are postgraduate. Of those with first degrees, 340 are first class with 97 coming from Management Sciences, followed by Science with 57 and Engineering 47. From the Faculties of Pharmacy, Basic Medical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, there were 39 distinctions 24 of which were from the Faculty of Pharmacy,explaining that “3,374 graduated with Second class upper, 4,547 graduated with Second class lower and 1,832 with 3rd class.

“188 graduated with a pass and 250 had unclassified degrees from Pharmacy, Basic and Clinical Sciences.”

She added that on Monday, January 15, 2024, the convocation lecture titled: ‘Decolonising African Higher Education for Transformational Development,’ would be delivered by a distinguished professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Toyin Falola.

Chairman of Tanus, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi and a former Pro-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, would be the chairman of the event.

“The congregation for the award of first degrees, diplomas, certificates, and prizes to graduating students across all Faculties and the Distance Learning Institute, will take place in morning and afternoon sessions, from Tuesday, 16, and Wednesday 17 January 2024.

“On Thursday, January 18, 2024, Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters, and Ph.D. will be conferred on graduates of the School of Postgraduate Studies and the University of Lagos Business School,” she stated.

Ogunsola said that the highlight of the convocation would be the conferment of an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of personalities who have distinguished themselves by significantly contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields.

The awardees’ are Prof. Toyin Falola of the University of Texas at Austin, a globally acclaimed influential humanities scholar whose wide-ranging scholarship has placed him at the zenith of the global academy.

“Prof. Phyllis Kanki, a professor of Immunology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston through her work in West Africa was the first person to isolate HIV2 which causes a milder form of AIDS that was more commonly found in West Africa and Professor Attahiru Jega, a Professor of Political Science, a sound intellectual, an astute administrator with a strong sense of ethics who revolutionised Nigeria’s electoral process.”