Varsity honours Aregbesola for positive contributions to sector

The management of Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State owned by the Apostolic Church, has conferred an honorary degree of Public Administration on Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State for his efforts in providing qualitative education to his people.

Speaking at a special convocation ceremony, the vice chancellor, Prof Bernard Aigbokan reeled out the numerous contributions of the governor and achievements in Osun state, noting that under his watch, the school feeding programme attracted World Bank commendation.

“Under the governor’s watch, the state is second in human capital development; the national assessment on infant and maternal health care delivery and first in Nigeria’s subnational competitiveness index, released by the National Bureau of Statistics and National Competitiveness Council.”He recalled how the institution was established and granted license by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in March 2011, while highlighting its key challenges, which posed constraints to its rapid growth.

The VC assured of the management’s readiness to promote and sustain healthy university tradition.Vice President, The Apostolic Church and visitor to the institution, Emmanuel Awojide expressed optimism that the award will spur the governor to greater performance and discovery of uncharted paths.

“The true measure of greatness is in making outstanding contributions to the society. We must always find essence in the betterment of our common humanity. As an awardee of the university, you have become its ambassador,” he said.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dr. Ebenezer Okebukola said the award was informed by the vision of its founding fathers to promote intellectual and moral leadership, adding that Aregbesola has shown great commitment to giving quality education to the students in a conducive environment and friendly learning atmosphere.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Dr. Bisi Ogunjobi described Aregbesola as a bridge builder and an ardent Muslim who has no inhibition of working closely with people of different faith, especially ‘The Apostolic Church’.

Responding, the governor commended the leadership of the church and the Senate of the university for the honour done to him.In his paper titled, ‘The cultivated human mind’, Aregbesola highlighted some of the achievements of his administration in the last eight years, saying his greatest impact has been in the area of education. Aregbesola who disclosed that he had to borrow N11.8 billion to turn around the fortunes of education in his state stressed the need for the country to pay greater attention to education especially at the basic level.