A total of 198 students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN ), Edo State, bagged a First Class degree out of 14,083 students to be awarded first degree at the institution’s 51st Convocation and Founder’s Day ceremony.

Vice Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, disclosed this on Monday in Benin at a pre-convocation press briefing.

He said 4,217 students bagged a Second Class Upper, 7,928 got a Second Class Lower, while 578 bagged a Third Class degree.

Omoregie said the result was indicative of the seriousness with which staff and students were committed to ensuring that the institution continued to move forward with vigour.

He said 15 new approved programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC) would commence in the 2025/2026 academic session.

Prof. Omoregie said the Veterinary Medicine programme, which earlier suffered an accreditation hiccup before he assumed office, has been accredited by the NUC.

He said, “The wheel of progress is on course and moving steadily in the University of Benin. This administration is poised to deliver on its mandate of effective, practical teaching, sound learning, result-oriented research and impactful community service.

“We must applaud President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing NELFUND, and by so doing, significantly reducing the financial stress of students in the process of acquiring tertiary education. We encourage students and their parents to take full advantage of the federal government’s benevolence in instituting the fund.”

Prof. Omoregie disclosed that Nigeria’s Minister of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, would deliver the Founders’ Day lecture with the topic, “Reforms for a Shared Prosperity”.

The UNIBEN VC said Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and Former Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, would deliver the Convocation Lecture on the theme, “Making Our Universities Great”.

In other news, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday called for a sustainable and realistic funding model for Nigeria’s university system, warning that the nation’s development goals will remain elusive unless tertiary institutions reposition themselves as hubs of innovation, knowledge creation, and national progress.

Speaking at the University of Ibadan’s (UI) 77th Foundation Day ceremony, which took place at the institution’s International Conference Centre, Tinubu, who was represented by the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, praised the institution for maintaining its reputation as Nigeria’s leading university and for its contributions to scholarship and national development.

The President said he considered it “an honour” to join the university in celebrating what he described as “a powerful milestone” in its long history of excellence, growth and transformation.

“University of Ibadan is a force to reckon with in the global realm,” he said. “Through years of steadfastness and commitment, it has continued to maintain its position as the first and the best in Nigeria.”