UNILAG graduates 16,506; 617 bag first class

A total of 16,506 students are set to graduate at the 56th convocation ceremony of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), spanning both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Disclosing this on Wednesday, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Folasade Ogunsola said 10,584 students would receive first degrees and diplomas, with 617 graduating in the First Class category.

The Best Graduating Student award goes to Chukwuzubelu Benedict Umeozo of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Department of Business Administration, who achieved a perfect 5.0 CGPA. From the Faculty of Science, Deborah Isiuwa Oloton of the Department of Architecture graduated top with a CGPA of 4.91.

The overall best Ph.D. thesis award was won by Haruna Egbunu Abubakar in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Structures option). In the Humanities category, the best Ph.D. thesis went to Beatrice Paul Zuhumnen in Educational Psychology, while the best Ph.D. thesis (DBA) from the ULBS is Oyeyemi Idowu Adebamowo.

The Convocation Lecture, titled “Maximizing Nigeria’s Demographic Dividend through Urgent Education Reform for Global Competitiveness in the 21st Century,” will be delivered by Orondaam Otto, founder of Slum2School Africa and pioneer of the first Virtual Learning Classroom in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Two retired academics, Professors James Dele Olowokudejo (Department of Botany) and Duro Oni (Department of Theatre Arts), will be honoured as Emeritus Professors. Additionally, Professor Akinsanya Olayide Osibogun, a distinguished scholar of medicine, will be conferred with the title of Distinguished Professor.

Gold Medals will be awarded to Professor Ayoka Mopelola Olusakin (Counselling Psychology) and Dr. (Mrs.) Taiwo Folasade Ipaye (Director of the Office of Advancement, President of UNILAG Women Society, and former Registrar) in recognition of their sustained contributions to the university and the nation.

Notable honourees also include former Minister of Justice, Mr. Kanu Agabi, and business mogul Mr. Wale Tinubu, who will receive honorary doctoral degrees for their societal contributions.

Highlighting the university’s achievements over the past year, the VC noted that UNILAG attracted about $17.3 million in grants. On the restoration of student unionism, she assured that the process would be concluded before mid-2026, with briefings and meetings already held with student leaders to ensure clarity on expectations.