Oluwaseyi Ajibade, a third class graduate of Lagos State University, stole the show at the 50th convocation ceremonies of the University of Lagos held
Oluwaseyi Ajibade, a third class graduate of Lagos State University, stole the show at the 50th convocation ceremonies of the University of Lagos held last week. They were 5,405 graduands in all from the Postgraduate School of the university for the occasion. 150 of them, including Ajibade, were PhD holders, while 4,771 were master’s degree and diploma holders.
But 37 year old Ajibade stood out from the rest as he was called repeatedly to the podium to receive his numerous prizes and also have a handshake with the eminent personalities on stage, including the chancellor, pro-chancellor and vice chancellor of the university, Dr Abubakar Ibn Umar El-Kanemi, Dr Wale Babalakin and Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, respectively.
Interestingly, 13 years ago, Ajibade’s story was not that inspiring as he graduated for his first degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo. Even though he had brilliant results right from his primary school days up until his time at the Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and also at Nigerian Navy Secondary School, also in Abeokuta, where he had his junior and senior secondary school education respectively, he graduated from LASU unsung.
But today, Ajibade’s story is different. He was the toast of all at the convocation. This is not only because he turned out to be the overall best PhD graduate of his set. Ajibade, who hails from Lagos Island, was ahead of 149 other graduands in his set, including Olumide Oyebade, who won the best PhD thesis in Humanities and also the renowned comedian, Helen Paul, who bagged a PhD in Theatre Arts, to lead the pack.
For that, he won the overall best PhD Thesis prize in the Postgraduate School, and also in the field of Science and Engineering. He also received a cash prize from the institution’s alumni associations.
