ADDRESS OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR ADEBAYO SIMEON BAMIRE ON THE CELEBRATION OF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY BUILDERS, HELD ON WEDNESDAY 13TH DECEMBER, 2023 AT THE ODUDUWA HALL OF THE UNIVERSITY

Protocol

Let me begin by appreciating God for granting us the opportunity and grace to witness this great occasion. I am extremely delighted to welcome you to this auspicious and epoch-making occasion; the celebration of the outstanding men and women, who have participated in the active development and building of our great citadel of learning over more than six decades of its existence.

We planned to do this earlier in October this year but other exigencies beyond our control necessitated the shift to this period. We thank God that we can make it eventually, and, I am extremely happy to welcome you all. Thank you, Sirs, and Mas, for honouring our invitations. God bless you all.

I recognize that some of you were already Principal officers at the time I was a student in this university, and I must say that you were a great source of inspiration to many of us as students, and even now.

I am honoured to stand before you today on behalf of the University management, Senate, staff, and students to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the invaluable contributions you have made at different levels and in your different capacities to steer the ship of this great institution. Your dedication, hard work, sacrifices, and commitment to the growth and development of this great University have left an indelible mark that will forever be etched into the annals of our history. Your role in transforming a forest into Africa’s most beautiful campus through visionary leadership, dedication, and utmost commitment cannot be forgotten. Thank you for your service to humanity.

Through your purposeful leadership, you have created an excellent brand in teaching, research, and service. Your dedication to the advancement of knowledge and the pursuit of academic excellence has left a lasting impact on our institution. The OAU brand continues to shine in governmental spheres, industries, and other ventures. You have played pivotal roles in the different offices you occupied in shaping our academic programmes, developing our research agenda, and promoting our reputation in Nigeria and globally. Therefore, we say thank you, thank you, and thank you so much.

In my inspiration for this programme, I reasoned that a good number of the former Principal officers of this great university had passed on. They include, in the Vice-Chancellor category, Prof. Oladele Ajose (1962 to 1966), Prof. H. A. Oluwasanmi (1966 to 1975), Prof. Ojetunji Aboyade (1975 to 1978), Prof. Cyril Agodi Onwumechili (1979 to 1982) and others, who were Deputy Vice Chancellors, Registrars, Bursars and Librarians. These were people who laboured to give this university the unusual foundation and structures that we have been building on over the years. May I respectfully request that we all stand up for a minute in honour of the memory of these great heroes and heroines?

Distinguished participants in this great occasion, I reasoned at my assumption of office as the 12^th Substantive Vice Chancellor of this great University, that we can do better by celebrating our great teachers, leaders, and university administrators, who are awardees of today, when alive. As I went through the institutional records, I recognized that many of you have laboured over this university without having had the opportunity to be celebrated for your invaluable contributions to the Great Ife project. I also observed that in some cases, instead of recognition of your sacrifices, rejection was the reward. Of course, we know that leadership comes with a price, you have paid your dues and you deserve to be honoured for your service and dedication to the University.  

In moments like this, we have the rare opportunity to reflect on the past, the pleasant and otherwise, and attempt to mend fences. Our great University is part of a Nation facing challenges, and so, it is not out of place that some forms of friction, bitterness, and disharmony will occur within our ranks and file. I am not interested in opening old wounds but in emphasizing the need for healing and closing ranks. No institution can thrive on division, bitterness, and rancour. The holy books taught us to forgive those who trespassed against us. On this note, I wish to appeal and apologize to anyone who has been hurt either as a former leader in this great institution or by the actions or inactions of any former leader. I appeal to all in the name of God to please, forgive, and forge ahead with a new spirit. OAU is our common home, a common heritage, and the platform that binds us all together. Please, for the love of this great University, let us put the past behind us and unite for the advancement of this institution that is an important part of our individual histories.

Therefore, we have put this programme together to celebrate you and cheer you from the bottom of our hearts for your innovative ideas and meticulous work at different times in the history of this great university.  We put this programme together to provide a platform to tell you that you laboured for a just cause in your active service in this great university and that this is highly appreciated. Thank you for your excellent work and for being part of the great team of builders.  I stand here today on behalf of the University Management, Senate, Staff, Students, and the entire community of this University, to sincerely express our gratitude to you, and to tell you that your efforts are still speaking and have continued to inspire us to put in our best for posterity.

Many of you, our fathers and mothers, have continued to support the University in many ways, even in retirement and I would like to extend a hand of fellowship to all. We all still have something to contribute towards uplifting the glory of our dear University.

The batons you have handed over to us in different capacities are well-treasured. The current management of the University under my watch as the 12^th substantive Vice-Chancellor is determined to run an all-inclusive government with fairness, transparency, and equity with the fear of God as our watchword.

My vision for the university is to leverage the existing foundation, harness the alumni potential and Great Ife brand to creatively mobilize resources and transform all existing structures. I seek exploit to all existing national and international platforms available for a public university like ours to grow and develop beyond the point where it was handed over to me. Every stakeholder is important to us, and we shall be dutiful to all.

Within the last year, our university has grown in leaps and bounds, despite challenges in the national milieu and our immediate environment. Just last week, at the 47th Convocation ceremonies of the University, we graduated about 8, 000 students, comprising 6, 739 undergraduate, 26 Postgraduate Diplomas, 122 Master of Philosophy, 415 master by Research and 247 Doctor of Philosophy students and some more, who were found to be worthy in both character and learning, as is our mantra here at GREAT IFE. At the undergraduate level, we had 158 First Class Honours, 1, 970 Second Class Honours (Upper Division), 2, 122 Second Class Honours (Lower Division), 942 Third Class Honours and 65 Pass degrees awarded; a significant improvement over the statistics of the 46th Convocation ceremonies. All of these have been made possible by our team of dedicated staff and committed leadership. We have enjoyed the support of our host environment and successfully attracted support from both alumni and friends of the university, to augment government subvention, which we all know is grossly insufficient to meet the needs of the university. If it was so at the time you were at the helm of affairs here, you can imagine what the situation is like now. Also, we are privileged to have been selected to host the West African University Games (WAUG) on this beautiful estate from the 15th to the 22nd of December 2023, with a target to change the outlook of our Sports Centre and Sporting facilities for the better.

Furthermore, we have been able to maintain and improve our academic programmes with the introduction of new ones in the fields of Nutrition, Computer engineering, Cyber Security, Information systems and Software engineering, among others, during the year. We are also prioritizing entrepreneurship education and encouraging a review of curriculum across faculties to meet the demands of the current times. Also, our ecosystem is being repositioned as a hub for research, innovation and development. We have also institutionalized the celebration of excellence through an annual award as approved by the Senate of the University, the maiden edition of which has attracted funding support and mentorship for 238 students in the first-class category for the current year. This group of students are aged “OAU Stars” with an individual award of fifty thousand naira each and a group funding award of 2.5 million for 10 student groups each for the next 5 years. It is envisaged that they will be able to develop innovative products within the next five years. This has also given rise to the setting up of a Research Centre for mentoring the students (OAU Stars) involved. The University is proud of this initiative and appreciates immensely the contributions of the Award winner – Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, the first and only person to have ever graduated with a 5.0 CGPA.

Moreover, I would like to inform this august gathering that, we are taking very seriously the issue of staff welfare and student experience. This, we do, through a digital tracking of review cases, and the recognition of staff with sterling performance and contributions to the development of the university. We ram home the importance of our collective efforts and the development of institutional spirit to moving the University forward. Our students are also being supported to cope with instalmental payment of all charges and every other support system required to thrive and flourish within the university system as evidenced by our novel programme titled “Indigent Students Support Fund”.

We believe that we will be able to do much more in enhancing the quality of our academic, administrative and technological activities, as well as improving the infrastructure of the learning environment across the board, with the support of the living founding fathers, alumni, philanthropists, and friends of the university. Therefore, while celebrating your achievements in the yesteryears, we urge you to continue to use your networks for the growth and development of the university. We appeal that you allow only the positive memories of your times here to flood your heart whenever you think of the university from time to time. We pray that, in your lifetime, you will witness greater progress and the sustained advancement of our beloved University.

We would have loved to make this a grand event with more fun fair, but for limited resources at our disposal. At this juncture, I will like to specially appreciate Otunba Dele Momodu, an alumnus, whose immense contributions to this programme through the University’s Alumni Relations Officer (Mr. Gbolahan Ogunajo), gave us the needed assurance and confidence to go ahead with the programme, since we had decided not to spend a kobo from the University’s purse on this.

Before closing these remarks, I would like to appreciate the Planning Committee for this event, under the distinguished Chairmanship of Prof. A. A. Adebayo. The members are Professors A. A. Adedeji; P. O. Jegede; M. O. Adeyeye; G. O. Ogunlusi; Mrs. A. O. Segun-Olasanmi; and Mrs S. P. Ohalete. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to seeing this through.

On this note, our fathers and mothers, ladies and gentlemen, our appreciation is very deep, and we will continue to value you. May the Lord continue to prosper you with good health and all-round blessings.

I bid you welcome back to GREAT IFE for this celebration, and wish you travelling mercies back to your destinations.

Thank you and God bless.

Professor Adebayo Simeon BAMIRE

Vice-Chancellor.