71-year-old emerges best Ph.D. graduate at UNILAG convocation

June 30, 2021
108 Views

Mrs. Felicia Marinze, a 71-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of Lagos, has emerged as one of the best graduating students from the institution’s School of Postgraduate Studies (SPGS).

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe announced this at a news conference on activities lined up for the institution’s 51st convocation on Wednesday in Lagos.

According to Ogundipe, Marinze (Ph.D. French) with matriculation number 849003042, from the Department of European Languages and International Studies, will be the oldest to be awarded a Ph.D. degree in the history of the university.

He added that the 71-year-old, with the best Ph.D. thesis, had just demonstrated to the world that age was never a barrier to attaining any height.

The National Daily reports that the title of Marinze thesis is: “Evaluation de la Competence Communicative Orale du Francais Des Apprenants Nationale Diploma Des Polytechniques Seledionness  du Nigeria’’.

He added that Olatunji Moruf from the Department of Marine Science and Ekundayo Mesagan of the Department of Economics would also be awarded the best Ph.D. thesis in Humanities, alongside Marinze.

Speaking further, the vice-chancellor noted that 281 of the 15,753 students would be graduating in the first-class upper-division.

“The three-day convocation will culminate in the graduation of 15,753 students.

“These comprise of 7,754 students who will be awarded first degrees and 7,999 Postgraduate degrees.

“We shall also award 160 Diplomas in Social Works and Human Kinetics.

“The Faculty of Engineering came tops in the category of first-class with 70, followed by Management Sciences with 59 among others,’’ Ogundipe said.

He also announced that the university would be honoring one of its late vice-chancellors, Prof Ibidapo Obe, with a post-humors award.

According to him, the university will also award an honorary doctorate degree to Dr. Ameyo Stella-Adadevo (Post-Humours), a Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at the First Consultant Hospital, at the ceremony.

Also to be awarded are Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, Dr. Kessington Adebutu, and Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, Chairman of Troyka Holdings Ltd.

According to Ogundipe, the university has in the last year, recorded huge success, particularly in the area of research and internalization infrastructure upgrade.

It had also continued to witness growth and developments in other facets.

The vice-chancellor noted that the university had so far, attracted a total of N14 billion research grants in the last three years, both locally and internationally.

“This is a pointer to the renaissance of research culture in the university.

“Our researchers also had six patents in 2019 and five in 2020 out of which two, in each year, have been prototyped.

“Scholars of the university have continued to raise the bar of research excellence.

“Drawn from departments and faculties, some scholars recently had their research proposals approved for generous funding with grants from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

“Our university is reputable for being one of Nigeria’s leading institutions, especially in the area of research and innovation.

“This path, which we have consolidated under the current leadership, has improved our ranking as first in Nigeria and 12th in Africa, just last year.’’

Speaking further on activities lined up for the three-day event, Ogundipe said that the convocation lecture would hold Monday, July 5.

The title of the lecture is “National Development and Knowledge Economy in the Digital Age: Leapfrogging SNES into the 21st Century”.

He said that the lecture would be delivered by the Governor of Central Bank (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

He added that Pastor Tunde Bakare, Chairman, Citadel Global Community Church would be chairman at the occasion.

You may be interested

NCC insist on disconnection SIMs SIMs without proper NIN linkage
Business
6 views
Business
6 views

NCC insist on disconnection SIMs SIMs without proper NIN linkage

Webby - March 26, 2024

Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has mandated telecommunications operators in the country to disconnect all phone lines of subscribers who have…

Former CFA president sentenced to life imprisonment
News
3 views
News
3 views

Former CFA president sentenced to life imprisonment

Webby - March 26, 2024

A former president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), Chen Xuyuan has been sentenced to life in prison for bribery,…

Nigeria Army sets to release over 200 Boko Haram terorrist
Crime
1 views
Crime
1 views

Nigeria Army sets to release over 200 Boko Haram terorrist

Webby - March 26, 2024

Nigerian Army is set to release more than 200 suspected who had been detained over Boko Haram terrorist activities. The…

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.