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MATRICULATION ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR ABDULRASHEED NA’ALLAH, THE VICE- CHANCELLOR OF KWARA STATE UNIVERSITY, MALETE, AT THE FIRST MATRICULATION CEREMONY HOLDING ON SATURDAY 23RD JANUARY, 2010
I am most delighted to welcome the matriculating students, members of the university community and all our guest who have come from far and near to witness this historical occasion of the First Matriculation ceremony of Kwara State University. I heartily congratulate all the matriculating students who are making history today as the first set of students to be admitted and matriculated into this potentially great university. As the saying goes, the journey of one million miles starts with just one step. This age-long saying aptly applies to this maiden Matriculation ceremony of KWASU. Apart from being the first public ceremony to be hosted by this young university, this matriculation is the final proof that KWASU has indeed become a reality
As the pioneer set of students at Kwara State University, the students who are matriculating this morning have every reason to count their blessings. It is on record that over 10,000 candidates applied to Kwara State University for its maiden admission exercise with only about 550 sailing through. That you are one of the lucky few to be offered admission into this University at this time, is indeed a monumental achievement because the admission confers on you the rare privilege of being part of the beginning of the history of this university. As the first set of students, your destiny is closely intertwined with that of the university itself and there is no way the history of the university would be written in future without you occupying a pride of place. Conversely, there is no way your personal history can be written without mentioning KWASU.
As you therefore celebrate this great day in your own right, I enjoin our students not to allow the historical essence of today’s event to be lost on them. Your enviable status as foundation students places on you a life-long responsibility of ensuring: that this university is nurtured into greatness, that the vision for which it was established is speedily realized, that the lofty objectives of the founding fathers of the university is successfully attained, that collective dream of Kwarans for their own university and the corresponding goodwill of the government all of which had led to the commitment of billions of Naira into the establishment of this university is not in vain. It therefore behoves you all not only to justify the huge resources committed to the establishment of this university, but indeed to play your part diligently and to assist the young university to deliver on its mandate.
As the Executive Governor of Kwara State has mentioned at different for a, the decision of the state government to establish KWASU was borne out the great vision to provide you, the students, the access to a world-class university. This vision is informed by the government’s desire to produce well grounded, God-fearing and entrepreneurially minded graduates, who will be adequately equipped with problem solving ability and globally competitive skills that are attuned to the demands of the 21st century.
On the part of the University, I wish to assure our students, parents and guardians that KWASU is fully prepared to deliver on its mandate. Our lecturers are poised to train our students to become global citizens who will become key players in the 21st century knowledge-driven globally competitive economic order. Our students will be trained to be creative, innovative, resourceful and entrepreneurially conscious such that upon graduation, they can become self dependent as job creators rather than job seekers. Our students will receive training in leadership, ICT and entrepreneurship irrespective of their individual areas of specialization while the drive for community development will be highly emphasized in the training process. This is to ensure that they are well equipped for the challenges of accelerated national development.
As you are already aware, the motto of Kwara State University is “Skills and Integrity”. KWASU promises to develop in you all the attitudes and virtues of humility, selflessness, perseverance, honesty and hard work. These are the essentials of good citizenship and they will guide you to toll the paths which all great people of the world have necessarily trodden. As the saying goes however, to who much is given much is certainly expected. KWASU expects her students to maintain the highest standards of discipline, good conduct and integrity. Students are required to behave properly at all times. As I had clearly stated in my New Year Message to students and staff, this university has zero tolerance for uncivilized characters and will treat any misbehaviour with swift disciplinary actions. All students are therefore exalted to familiarize themselves with the KWAU Code of Conduct and guide against falling into the wrong side of the law. To be warmed is to before harmed. You must attend classes regularly; students who miss classes will face serious consequences, which may include outright failing grade.
At this stage, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish to seize this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to everybody who has contributed in one way or the other to the smooth take-off of KWASU. We are most grateful to top government functionary and officials in the three arms and at the various levels of government for their roles in bringing this university to reality. We are immensely grateful to the parents and guidance of our students. We thank the consultants and various construction workers handling various aspects of the university campus for their contribution to the resource readiness without which we could not have taken off. Most importantly, we want to register our profound gratitude to our host, the Malete community and its environs for their affection, wonderful hospitality and helping handedness with which they have received the advent of this university.
To the members of the public at large, KWASU has a message for you all. KWASU is a university for Community Development. Our mission is to train individuals who will accept university as pact to develop the society than as a means for merely acquiring knowledge. The university will always strive to embark on academic programmes that are relevant to the changing social and economic needs of the society. The university will assist the society in understanding its past, defining its present and proactively shaping its future. The university will maintain consistent and unbroken linkage with the society such that researching into the problems of the society will be one of our greatest preoccupations. In the light of this, we enjoin members of the public to regard the university as their veritable partner in progress deserving of whatever support which you can give to help us to achieve our lofty goals. We therefore appeal to public-spirited individuals, captains of industries, private and corporate organizations to assist by supporting us with the provision of funds and facilities, sponsorship of projects, programmes and research and other forms of grants so that the university can deliver on its goals.
On this note, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I once again congratulate all the matriculating students of KWASU. As we begin this journey to greatness, let us be filled with the sense of pride and history as the foundation set of students who saw it all right from the beginning. Let us all be prepared to contribute towards laying a strong foundation for the emergence of KWASU as truly a world-class centre of excellence totally committed to advancing the cause of humanity.
May Almighty God guide towards the accomplishment of the onerous tasks ahead.
Thank you all for your attention.
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