Western Delta University, Oghara, Delta state, graduated its first set of PhD students last Saturday.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Augustine Ovuoronye Ikelegbe said that ‘the 10 doctoral degree graduands have passed through a rigorous process of examinations, seminars, proposal defences and oral PhD thesis defences with (remarkable) external examiners’.
With this, the university has transited into the ranks of research institutions where students are trained to carry out researches independently and train the next generation of university lecturers, future professors and those to open the doors to Nigeria’s industrial and societal greatness, Ikelegbe said.
The university also awarded Masters and first degrees to hundreds of graduands.
The Vice Chancellor further said: “Our academic quality control is one of par-excellence, and our fees remain at the most modest level in spite of high operational cost. Compared with other private and state-owned universities, our fees are moderate and paid in installments. This is in line with the Visitor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori’s vision of providing affordable university education to his constituents. He has
consolidated on this vision through the Otemu Education Foundation’s (OEF) Scholarship Awards to Nigerian students’.
Ikelgbe said: ‘We do not play with the integrity of our programmes. All our programmes are duly accredited by the National Universities Commission and the professional councils. We are now privileged to be recipients of scholarship awards and support for our students. We have received scholarships from the OEF scheme and financial support for
Niger Delta students in the university from the NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission).
‘We are expecting scholarship awards from the Prince Adewoye Adebayo Foundation, too. The Presidential Amnesty Programme is also deploying scholarships to the students’.
Addressing the graduands, the Chancellor, Mr. Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, alerted youths to the three stages of life.
He advised: ‘Let the first 25 years of your lives be dedicated to learning. Absorb all you can, while you can and as much as you can. Nurture and equip yourselves for
the world out there is demanding and merciless with little or no room for mediocrity.
‘Your next 25 years will be spent earning. Earn as much as you can, in truth and honesty, in whatever field you desire, for youth is a currency. Spend it wisely before it devalues and leaves you.
‘Spend the next 25 years and thereafter with reserve and wisdom. You will spend it giving. Give as much back to the society, for you will take nothing away with you except the goodwill, love and esteem of your fellow men’.
The Pro-Chancellor, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae congratulated Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, for the care, understanding and
support he has always extended to the university.
He tasked graduands to always remember Albert Einstein’s advice: “Be a voice not an
echo”. ‘I encourage you to be good ambassadors of Western Delta University, dream big and work hard; achieve the impossible through determination and innovation’, he charged.
Adebayo, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, and Lt. General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd.) were honoured with honorary
doctorate degrees.
Among the new steps taken to improve the university, the Vice Chancellor said that ‘Dr. Igho Oghenegaren Okotete Foundation has donated a Central Laboratory Block to WDU and ‘the Administrative and Office Complex for the proposed College of Engineering would be completed at the end of this month, while the WDU Centre for Digital Excellence Integrated Technology Hub construction would start before the year
ends.
Also, a massive complex of offices, laboratories and classrooms is being constructed for the College of Health Sciences by the NDDC while Adebayo has donated the Macaulay and Margaret Omugbe building for the College of Postgraduate Studies. The ground breaking
ceremony for the building was a highlight of the convocation ceremony.
Vice Chancellor of Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Prof. Kyari Mohammed
and Nigerian Army University, Biu) delivered the masterly and well-applauded Convocation Lecture on ‘Overcoming Insecurity in Nigeria’.
The assembly at the convocation included the Ovie of Oghara Kingdom, HRM Noble Eshemitan Uku Oghara; N’ame of Orefe III; the Ovie of Oghara Kingdom, Adaka I; the Ovie of Orogun, Prof. Sadiq Zubairu Abubakar; Vice Chancellor of Capital City of the University of Abuja; WDU Visitor, Ibori; the Chancellor, Duke, the
Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council Igbinedion University, Prof, Ahmed
Tijani Mora; and Vice Chancellor of Edwin Clark University, Prof. Samuel Wara.
