Crawford University Produces 288 Graduates At Fifth Convocation

Crawford University 5th convocation

About 288 graduates cutting across College of Natural and Applied Sciences and College of Business and Social Sciences which involved 15 academic disciplines were produced by Crawford University, Faith City, Igbesa, Ogun State, at the 5th convocation ceremony for the conferment of First Degrees and award of prizes held on Wednesday 18th December, 2013.

Out of the 288 graduates, 17 obtained 1st Class, 62 with 2nd Class Upper, 116 had 2nd Class Lower, 82 got Third Class and 11 had pass.

In an address by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Samson A. Ayanlaja, he said that the motivation for setting up this university has been the desire to produce a new generation of Nigeria workforce and leaders that are skillful, knowledgeable, and above all, honest.

When these new breed of forthright workers hold the helms of affairs in the country, it is only then that economic downturn occasioned by unabated corruption can be resolved. Concomitantly, social vices, hunger, poverty, insecurity, environmental pollution, tension and disharmony would be mitigated.

He affirmed that, "the university consequently therefore, has continued to emphasise the component of Godliness of our motto; to infuse the Word of God which is capable of purging the mind and soul of the vices into our students thereby developing another generation of graduates in whose psyche and mindset all elements of corruption and misleading principles have been replaced with words of wisdom from the Holy Scriptures.

Ayanlaja said Crawford University has continued to excel in the teaching and learning and acquisition of knowledge which, "as we know is the present global intangible currency that translate to skill, competence, know-how and consequently economic development and national technical advancement."

He stated that unemployment amongst Nigerian youths now stands at a startling rate of 48.5 per cent which is partly due to the fact that in the mainstream education curriculum, there is lack of domain knowledge of specific industry skills.

Comparing the country with South Africa, he said Nigeria produces 6,000 megawatts of electricity to service 162 million people, while South Africa generates 50,000 megawatts to service 45 million people. "Consequently, there is limited access to electric energy to power factories and industries. The manufacturing sector adds only 4 per cent to the Nigeria GDP compared to the automobile manufacturing sector alone contributing 25 per cent to the South African economy"

He acknowledged that Crawford is addressing the scourge of unemployment headlong by attempting to bridge the skill gap by exposing students to 'hands on' entrepreneurial skills that can incubate in them and translate into multinational factories in the future, leading to creation of jobs as our students become job creators and employers of labour instead of being job seekers.