Landmark varsity produces 51 first class graduates

No fewer than 51 out of 432 graduating students of Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara, on Friday graduated with first class honours at the university’s sixth convocation.

The breakdown of the figure showed that 182 females and 250 male graduated from the institution’s three colleges.

Female graduands dominated the best graduating students in all the institution’s colleges with 26 of them earning fist class status.

The Institution’s Chancellor, Dr David Oyedepo, in his address said the worsening food crisis remained the greatest threat to the survival of Africa as a continent.

He said the menace, if not checked could wipe off a whole generation.

Oyedepo said that Africans must learn to engage in intensive agricultural endeavours if they must survive in the face of impending global food crisis.

He said there was no basis for food insufficiency on the continent and Nigeria in particular, with the abundant arable land and resources readily available.

According to him, food security is a major global concern as over billion people are suffering from starvation, hunger and malnutrition.

“There is no substitute for food as far as human substance is concerned; there is no software for addressing food challenges.

“No matter the state of the economy of any nation, the last thing to remove from the budget is food; food security is not an ideology but a necessity.

“There is nothing that challenges human dignity like lack of food, with the massive arable land to us as a nation, hunger is obviously an insult in our intelligence,” he said.

The chancellor said the need for the institution to address these anomalies informed the introduction and prioritizing of agri-preneurship, entrepreneurial studies as well as Toward Total Graduate (TTG) concepts.

He said the institution was very much committed to a new approach to leading an agrarian revolution by making everyone who knew how to eat to also know how to farm.

“The number one purpose for setting up Landmark University is to help young people to see the treasure hidden in the mother earth through agripreneurship and other incentives.

“Our university life-coach programme, compulsory for all final year undergraduates students are designed to provide pathways to a life of meaning, fulfillment and out-of-this-world order accomplishment,” he said.

Oyedepo expressed the urgent need to repackage the continent’s education system to align with best global standard.

He said that a good and formidable formal education system must be a departure from knowledge to empowerment.

“It must be a departure from figure to future-building, a departure from points to facts, a departure from mathematics to life-matics and a departure from legalism to realism.’’

Mrs Cecilia Akintomide, the convocation Keynote speaker, a former Secretary-General of African Development Bank (ADB) urged the graduands to be “very focused and research oriented’’.

He lecture topic was: “You Only Get One Shot”.

“You have to stay focused, research-oriented and informed, you have to be bold, you have to be audacious and you must be ready to take well-calculated risks.

“Have covenant with God in getting a different relationship, He will guide you and propel the rest of your life,” she said.

Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, the Vice-Chancellor of the Institution, attributed the institution’s landmark achievement to massive spiritual support and continuous investment in ultra-modern facility development.

“We are unrelenting in advancing the frontiers of research activities that would, among others boost agricultural value chain.

“This, we hope will engender the much needed food sufficiency in our continent,” he said.

Oba Abdulraheem Adeoti, the Olomu of Omu-Aran, praised Oyedepo, the university’s management for putting the name of the community and Igbomina region in the global limelight.