Adeniji
Caleb University, Imota, Lagos,
best graduating student, Abdul-Azeez Adeniji, has an unusual academic
history even at his relatively young age.
If you ask a school child what he or
she wants to become in future at three different occasions, you are
likely to get three different answers. This is because the professional
aspiration of many children is ever changing.
But somehow, this is not the case with
Abdul-Azeez Adeniji, the 20-year-old, who emerged the best graduating
student at the second convocation of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos
State, on Saturday. He had wanted to become a chartered accountant as a
secondary school boy. Adeniji shifted his ambition to law after he
obtained six distinctions and three Bs at the 2008 West African Senior
School Certificate Examination.
Though he scored 269 in the Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2008, his post-UTME score of 60
was not enough for him to secure admission to the University of Benin.
He was later offered admission to study Economics at the Caleb
University. Now, the Ilepa, Abeokuta-born graduate, who scored a
Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.75 out of a possible 5.0, to emerge
the best, aspires to become a
development economist.
But despite this, Adeniji has not dropped
his ambition to become a chartered accountant. And the 2008 graduate of
Yaba College Staff Secondary School, Lagos, is on the way to becoming a
chartered accountant and a development economist. He had written and
passed the Accounting Technician Scheme 1, 2 and 3 of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He had also written and passed the
intermediate examination and professional examination one of the
institute. He is just a stage away from becoming a chartered accountant.
“I started the ATS when I was in SS3.
I’ve cleared all but the last stage of ICAN professional examination,
which I will write in May. By the Grace of God, I will pass the exam,”
the assertive and confident young man said.
Asked how he was able to combine his
degree programme with the ICAN examinations, Adeniji said the success he
recorded in SS3, when he wrote the ATS 1, motivated him to continue
with the professional examinations after securing admission to the
university.
He added that he was able to cope with
the pressure of academics and strict rules guiding studentship in Caleb
because of his belief that success could only be achieved through
diligence, dedication, discipline and the grace of God.
“The two require the same level of
discipline and seriousness. The university rules helped me, but I also
placed stricter rules on myself. However, the virtues of discipline and
hard work imparted into me by my parents also contributed to my success
but my utmost help came from God,” he said.
Adeniji may, however, not work as a
chartered accountant. His main concern now is how to revive the economic
fortunes of Nigeria and that of the African continent.
“That is why, after my National Youth
Service Corps Scheme, I will look for scholarship to study development
economics in a foreign university. I’m concerned about the level of
underdevelopment in my country and the African continent.
“That is why I want to develop economic
policies that will enhance the rapid development of our nation and
eventually become the first Nigerian or possibly African to become the
World Bank president. I was not happy that the Minister of Finance, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, lost the race for the job. I will, by God’s grace,
be the World Bank President one day,” he said.
Adeniji, who admitted that corruption was
one of the challenges facing the country, however, disagreed with the
method being adopted to battle the menace.
“Corruption can only be fought from
within the individual and that is why I say every Nigerian should first
remove the log in their eyes before they remove the peck in their
neighbour’s or leaders’ eyes. As Nigerians, each of us should decide to
do what is right always. When we do that, corruption will be kicked out
of our land,” he said.
He also blamed religious people for the
killings in some parts of the country. “Those who kill others in the
name of God do not know the God of humanity. If they had known the God
of humanity before they know man, they would not have been killing
people made in the image of God in the name of God. Youths should not
allow themselves to be used for such purpose,” Adeniji said.
He confessed that a female student,
Ifuoma Aya, gave him the toughest challenge during his degree programme.
The lady, who obtained CGPA of 4.5, was also one of the eight
graduating students that made first class.
The institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Ayodeji Olukoju, had while addressing those who attended the ceremony,
vouched for the eight students who graduated with first class.
Specifically, he applauded Adeniji, the founder and leader of the Royal
Family, a group committed to character building; Bayonle Akingbule, Aya,
Juliana Okaka and Mr. Ololade Jinadu for what he described as their
leadership skills, exemplary character, Christian virtues and academic
excellence.
He said, “Certainly, our best graduating
student, who was well known to me as a humble and morally sound student,
Mr. Abdulazeez Adeniji (simply known to me as “Azeez”), truly
epitomises the Caleb spirit and the ideals that you were taught in our
Leadership Academy.
“Azeez and others such as Akingbule, Aya,
Jinadu and Okaka, conducted themselves in a manner that convinced me
that there is hope for this country.”
He also advised all the 231 graduating
students to unleash all the virtues that had been deposited into them on
the wider society, with a view to making the country better.
Giving a breakdown of the result, Olukoju
said eight earned first class honours degrees, 42 made second class
upper, 41 graduated in third class, while only one made a pass degree.
He challenged the graduating students “to
apply your knowledge to the transformation of your world. But note
that, as you aspire, you will perspire before you can acquire. It is
only the truly outstanding in character and learning – the six-o’-clock
people – that will rule the roost. But do not forget your Alma Mater.
You must be driven by a galvanising slogan: “Love Caleb and Live It”!
However, former Nigerian Ambassador to
Germany, Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun, while delivering the convocation
lecture, said the Federal Government had failed to make life better for
Nigerians.
Specifically, he said the ruling People’s Democratic Party had not fulfilled its promises to the people.
Osuntokun, who spoke on the theme,
‘Electoral Democracy and Political Realignment in Nigeria,’ said the 14
years of governance by the PDP had revealed that the party lacked the
idea to revive the nation’s economy.
“When the PDP came into power in 1999,
we were told that in six months, there would be regular electricity
supply and power generation would hit 10,000 mega watts. Neither of
these promises has been met. Our hospitals have remained consulting
clinics, our roads have become death traps, our infrastructure have
remained backward and almost non-existent,” he noted
He also noted that since 1951, elections had not been free and fair.
To reverse the trend, Osuntokun said
voter education should be promoted, while fool-proof electoral
strategies should be adopted.
He said, “Elections have been held three
times since 1999 and all attempts to change course have failed because
elections in Nigeria are neither fair nor free. The poorer the party
performs, the greater the votes they award themselves at election time.
We must build a Nigerian economy in which politics will be a vocation
rather than a profession. This was what it was in the past and we must
go back to the past to guarantee our future.
“We cannot continue like this. We must
change course, lest the American prediction that Nigeria will
disintegrate in 2015 become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the APC
leadership is selfless, patriotic, self-sacrificing and driven by the
desire to rescue and salvage the nation, it would put aside all ethnic,
personal, regional and religious considerations in selecting its leaders
and in fielding the combination that will challenge the PDP in 2015.”