A gloomy atmosphere enveloped the University of Ilorin on Saturday, after a postgraduate student of Arabic Studies, AbdulHafeez Adedimeji died the day he was to receive his doctorate degree at the institution’s convocation.
Adedimeji died shortly before the ceremony.
The entire hall went silent soon after the Dean, Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, Prof. Badmas Yusuf, informed guests of the graduands’ demise.
Adedimeji, who until his death was a lecturer at the Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State, was among 166 persons to receive doctoral degrees at the convocation, Punch reports.
He was said to have arrived in Ilorin for the convocation not long before his death.
The Vice Chancellor of UNILORIN, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, said 67 of the 6,069 graduands for first degrees were first class, adding that it was an improvement on last year’s 41 first-class graduands.
He explained that 1,505 merited second-class upper division, compared to 1,234 last year; 3,200, second-class lower division; 1,124, third class; and 70, pass.
He stated that 1,903 postgraduate students, 8,038 first degree students and 68 diploma students graduated on Friday and Saturday, being the first two days of the 32nd convocation.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Visitor to the university, assured Nigerians that the country would overcome the ongoing economic recession.
Buhari, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, said recession was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that many other countries in the world were facing similar challenges.
He stated that the responsibilities and obligations of university teachers in achieving this goal could not be overstated.
The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Rasheed Adamu, who was also represented by Mafiana, stated that he was saddened and dismayed by what he termed the growing tension and animosity in various university campuses.
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