AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
The management of Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan, has announced that the institution would turn out its first set of graduands during its maiden Convocation ceremony with the investiture of Bishop Francis Wale Oke as Chancellor and conferment of honourary degree and award of First degrees and prizes between Sunday, November 6 and Friday, 11.
The Vice-Chancellor of PCU, Prof. Julius Kola Oloke, announced this at the Conference Hall of the PCU, on Friday, saying that the new set of graduands were well seasoned to positively impact the society as real change agents.
Of the 96 graduating students in the university, nine were said to have made First Class, while 41 came out with Second Class Upper. A total of 39 students made Second Class Lower with seven coming out with Third Class.
Oloke, in his address, title ‘Release of the Golden Eagles,’ said that the graduating students had been trained to have the mentality of eagles.
“They are, therefore, change makers who are being released to be blessings and not burdens. They have been trained to be employers of labour and not job seekers. Their training is also to enable them commercialize their areas of specialization. Each graduating student has an academic degree and entrepreneurship certification.
“During the entrepreneurship development programme, the university was able to assist over 98 students register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Some of these businesses have been launched on social media and are in full operations.
“The investiture ceremony of Bishop Francis Wale Oke, who is President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, as the Chancellor of the university, will kickstart the convocation on Friday 11th November, 2022,” he said.
Among other things, the VC, while listing some of the achievements of the PCU, explained that during the COVID-19 outbreak, the institution partnered with Helix Biogene Institute to gather researchers from other institutions to construct two COVID-19 vaccines.
The team, he said, also constructed vaccines for Lassa Fever, Monkey Pox Virus, Cholera and production of diagnostic kits for Neglected Tropical Diseases which attracted investors from Spain. “These activities led to the publication of articles in highly rated journals which has boosted the image of the university both at home and abroad.
“The university, which took off with 12 academic programmes in 2018, now has 17 academic programmes, most of which have been accredited by the National Universities Commission. These programmes include Accounting, Microbiology, Cyber Security, International Relations, Software Engineering, Mass Communication and Procurement Management.
The VC announced that Omilani Aminat Omoniyi of Economics Department, who emerged as the best graduating student for year 2022 and had been offered automatic employment by the University, effective immediately after the National Youth Service Corp scheme.
The programme would start with thanksgiving service on Sunday November 6, on the university campus, while Convocation Lecture will hold on Wednesday, 9th November.
The investiture of the Chancellor and award of degrees and prizes will hold on Friday, 11th November.
Among the principal officers of the university who were present at the press briefing are the Registrar, Dr Pedetin Afolabi; Bursar, Mr Festus Oladokun; and the university Librarian, Dr Afolabi Olajide.
Dignitaries from the academic community, business world and spiritual leaders are expected to grace the occasion.
