The University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo City, Ondo State has graduated 252 students at its 2nd and 3rd combined convocation held on Wednesday 2nd February 2022.
The event which was held at the University Main Auditorium, Odosida Campus, Ondo had in attendance Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Members House of Representatives, royal fathers, Vice-Chancellors and other dignitaries.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi revealed that the combined convocation ceremony is for the 76 graduands from the 2019/2020 set and 176 from the 2020/2021 set, making a total of 252 graduands which cut across four faculties in the Institution. He noted that there are 6 first-class students, 106-second class honours(upper division), 106 first-class honours (lower division) and 11 third class students among the graduands.
‘This convocation ceremony shall witness the graduation of the first set of students from our nursing science and physiotherapy programme who have already been professionally inducted by the respective registration council last year and are therefore licensed to practice,’ the VC said.
‘In line with our commitment to promoting excellence and as we have done across other fields since my assumption of office, the best student in the first set of each programme has an offer of automatic appointment from this university. All of our first-class graduates also have the same offer, Fatusi added.
On the strides and progress of the university, the VC said the National University Commission has ranked UNIMED the 3rd best-specialized institution, saying the university is only coming behind the 40-year-old Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) and 31-year-old Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
‘UNIMED also stands out as the 2nd best ranked University in Ondo State, combining federal state and private universities, coming after FUTA and 4th best State University in the country. Thus, we are not just the first historically as a specialized university of medical sciences, we are simply the best of them all,’ the VC affirmed.
In his lecture titled, Shaping the Future Of National Development in the Post-Covid 19 Era: The University as Catalyst, the Convocation Lecturer, Prof, Oyewale Tomori, a past president of the Nigerian Academy of Science and pioneer Vice-Chancellor Redeemers University appreciated the state government for giving unflinching support to UNIMED.
‘Acclamation and appreciation must also be accorded for the continued support by the current Governor of Ondo State for his support to UNIMED. You may wonder why there should be any special acknowledgment of a government performing the function it was elected to do. We see the country littered with the debris of poor governance, and when we see an oasis of quality performance in the desert of decadence, we need to loudly acknowledge the performance,’ Tomori said.
He advised graduands to support Nigeria to make progress, stating that the country had been facing regression and there is a need for Nigerian youth to wake the country from its slumber, saying it will not be worthwhile to acquire a degree that does not have an impact on society.
