Lagos City Polytechnic graduates 700

A total of 700 students, last week, graduated from the Lagos City Polytechnic, Nigeria’s first private polytechnic, at a ceremony held at the LTV 8, Ikeja, Lagos.

Out of this number, 312 received the national diploma (ND), while 388 received the higher national diploma (HND) from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Business and Management Studies.

While congratulating the graduates, the chairman of the governing council, Mr Babatunde Odufunwa, urged them to see learning as a “lifelong” exercise.

“The bottom line is that any change or improvement that will happen around you or in your generation must be from you first. Developing yourself is developing your world. Improving yourself is improving your generation. Success does not always bring growth, but personal growth will always add to success.

“The highest reward for your toil is not what you get for it, but what you become through it. The issue now is not what you are getting but what you are becoming.

“You cannot improve anything around you without first improving yourself. You are not qualified to correct anyone except you have corrected yourself. Whatever you desire to see in your world must first appear in your life. If you want to improve your life, your family, work, economic situation, influence or whatever thing, you need to first improve yourself.”

In his keynote address at the occasion, the managing director, Lagos State Water Corporation, Mr Muminu Adekunle, said the unemployment crisis in the country could be solved if greater attention is paid to polytechnic education.

He said, “According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 70 per cent of 80 million young people are either unemployed or underemployed. This can be attributed to the fact that the youth are running away from technical or vocational training that could be acquired from polytechnics.

“The only way to widen the employment net and make our youths not only economically independent but employers of labour, is by enhancing the standard of polytechnic education.”

Mr Peter Ebirim Ikenga, with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.74, emerged the overall best student at the HND level, and was awarded the Chairman, Governing Council Prize.

The deputy governor of Lagos State, Dr Idiat Adebule, was represented by the tutor-general and permanent secretary, Education District I, Mrs Yinka Ayandele.