The Gombe State University in Northeast Nigeria is graduating 5,326 students in four combined (10th, 11th, 12, 13th) convocation ceremony.
From the number, there will be three sets of Medical Doctors and pharmacists, 116 of them are graduating with 1st class honours, 1,511 of them will be graduating with Second Class Upper Division, as well as 28 others with distinction from non-classified degrees.
Also, 3, 326 others will graduate with 2nd class lower division, 801 others with 3rd Class and 162 others with pass degrees.
Addressing journalists in a pre-convocation press briefing, the Vice Chancellor of the Gombe State University, Professor Aliyu Usman El-Nafaty, said the University had made tremendous progress in the quality of academic, numeric and infrastructural growth.
Prof. El-Nafaty said from a student population of less than 1, 500 at inception in 2005, the population had now increased to 18, 500.
He also said the institution had grown from three faculties of Arts and Social sciences, Education and Sciences to eight faculties to 40 undergraduate and 68 post-graduate programmes, which were all fully accredited by the National Universities Commission.
According to him, the University has also expanded its academic sphere by adding 13 undergraduate and 31 postgraduate programmes, which will begin full academic activities in the next academic session of 2023/2024
“This is to further give our prospective student a wide of courses of study to choose from,” said Prof. El-Nafaty.
Professor El-Nafafy said 40% of those graduating on Saturday, October 7, 2023, in the combined convocation ceremony, were female, which is up from 30%.
He said this was achieved through the reviewed female intake policy of addressing local challenges, noticeable in the number and quality of female graduates the institution had produced over the years.
“In this convocation, 40% are female, which had increased from 30% over the last three years. We equally fathom the positive correlation between girls’ education, gross national product and an increase in life expectancy. Thus, the rapid socio-economic development of a nation has a link with the calibre of women and their education,” said Professor El-Nafaty.
Moreover, he said the university management was mindful of the fact that ‘educating a woman, is educating a nation’ and that most of those who excelled more as Best Graduation Students, were females, especially in the fields of medicine, pharmacy and sciences.
“And of course, they are the most well-behaved in the university. They didn’t give us trouble, unlike the male. We know that they are the once that can shape society at the end of the day,” Professor El-Nafaty said.
The 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th convocation of the Gombe State University is also awarding honorary degrees to distinguished Nigerians for their unending contributions to humanity during the cause of discharging their responsibilities.
Amongst them is the Vice President of Nigeria, Mr Kashim Shettima, the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of TETFUND, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, among others.
