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UNIVERSITY NEWS AND EVENTS
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Let’s Face 2012 with Hope, Collective Resolve |
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When, as a University, we took the first step in the 12km-journey called 2011, we looked our challenges and accomplishments for that year through the rearview mirror, peeped into the new year armed with our aspirations, hope, confidence and determination. We were hopeful then that the latter year would be greater than the former; we were confident that we had the wherewithal to force light in the thick of darkness and valleys; and we were determined to make the volume of our resolve greater than the size of our challenges. The challenges of the latter year were by no means lighter than those of the former but our collective resolve to force spring in winter and invest wisely in the friendly season has pulled us together and kept us going. Indeed, our collective resolve melts our challenges and strengthens our hopes. As the Vice Chancellor, I confirm that the University workforce are the allies with whom I have |
travelled the farthest, weathering storms and
strategizing day and night to achieve our collective aspirations. . You threw yourself into the journey, defying hurdles and thorns. You are the bunch with whose hands and sweat the accomplishments of the year 2011 are written. You, I owe the greatest debt.
Our students have travelled this road with a lot of fears. The journey appeared laced with precarious bends and turns that snaked into a sprawling crossroads. But at every turn, light pierced the volleys of clouds, bringing the journey to a glorious end. Ultimately, our students have ended the journey most grateful and fulfilled. Our strength as a people does not lie in the things that divide us nor in the frequency of their occurrence but in our capacity to resolve our differences and stand straight during our defining moments. We deceive ourselves when we think that those differences will likely go away. They will always be there in different shapes and moulds; they are a proof that we are human. Our application of the principle of selflessness and consideration for the public good (the greater good for the greatest people) even when pressing personal desires beckon determine whether we will be together or stay apart. Our capacity to achieve the former is not in doubt. The strength we garner from our differences confirms our unity of purpose and our hunger for togetherness. Our collective resolve has forced attention to us from home and abroad. I thank our friends who have sent words of commendation to us on our modest infrastructural and academic achievements. I appreciate our students who lit the year with landmarks and milestones. I refer to those won laurels during the year and those who got nominations to conferences abroad. In particular, I reach out to Miss Omolara Omotoso, the University sporting ambassador, who won a Gold medal at the All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, and two Gold medals at the Nigerian Universities Games held in Port Harcourt, this year. Omolara and other athletes who won various medals did not only give professional account of themselves, they fulfilled the University’s principal goal in Sport: building character and leadership trait. I also salute Funmilola Oloni-Ezekiel who participated at the Women2Women Conference in the United States. The entire University is proud of all the students of the University whose penchant for peace and civility as demonstrated in their general conduct and, especially, in the peaceful conduct of the last three Student Union elections, has demonstrated that peaceful unionism and purposeful student activism are achievable. As this 12km-journey yields to a new one, I appeal to the entire University community to take along bigger luggage of the kernels that made this year glorious: hope, determination, collective resolve, selflessness and an unwavering belief in the Almighty. Thanks for your service to our University. I wish you all a glistering Yuletide and a prosperous New Year.
Prof. Femi Mimiko Vice Chancellor |