Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Is’haq Oloyede, yesterday, chided some university authorities for alleged indiscriminate award of honorary degrees.
Oloyede spoke at the investiture of 65 distinguished Nigerians, including 50 ambassadors, 10 alumni, and two recipients of the award of excellence from the University of Ilorin, for their contributions to the university and society, as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. He lamented that honorary degrees had become worthless.
“I was part of the team then, during my time as VC, who said the University of Ilorin should not be part of the maddening crowd of awarding honorary degrees. You would see that the University of Ilorin would not just award degrees the way others do. I can’t remember any in the last 20 years, just because we want to be different”, he said.
Commending the UNILORIN VC, Prof Wahab Egbewole, for his innovative ideas, Oloyede, on behalf of other awardees, pledged continued service to the varsity, the nation, and humanity.
He said: “Let’s commend the VC with the innovation of doing it differently with merit and dignity. I don’t know of any degree that you’ll give any of these distinguished people here that would make the kind of impact that we’ve made today. It’s a creative way to come up with this without going the way of indiscriminate honorary awards. Some people even send their drivers to represent them to pick up the awards, just because it has become worthless.
“We thank the university for this idea. And from us, we say this is a big honour and we pledge to continue to serve this university, this nation, and humanity at large,” he said.
In his address, Egbewole said the ambassadors were nominated by their respective faculties, and the nominations were validated by the Centre for Advancement.
He said: “These individuals have consistently demonstrated loyalty to the values of our university and have given back meaningfully, whether through mentorship, resources, or collaboration. Some honourees were added in recognition of their extraordinary acts of generosity and support, reaffirming the saying that one good turn deserves another.”
