The University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) on Wednesday, turned out 252 graduands from various disciplines with six of the graduands coming out with first-class honours.
This was disclosed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, during the 2nd and 3rd Combined Convocation ceremony of the school, saying 76 students graduated from the 2019/2020 set and 176 from 2020/2021 set.
He said 106 graduated with second class honours, upper-division, 106 with second class honours, lower division and 11 with third class.
He disclosed that the school graduated its first set of students from the Nursing Science and physiotherapy programme, saying the graduands had been already been professionally inducted by their respective registeration council.
He said, “I am pleased to inform this august gathering that in 2021 ranking of Nigerian universities, which was based on transparent and standardized system, our university, which is seven years old is the third-best ranked of all specialised universities.”
Speaking during the ceremony, the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu lamented over the mass exodus of medical personnel from the country, calling for the check of the trend to avoid catastrophe in the nation’s health sector.
Akeredolu noted that the nation’s health service might soon collapse with the increasing exodus of health professionals if nothing is done to address the flight of medical personnel overseas.
Akeredolu however, appealed and charged the new graduands of UNIMED to be ready to fill some of the vacuums left behind by the health professionals who travelled abroad for greener pastures.
He expressed the readiness of his administration to continue to be funding the institution in order to be relevant by producing problem-solvers and not just certificate holders.
He said “Universities are globally acknowledged as institutions for nurturing ideas, driving innovation, and catalysing development.
“The need for Nigeria universities to be at the forefront of national development in an age of knowledge economy cannot be overemphasized, particularly in the crucial point in our national history and in the face of collective global disruptors like COVID-19.
“For emphasis, let me state again that our administration remains committed to the funding and strengthening of this University. We shall not relent in our commitment to the funding of all our four tertiary institutions within the limit of our resources as quality education is one of the crucial elements of our REDEEMED policy thrust”.
