By Felix Khanoba and Francis Nansak, Lafia
No fewer than 26 students of University of Abuja (UniAbuja) on Saturday graduated with First Class degree at the institution’s 24th convocation ceremony.
Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said a total of 10,331 undergraduate and post graduate students drawn from various faculties of the institution graduated during the ceremony.
Giving a breakdown of performance recorded by the students, the VC revealed that 866 of the graduating students went home with Second Class Upper degree, 2,317-Second Class Lower, 339-Third Class and 52 with Pass.
The convocation also witnessed the presentation of honorary doctorate degrees to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed and two Nigerians; Gen. Alwali Kazir (Rtd) and Late Ibrahim Buhari Tubali.
In a related development, the Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), Nasarawa State, has produced 29 First Class degree graduates in its combined second, third, fourth and fifth convocation which took place on Saturday.
Delivering his address, Pro- Chancellor of the Varsity, Prof. Munzali Jibril commended the institution’s stakeholders for their collaboration that has repositioned FULafia for better performance.
He recalled that the University, which started with 11 programmes across three faculties, has increased its programmes to 54 and raised the number of faculties to eight.
On his part, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Muhammad Liman, said the University held it first convocation in January 2016, with various degrees awarded to graduating students, including six First Class.
“The six graduates were appointed Graduates Assistants in the university. The convocation today is momentous, because it is the first in four years that graduates of second, third, fourth and fifth sets are gathering for the conferment of university degrees.
“Between February 2016 and 2019 the University is graduating 1,447 students at this combined convocation. This brings the overall total to 1,566 graduates produced by the university since inception,” the VC said.
