Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, will present 1,043 graduands at its 17th convocation for the 2025/2026 session, including 83 First Class recipients and 22 PhD holders.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olasebikan Fakolujo, disclosed this at a press briefing marking the university’s 20th anniversary and the JABU convocation.
He said the school has awarded 10,448 undergraduate degrees in its 20 years of existence.
According to him, the pioneer set of 246 students, who matriculated in February 2007, has grown into an alumni community making an impact in business, research, academia, public service, technology, finance and the creative economy.
At this year’s ceremony, 897 first-degree and 146 postgraduate students will graduate.
The first-degree results include 83 First Class, 429 Second Class Upper, 301 Second Class Lower, 74 Third Class and 10 Pass degrees.
The postgraduate cohort is made up of 22 PhDs, 94 academic master’s degrees, 27 MBAs and three postgraduate diplomas.
Misturah Elizabeth Oseni of the Department of Food Science and Technology emerged as the best graduating student with a CGPA of 4.96.
Prof. Fakolujo named institution building, staff development and entrepreneurial education as the university’s defining contributions over the past two decades.
“Buildings matter, but the true product of a university is not concrete. It is human capacity. We helped pioneer an entrepreneurial approach to higher education which insisted from the beginning that knowledge should connect with practical competence, enterprise and economic agency,” the Vice-Chancellor stated.
He said the university was founded to produce graduates capable of self-employment and self-reliance, and to direct research towards Nigeria’s social, economic and technological problems.
“A degree should not end with the graduate. Knowledge should travel. It should enter a business, a laboratory, a farm, a classroom, a courtroom, a hospital, a government office, a family, a community, or even a church. That is when education becomes useful,” he said.
Of the 10,448 undergraduate degrees awarded in 20 years, 426 were First Class, 3,730 Second Class Upper, 4,928 Second Class Lower, 1,336 Third Class and 28 Pass. The university has also awarded more than 800 postgraduate degrees and qualifications.
Prof. Fakolujo also highlighted professional exam results. Medical laboratory science students recorded 100 per cent success in 2026 for the third year running, while nursing science students achieved the same in the 2026 registered midwife examination.
At the Nigerian Law School, five JABU graduates earned First Class in 2024, three in 2025 and another three in 2026.
He admitted the journey has not always been smooth, but said the university kept moving forward.
“Behind those numbers are homes and families. Every graduand has a story. Some parents have paid fees little by little. Some students have combined lectures with personal struggles that many of us will never see. When we say 1,043 graduands, we are not merely announcing a statistic; we are talking about 1,043 journeys,” he said.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
