Statement by HE Dr. John Kayode Fayemi CON at the conferment of Honorary Doctorate degrees on distinguished Nigerians by the Lagos State University held in Lagos on June 22, 2023.
Protocol
Let me on behalf of myself, my family and fellow honorees express immense gratitude to the Visitor, the Chancellor, the Governing Council and management of this great University for the honour bestowed on us at this 40th anniversary of the founding of this university. Going down memory lane, I was already a second year student at the University of Lagos in Akoka when this university commenced activities in 1983. As students in an already established national university, we were generally skeptical about the quality of education to come from a so called burnt brick university – even though at the time, many of our own lecturers were also pioneer teachers at LASU right from the first Vice Chancellor of the University. Many of my own contemporaries in academia also became lecturers here – including two of my bosom friends, late Drs Kunle Lawal and Abubakar Momoh, May Almighty God continue to grant them eternal rest.
Forty years after – the skeptics have been proved wrong. For this, one must commend the vision and foresight of the political leaders at the time exemplified by the incomparable LKJ, late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande. His colleagues in the LOOBO states also established similar universities in Ogun, Ondo and Bendel thus pioneering the establishment of State universities similar to the founding of regional universities in Ife, Nsukka and Zaria by the regional governments in the 1960s.. One must also commend the diligence and passion put into the growth and development of the University by successive Governors. A cursory glance at the latest University Webometric Survey indicates that in terms of quality and standard, Lagos State University ranks amongst the most sought after in the country. We must commend the University leadership for building on the success over the years.
Excellencies, Leadership is a collective endeavour even if at different times, individuals emerge as the arrowheads of a shared project of transformation. In my years in Ekiti and national service, I have been a beneficiary of the wisdom, counsel, and guidance of other leaders, both in government and outside government. I include in this category – our leader, HE President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all other living Nigerian former heads of state, our esteemed traditional leaders, and various statesmen and women too numerous to mention here. Honour, recognition, and appreciation goes to all my brother governors and various members of the Federal Executive Council with whom I have been privileged to collaborate. I must also not fail to acknowledge the support of my fellow activists at the barricades agitating for democracy in our country thirty odd years ago.
I cannot also fail to note that leadership is a continuous process of learning and self-renewal. This process is helped where the leadership figure benefits from worthy sparring partners of the kind we tried to assemble in the Ekiti State Executive Council, the State House of Assembly, and the administration of local affairs. I owe a debt of gratitude to these colleagues for their honest feedback, open engagement, and willingness to think out of the box.
This Honorary Doctorate degree has been awarded for services rendered in defence of human rights, national inregration and security in Africa. For me, I wholeheartedly accept the honour. Blessed is the political figure who, at the end of a period of service, is able to wake up and find himself buffeted with such goodwill as Lasu has generously showered on me and fellow honorees. I want to pledge before this august gathering that we shall be worthy ambassadors of this great university.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, although my work as Governor of Ekiti State is done, nation building is a journey and not a destination. One can only pledge that one will continue to be an active partisan in the ranks of that battalion of Nigerians determined to ensure that we see the country of our dreams in our life time. Let us hold the dream that Nigeria will rise again.
I thank you and God bless you one and all.
