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The Ondo State
Governor, Olusegun Mimiko at the weekend offered automatic employment
opportunities for students from the state who bagged First Class
honours at the state-owned university, the Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba Akoko (AAUA).

The governor also
instituted two prizes for his late father, Atiku Bamidele Mimiko and
the former governor of the state, Adebayo Adefarati for best graduating
students of the institution in Political Science and Entrepreneurship.
The highlight of the 3rd Convocation ceremony is the presentation of
awards to the 17 graduating students who bagged first class degrees out
of 6,688 students. Five students bagged their Doctors of Philosophy
degrees (PhDs) at the institution.

Mr Mimiko, who is
also the Visitor to the institution, said his administration would
continue to provide conducive environment for learning and appealed to
the students to cooperate with the institution’s authorities. He said
his government had given support to the varsity authorities in terms of
staff welfare, adding that in the first quarter of 2010, funds was
promptly released to the institution to commence payment of the new
salary package in line with the federal government’s agreement with
university tutors.

“The state is a reference point among other state universities on this issue,” he said.

Global ambition

While reeling out
various developmental projects that his administration had earmarked
for the overall development of the institution and make it a reference
point in the nation, he said he is instituting two prizes for
outstanding students of the varsity beginning from the next convocation
ceremony.

“The first is
personal while the second is official. In honour of my late father ,
and on behalf of his children, I hereby institute the Atiku Bamidele
Mimiko Memorial Prize for the best graduating student in Political
Science, the degree programme that I am told offers courses in
contemporary international relations which was undoubtedly my late
father’s passion while he was alive. In the days ahead, enough seed
money to enable the winner of this prize every year to take home an
amount not less than N100, 000 shall be made available to the
University by the children of the late AB Mimiko.

“The second prize
is to a man who himself was not an entrepreneur in the exact sense of
being a business creator. He was of that noble profession, teaching;
and he wasn’t just an outstanding teacher and school administrator, but
also a success in politics and governance-something he chose as a
vocation. I, on behalf of the Ondo State Government, institute a prize
that shall, at every Convocation, be awarded to the overall best
graduating student in entrepreneurship in the University. The prize
shall therefore be called and known as The Governor Adebayo Adefarati
Memorial Prize for the best Graduating Student in Entrepreneurship. It
shall attract an amount not less than N100,000.00 every year.”

The institution’s
Vice Chancellor, Femi Mimko said the institution is committed to
delivering 21st century university education whose graduates are
globally marketable. “We seek a University that predicates its entire
operations on established age-long ethos, traditions, conventions and
culture of the university system,” he said. “It is in pursuits of this
that early this year, we had a university-wide workshop on
understanding the system and culture of university.”