Gov Dapo Abiodun gifts LASU best graduating student N2m and a Bungalow: Too little or too much for academic excellence?

Gov Dapo Abiodun gifts LASU best graduating student
N2m and a Bungalow: Too little or too much for academic excellence?

If you once passed through Nigeria’s academic setting, especially a public institution, then you will agree with me that graduating with a First Class is deemed a great feat considering constant strike actions, poor academic facilities among other challenges.

Even when a student eventually graduates with a FIRST class or emerges as the best graduating student, the reward most often than not is regrettable compared to what winners of reality shows and other non-academic enterprises get.

The reward system for academic excellence in Nigeria has often been criticized. An exclusive report by Premium Times in 2019 revealed how some students with outstanding academic results got shocking gift items as rewards for their performances.

Best Somadina, who graduated as the Best Graduating Student, Mass Communication from the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra in 2017, was gifted a tuber of yam, a white fowl, and a certificate.

One Bamisaye Tosin got N200 after graduating a the Best Graduating Student, Civil Engineering, Ekiti State University.

However, Governor Dapo Abiodun seems to have shown others how to reward academic excellence. The Ogun State Governor recently gave a sum of N2m and a Bungalow to the Overall Best Graduating Student of LASU who is an indigene of the state.

Oladimeji Shotunde broke LASU’s 37-year-old record during the 2018/2019 session as he emerged with the highest cumulative Grade Point Average 4.95 – the highest in the University’s history.

The Governor made the announcement at the Oba’s Complex Abeokuta on the 22nd of May during the 2021 edition of the Ogun State Academic Laureates program which celebrates academic excellence of students from the state.

What do make of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s gesture? Should there be a push for a proper reward system for exceptional academic performances which will be backed by a legal framework?