Sanwo-Olu gifts N20m to each of LASU’s best graduating students
By Adeola Ogunrinde
Lagos State Governor and Visitor to Lagos State University, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday announced a cash gift of N20 million each for the best graduating students of the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic sessions.
The beneficiaries are Ayilara Lawal Olawale, the best graduating student for the 2024/2025 session, who graduated with a first-class degree in Project Management Technology with a 4.96 cumulative grade-point average, and Adebanjo Samuel Oluolamide, the 2025/2026 best graduating student, who earned a first-class degree in Aerospace Engineering with a 4.97 CGPA.
Sanwo-Olu announced the gifts during the university’s 29th and 30th combined convocation ceremonies at the Buba Marwa Auditorium on the main campus in Ojo, where 20,604 graduands received their degrees and three distinguished Nigerians were conferred with honorary degrees.
The governor charged the graduands to be good ambassadors of LASU, Lagos State and Nigeria by deploying their knowledge, character and courage to solve problems and contribute meaningfully to society.
He also urged corporate organisations, alumni and philanthropists to support the university through endowments, research funding, scholarships and infrastructure development, while congratulating the honorary graduands — Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Bola Adesola and Aliko Dangote — for their contributions to banking, governance and industry.
Speaking earlier, the Chancellor of LASU, Oba Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, who presided over his first convocation, commended Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State Government for their investment in education and urged the graduates to become creators of solutions rather than mere consumers of knowledge.
Similarly, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Babatunde Ogala, stressed the importance of research, innovation and technology in strengthening the university’s global competitiveness, while the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said her administration had recorded progress in academic expansion, research, digital transformation, infrastructure, financial sustainability and human capital development.
Olatunji-Bello said the university’s internally generated revenue increased from about N3 billion in 2021 to N13 billion in 2025, while more than 50 infrastructure projects were completed and student welfare initiatives, scholarships and accommodation expanded; meanwhile, Dangote, represented by his daughter Fatimah, announced employment opportunities at the Dangote Group for LASU’s first-class engineering graduates after completion of their National Youth Service Corps programme.
