No fewer than 494 students from the first-degree programmes of the Lagos State University have bagged First Class as the institution prepares to graduate 20,604 students across all categories of programmes at its 29th and 30th combined convocation ceremonies.
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, disclosed this on Wednesday during a press conference to announce activities for the combined convocation for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic sessions.
Olatunji-Bello said 262 students obtained First Class honours in the 2024/2025 academic session, while 232 others achieved the feat in the 2025/2026 session.
She said 7,621 students graduated from first-degree programmes in the 2024/2025 academic session.
According to her, 3,155 students obtained Second Class Upper Division, 3,439 secured Second Class Lower Division, 622 finished with Third Class, while 37 graduated with passes. Another 106 students in the MBBS and BDS programmes were classified as unclassified degrees.
For the 2025/2026 academic session, the Vice-Chancellor said 8,653 students graduated from first-degree programmes.
She stated that 3,545 graduated with Second Class Upper Division, 4,157 with Second Class Lower Division, 678 with Third Class, while 31 obtained passes.
Giving a breakdown of the overall figure, Olatunji-Bello said the university would also graduate 3,383 postgraduate students from the two academic sessions.
She said the figure comprised 618 Postgraduate Diploma graduates, 1,508 academic Master’s degree graduates, 900 professional Master’s degree graduates, 238 PhD graduates and 119 professional doctoral graduates.
The Vice-Chancellor announced Ayilara Lawal Olawale of the Department of Project Management as the overall best graduating student for the 2024/2025 academic session.
She noted that Olawale recorded a CGPA of 4.96 to emerge with First Class honours.
For the 2025/2026 academic session, Adebanjo Samuel Oluolamide of the Department of Aerospace Engineering emerged as the overall best graduating student with a CGPA of 4.97 and First Class honours.
The Vice-Chancellor described the combined convocation as historic, noting that it would be the final convocation she would preside over as the Vice-Chancellor of the university.
She said the ceremonies would feature the conferment of diplomas, first degrees, postgraduate diplomas, master’s degrees and doctoral degrees on deserving graduands.
The ceremonies will begin with pre-convocation activities, including a staff sports competition and the university’s first Staff Celebration Day.
According to the VC, degrees in Engineering and Agricultural Sciences will be conferred on August 17 at the Olatunji Bello Auditorium, Epe Campus, while graduands from the remaining faculties will receive their degrees on August 18 at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Ojo.
She noted that the university will also confer professional and academic doctorate degrees on August 19, alongside honorary doctorate degrees on selected personalities.
She said, “The Senate has also approved the conferment of Honorary Doctorate Degrees on distinguished personalities whose exceptional contributions to national development, scholarship, public service and humanity have earned them this prestigious recognition of Honoris Causa.
“They are Mr Akin Kekere-Ekun – Doctor of Business Honoris Causa (Entrepreneurship Finance Management), Mrs Harriet-Ann Omobola (Bola) Adesola – Doctor of Business Honoris Causa (Corporate Finance and Governance), and Alhaji Aliko Dangote – Doctor of Business Honoris Causa (Entrepreneurship Industrial & Human Capital Development).
“Similarly, the university will elevate two deserving scholars, as earlier highlighted, Prof. Rafiu Olaoluwa Okuneye and my humble self, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, mni, NPOM, to the rank of Distinguished Professor in recognition of their outstanding contributions to teaching, research, mentorship and the advancement of knowledge.”
The VC also highlighted some of the university’s achievements in the past year, including the approval of 17 new academic programmes by the National Universities Commission.
She said LASU attracted more than 84,000 first-choice applications in the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, making it the most subscribed university in Nigeria for the second consecutive year.
Olatunji-Bello added that two LASU students won consecutive N50 million venture capital grants in 2026 in a national competition involving more than 30,000 applicants.
She further disclosed that the university had secured approval for a N3 billion TETFund Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cyber Sciences, while construction had commenced on a 1,500-bed student hostel estimated at N4bn.