Salem University, Lokoja has held its 10th matriculation ceremony amid pomp and pageantry on its Lokoja-Ajaokuta highway campus.
From the gate of the institution, it was a sight to behold in the morning as the university’s environment witnessed high vehicular and human traffic as parents, guardians, friends and well-wishers gathered to celebrate the matriculating students.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Dorcas Oluwade in her address, expressed joy for witnessing the day, hoping that the newly admitted students would bring positive change to the society.
She was however quick to intimate the students and their wards about the philosophy of the institution, which is to raise leaders that are spiritually alive, mentally alert and intellectually developed for a better society.
The VC reiterated the need for students to work together and ensure the creation of outcomes by learning to perceive individual and collective impacts on the environment and sense the intricate web that exists among members of the society.
“We have to develop our ability to sustain new behaviours and ways of carrying out activities, develop new habits, learn from experiences and be sensitive to what is being created,” she said.
She stressed the need for people to recognise systems and skills that can help the society get better in all ramifications through collective efforts.
She said the institution does not take the issue of entrepreneurship with levity, noting that deciding on a particular profession requires commitment towards actualising the objective for engagement.
An entrepreneur, she said, perceives everything as a chance and displays bias in taking decisions to exploiting the opportunities that may have been noticed, saying teaching students on how to spot opportunities is among the cardinal objectives of studies in the institution, hence graduates from Salem University are job creators, rather than job seekers.
She warned the new students against acts capable of bringing the institution into disrepute, and said management frowns at anyone caught engaging in them.
The vice chancellor mentioned truancy, absenteeism, disrespect for constituted authorities, noncompliance to dress codes among others, as vices that are not treated lightly and admonished the students to take their studies seriously so as to be worthy ambassadors of the university upon graduation.
The parents and guardians that were present at the ceremony all expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity to be at the university, and promised to contribute their quota towards the success of their programmes.
