Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Thursday attended the 17th Convocation ceremony of the Lagos State University, Ojo, asserting that the State has resolved to restore the institution to her former glory and propel her to even greater heights, just as he announced a suspension of the conferment of honourary degrees by the school.

The Governor who spoke at the New University Auditorium in Ojo, which he unveiled just before the commencement of the Convocation ceremony, stated that the University used to be a reference point amongst tertiary institutions in Nigeria and would regain that reputation, because government will do everything in its power to ensure that it does.

“There is a vital aspect to the award of honorary degrees. They are actually supposed to  be equivalent to the full degree and therefore the recipient enjoys the full benefits of the degree as if he or she actually studies for it in the awarding institution.

“This implies that the recipients must be carefully chosen and their contributions to the upliftment of the society in whatever area of human endeavour, must be well established”, he added.

“Can we truly say that all honourary degrees in our society in Law, Engineering, Philosophy, Economics, Agriculture and many disciplines is truly reflective of value added?

"Regrettably it would seem that in our society, we require titles and honours in order to add value to our names. This is a worrisome path from which we must retreat. Although it will be very difficult to impeach the contributions of past honourees of this institution, and because we are determined to keep the stream of honour pure, we have decided to raise the bar”, the Governor stated

Governor Fashola said he has studied the law setting up the institution and in consultation with members of the governing council has decided to suspend the conferment of honourary degrees from LASU until there is an improvement in the quality of the lives of the people.

The Governor also shared his experience from an online editor at Reuters, by Ben Walsh  titled ‘America’s Trillion-Dollar students Debt Burden’ which says 94 percent of students borrow to earn bachelor’s degree and that the total value of student loan debt has passed $1Trillion.

He explained that what this means is that not only are students in the United States already deeply in debt by the time they graduate, they are often in debt well into their 40s, because they have still not been able to pay those loans back.  

The Governor said it is the same institutions that some Nigerians are exporting their children to, wondering why they are ready to pay abroad to foreign lecturers and foreign institutions and unwilling to do the same in Nigeria.

“Whereas students who are indigent abroad have to borrow to go to school there, your Government here is providing scholarships and bursaries for indigent students to give you the same opportunity and education that the children of the rich can get”.

“We have made a provision for N250Million in 2012 budget for scholarships to mitigate the effect of the school fees increase on those who cannot afford them. I am of the view that it is better to use such scholarships and bursaries to equalize opportunities in the same University for children of the rich and poor, to develop together, than to pretend to run a free University or cheap University where the elite will not send their children, Governor Fashola explained.

LASU just successfully held its 17th convocation ceremonies, during which it produced over 27000 graduates out of which were 41 First Class graduates and 40 Ph.d graduates.