No fewer than 146 students of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State bagged First Class Honours as 1,064 graduated at its 20th convocation ceremony.

Its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jonathan Babalola, said for the 20th Convocation of Bowen, 1,064 students graduated across various disciplines at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. “These graduands have been nurtured intellectually, socially and morally in line with our vision of raising godly leaders who combine character with competence.”

He highlighted that “143 bagged First Class, 394 Second Class Upper Division while 221 graduated with Second Class Honours (Lower Division), 69 students got Third Class Honours and five have Pass.

“In Physiotherapy and Nursing Science, 30 students achieved Distinction, 80 students earned Credit, and three students obtained a Pass, successfully meeting the academic standards required for graduation. Sixty-six students from the College of Health Sciences are being awarded the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB; BS) degree.”

He also disclosed that 26 students are being conferred with Master’s degrees and 9 scholars have earned the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Babalola urged the Federal Government to include students of private institutions to benefit from the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) programme.

He lamented over the discrimination against research outputs of Nigerian scholars, hence urging Western research suggestions and recommendations to be embraced in the process of policy formulation in the country.

Also, he pleaded with the Osun State Government over the taxation of the institution’s radio station, saying: “The mast meant for radio programmes for educational purposes is being taxed, when you are looking for money, you don’t look for it anyhow – this is a very serious appeal. This radio is just for community service and it should not be taxed.”