Staff Adviser of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), University of Lagos Branch, Dr. Khalid Adekoya says he is very glad with the brilliant performance of Muslim students who bagged first class honours degree during the last academic session of the institution.
Adekoya, while speaking exclusively with Muslim News on Monday, July 5, attributed their excellent performance to the grace of Almighty Allah that crowned some of their efforts at MSSN with success, noting that the development is also an indication that MSSN members lead in the university.
“We give glory to God Almighty for crowning our little efforts with this magnanimous success. We based all our efforts on what God has guided us to do. We made sure that we encouraged the students, especially those of them that are good to organise tutorials in the mosque alongside other Islamic teachings. We have specific lectures for different courses, especially the difficult ones to encourage those who are not doing too well to wake up.
“We also ensured that those who graduated leave their project works behind in the library of MSSN. Furthermore, we also made sure that the past questions that those who are graduating used, are available for the other students to use. I’m glad that the immediate past Amir (Hassan Salaudeen) also made a first class. The best graduating student of the university was the Director of Studies and Chairman of about two programmes MSSN UNILAG did. That shows that it’s those who are good and leading in the university that are members of MSSN and not the renegades.”
The Varsity Don also hinted that plans are underway by the UNILAG Muslim Community and the UNILAG Muslim Alumni to engage and mentor the first class graduands to bring out the best in them.
Dr. Adekoya said, “Now that they have graduated, the stakeholders in the UNILAG Muslim Community are already organising a programme where they will be mentored about the next steps and engaged in order to become better than the feats they have achieved presently. Likewise, the UNILAG Muslim Alumni, which I am the National Deputy President, is going to do same. We have plans in motion to make sure that we do not allow them to go like that, but to give back to the University of Lagos, Muslim Community and also be better and useful to themselves and humanity as a whole.
“We are going to form them into a caucus to be called Ummah Scholars and we are going to do a lot of programmes for them. We are going to invite some of our graduates that are in good places both in public and private sectors to talk to them to get inspired. In a nutshell, we are not going to abandon them.”
The MSSN Staff Adviser also explained that as a motivation for other students, the scholars would be showcased at the programmes of the group and be given avenue to share their experiences.
“As we did for these ones who graduated with flying colors, we are going to continue. Every Faculty has level advisers and executives who run their programmes and we are going to showcase the scholars to them as a form of encouragement. We are going to ensure that they come back to relate with their juniors, share the experience with them. Those are the things in the pipeline,” he said.
Speaking on Dr. Moruf Rasheed whose PhD thesis was adjudged best in the whole university, Dr Adekoya, who coincidentally was one of the two lecturers that supervised his thesis said he is very humble and faced his goals squarely.
“I give glory to God. However, I should make the clarification that I am not the only one that supervised him (Moruf) because UNILAG has a tradition to make best out of their graduate students. So, by tradition, at least two people supervise a PhD thesis. It was myself and Dr Aderonke Lawal Aare that supervised him.
“What I know about Moruf is that he is a humble person and a go-getter. He comes from a very humble background, but he had his goals and faced them squarely. And that was how he was able to achieve what he has achieved.
“Moruf’s thesis was adjudged the best in the university. I was not surprised because before he submitted, he had already published two papers, and the moment he was able to present and the university accepted the thesis, at the last count, we have about 8 papers from the thesis. When publications come out from thesis in international journals, it shows the quality of the thesis,” he added.
