Kwara State University has appealed to the state government to relocate all the villages within the precincts of the academic community that are hindering its expansion, in order to secure all its landed property, as reported by Vanguard.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Lukman Jimoh, made this appeal during a press briefing at Malete on Tuesday to mark the commencement of the convocation ceremonies of the University. He also announced that the total number of graduating students is 6,891.

“We have villages situated within the precinct of the university which must be relocated. There’s a committee made up of the state ministry of justice, the Kwara Geographic Information Service, the affected communities and the university, to work out whatever modality would be mutually beneficial to all concerned.We expect that the Kwara state government would give the needed backing to the resolutions of the committee so we can secure all the landed properties of the institution.” he said.

Giving a breakdown of the graduating students, the Vice Chancellor said that 71 students will bag First Class honour degrees,1,828 students will bag Second Class Upper, 3,501 will bag Second Class Lower, and 3,501 will bag Lower Division and 974 will bag Third Class respectively in the forthcoming 12th convocation of the institution slated for this Saturday at Malete in Moro local government council of the state.

Aside from this, the Vice Chancellor added that, “Forty-nine (49) students would bag Doctorate degrees in various disciplines: Master degrees 198 and Master in professional studies 270”.

He noted that “since the last convocation press briefing in 2023, Kwara State University has recorded many new achievements in her academic growth.

“We have grown from nine(9) faculties that we presented then to eleven faculties. We have created the faculty of Allied Health Sciences and the Faculty of Environmental Sciences.

“These creations have allowed us to increase our academic disciplines and I make proud to tell you that we will begin on other programmes that have been approved by the authorities of the National Universities Commission (NUC)”.

Listing other challenges facing the institution, Professor Jimoh urged the state government to upgrade the road leading to the institution.

He said that, “the existing intra- campus road network requires extension and providing this crucial infrastructure is beyond the ability of the University and we call on the state governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who is the visitor to the institution to intervene with the reconstruction of Shao- Malete road and extend the intra-campus road network”.

Prof. Jimoh also pointed out further that, “there is an inadequate hostel facility that has affected students to have accommodation in the institution.

“But, we have constructed over 104 Bed- Space hostel while the first phase of the student smart city hostel project is already underway for the teeming students of the University”.

He also appealed to the private investors to come out to partner with the institution so as to bail out the institution on the area of accommodation problems facing the university.

Prof. Jimoh however assured that the university would continue to provide quality university education so as to add more value to the educational development of the state and the country in general.