The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lead City

  • 290 earn First Class at Lead City

    290 earn First Class at Lead City

    Olubadan lauds varsity’s growth

    No fewer than 290 students of Lead City University, Ibadan, graduated with first-class honours at the institution’s 18th convocation ceremony, a milestone that underscored the university’s steady academic growth and rising profile over its 20 years of existence.

    A total of 3,379 graduands participated in the ceremony, with 2,162 awarded first degrees and 1,219 conferred with higher degrees across various disciplines during the 2024/2025 academic session.

    Olubadan of Ibadan land, His Imperial Majesty Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, commended the university for what he described as “phenomenal development and growth” since its establishment.

    The monarch praised the management for its vision and consistency in positioning the institution as a leading private university in Nigeria.

    “I must commend the governing council, management, staff and students for the outstanding efforts that have placed Lead City University at the forefront of academic excellence,” Oba Ladoja said.

    The Olubadan was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Science in Public Administration (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his contributions to public service and leadership.

    Also honoured was a former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Hassan Adebayo Sunmonu, who received the same honorary degree.

    Two other distinguished Nigerians, Mr. Olalekan Bello, Chairman of FCSL Asset Management, and Mr. Olakunle Williams, President/Chief Executive Officer of Tetracore Energy Group, were awarded Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa) degrees.

    Bello described Lead City University as “a citadel of learning whose vision and pursuit of excellence continue to illuminate the educational landscape of Nigeria,” urging the institution to sustain its commitment to innovation and quality teaching.

    Chancellor of the university, Prof. Gabriel Ogunmola, said the conferment of honorary degrees on the four recipients was in recognition of their exemplary leadership, professional accomplishments and outstanding service to society.

    He noted that the 2024/2025 academic session coincided with the university’s 20th anniversary, marking two decades of achievements in teaching, research and community service.

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    Delivering the convocation address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Adeyemo, described the ceremony as a celebration of resilience, discipline and intellectual excellence by the graduating students.

    According to him, the 2025 convocation reflected “years of dedication, perseverance and academic growth, supported by families, mentors and the entire university community.”

    Adeyemo said the series of convocation events spanned several days of academic and cultural activities aimed at celebrating excellence across faculties and reflecting on the institution’s legacy of leadership development and societal impact.

    He also disclosed that the university was seeking approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to introduce new academic programmes across multiple faculties, in line with its expansion drive and commitment to meeting national development needs.

    On staff development, the Vice-Chancellor revealed that the institution had sponsored 120 academic staff and 23 administrative personnel to attend local and international conferences, workshops and training programmes, as part of efforts to enhance teaching quality and administrative efficiency.

    The convocation, he said, reaffirmed Lead City University’s resolve to produce graduates equipped with knowledge, character and skills to contribute meaningfully to national development.

  • Lead City Varsity’s don, others secure five million dollar grant for CLARE project

    Lead City Varsity’s don, others secure five million dollar grant for CLARE project

    A Professor of Urban Planing and Environmental Management, Prof. Grace Oloukoi, and other 15 institutions in Africa have secured a grant amounting to five million Canadian Dollars for the Pioneering Climate Adaptation REsilience (CLARE) project.

    Oloukoi, who is the Dean, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Lead City University, Ibadan said out of CAD 5 million, Lead City University is participating in a research collaboration with a grant of CAD 325,876 which she secured.

    Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, the Don said this is a sub-contract of a project with the  title: ‘A Pan-African and Trans-disciplinary Lens on the Margins: Tackling the Risks of Extreme Events (PALM-TREEs)’. 

    While explaining details of the breakthrough, Oloukoi said: ‘’Palm-Trees, a project worth 5,370, 300 Canadian dollars is one of the CLimate Adaptation and REsilience (CLARE), a UK-Canada framework research programme mainly funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK-FCDO) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). 

    ‘’Palm-Trees is being implemented in six  countries – Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya and DR Congo –  and 16 institutions across Africa and the United Kingdom with the University of Cape Town as the lead organisation where the Project Consortium Office domiciles under the leadership of Prof. Abiodun Babatunde.

    ‘’Other partners include the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Lead City University, University of Lagos, University of Oxford, UK Met Office, University of Nairobi, Kwame University of Science and Technology, the Nigerian Institute for Social Economic Research (NISER) and University of Yaoundé.

    ‘’The project emphasises lived experiences methodology and the dynamics of indigenous knowledge to understand the dimensions of climate risks based on the complex social identities of the margins in local communities and to ensure inclusive adaptation policies in Africa’’.

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    In Nigeria, Oloukoi is working with her colleagues, Prof. Mayowa Fasona from the University of Lagos and Prof. Andrew Onwuemele from the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER).

    The project is focusing on Lagos as a city-scale study on flooding and heat waves and the Middle Belt as a regional scale study on agricultural drought and flooding. 

    The Don said, ‘’The project will deconstruct the dimensions of impacts of these extremes on livability, livelihoods and well-being of the margins. The margins are the vulnerable; the population groups that lack representation or voice in climate adaptation discourse.

    ‘’These include the homeless, the aged, the children, the women, the immigrants and the physically challenged. The project also provides opportunities for Early Career Scientists (ECS) who are being supported for their doctoral and postdoctoral research. Oloukoi is also serving as the Focal Lead for Gender and Social Inclusion for the Palm-Trees project across Africa.

    ‘’The inter-connected work packages for the Palm-Trees project are: social impacts of climate extremes, physical impacts of extreme events, climate resilient solutions and capacity strengthening’’.

    She stated that the specific outputs of the project include reduction in barriers to sustainable knowledge networks, more equitable relationships between communities, practitioners, policy makers and researchers, transferable methodology to deal with multidimensional compounds of extreme events and sustainable change based on nature-based adaptation strategies.

    ‘’The project implementation has commenced and this will run for 42 months, till January, 2027. Inception meetings were already held at Lagos and Ilorin as parts of Stakeholders’ Engagement and Community Entry strategies during which the media, the communities, government agencies, non-state actors, knowledge brokers and scientists brainstormed to harvest ideas for the actualization of Palm-Trees project in Nigeria.

    ‘’Lead City University is providing institutional support for the implementation of the project. This scholarship milestone will foster the global visibility of faculty members of Lead City University, Nigeria.”

  • NISER, UNILAG, Lead City to research on environmental challenges, others

    NISER, UNILAG, Lead City to research on environmental challenges, others

    A landmark research code-named “A Pan-African and Transdisciplinary Lens on the Margins – Tackling the Risks of Extreme Events ” (PALM TREES) sponsored by reputable international institutions such as CLARE, UK International Development as well as IDRC and being conducted by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Lead City University, Ibadan and University of Lagos commenced with stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos on Tuesday, 23rd April, 2024.

    The Palm Trees Project is designed to address extremes such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, among others. The project, which is going on simultaneously in six African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, etc, brought together stakeholders with a view to gathering their experiences so as to have an all-inclusive research whose outcomes will impact the society.

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    Prof. Grace Oloukoi of the Lead City University, Ibadan highlighted the significance of this approach while presenting the essence of the project.

    In welcoming participants to the programme, Prof. Mayowa Fasona of the Department of Geography and Planning, UNILAG, said the Lagos workshop was just the beginning of the research and it was to elicit information from the affected communities so as to enrich the expected outputs of the research.

    The expected output, according to him, include among others are “reduced barriers to sustainable knowledge networks”, “more equitable relationships between communities, practitioners, researchers and policymakers ” and “sustainable change”.

    During the interaction with the stakeholders, they unveiled a lot of the challenges they are facing with regards to certain extremes such as flooding, heatwaves, especially as they affect them in both the central Lagos and the slums. The researchers appreciated the stakeholders for their openness and robust contributions which they said would enrich the research.

    The next stakeholders’ workshop will take place in Ilorin, Kwara State.