Federal University Lokoja go graduate 5,638 students for im 10th convocation ceremony this Saturday. Vice-Chancellor Prof. Gbenga Solomon Ibileye announce this one for press briefing for Lokoja, as e present account of stewardship since e take office on February 16, 2026. The graduands na 4,828 first-degree students, 182 diploma holders and 628 postgraduate students. The postgraduate group get 46 postgraduate diploma, 162 professional master’s, 238 academic master’s and 182 PhD graduands.
Prof. Gbenga Solomon Ibileye also disclose say TETFund give the university N3 billion grant to set up Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cyber Sciences. Him talk say the centre go support advanced research, collaboration, capacity building and practical training for students and researchers. E describe the grant as one of the major achievements of im administration since e assume office.
The university submit more than 50 research grant proposals to national and international funding agencies after e appoint im first Grants Officer, Dr. Grace Korter. According to the Vice-Chancellor, eight programmes don secure full accreditation from National Universities Commission, while 10 other programmes still dey go through accreditation. Fourteen new programmes, including artificial intelligence, cyber security, data science, software engineering, psychology, social work, criminology and security studies, and agricultural economics, start with pioneer students for 2026/2027 academic session. The VC talk say: “Expansion must never outpace quality. Growth must be matched by the resources, systems and capabilities required to sustain it.”
The convocation go also confer honorary degrees on businessman Dahiru Mangal, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo and veteran journalist Babajide Kolade-Otitoju. The ceremony go graduate the pioneer class of Centre for Safety Management, wey get 22 master’s degree and 11 postgraduate diploma candidates.
For infrastructure, the university deploy 10 Starlink terminals to improve internet connectivity and start new learning management system for digital and blended learning. All 100-level courses don upload on the platform. The school dey pursue separate N3 billion public-private partnership hostel project to solve accommodation problems. TETFund interventions wey the university access include N335 million for NEEDS Assessment, N700 million and N400 million for laboratory and classroom development, and N300 million zonal intervention funding. Construction of General Science Laboratory Building at Felele Campus, wey BUA Group support, don reach roofing stage, while work on pedestrian flyover at the main gate dey go on to improve campus safety.
On staff development, the VC talk say 21 academic staff benefit from N158.9 million TETFund training support, while 190 out of 200 applications for conference sponsorship get approval, na 95 per cent success rate.
