THERE is this lecturer, who taught me Sociology of Violence. You dare not come late for his lecture. He himself will be there. He is of my son's age group, and if you come a minute late for his lecture, you are not coming in. He will tell you, 'if you know you are old, stay at home.'This was a demonstrative assertion of Pa Alimi Olanrewaju Amodu, the 80 year-old-man, who was among the new graduates of the Lagos State University (LASU), that were awarded certificates and prizes at a two-day convocation ceremony of the institution.He graduated from the Department of Sociology and desired to become a lecturer some day. His present achievement, he expressed, 'is a great achievement and the first step because I am going for my master's after which, I will go for PhD. I want to be called and addressed as Dr. A.O. Amodu.''I was born in the village and my journey to get a B.Sc started in 1945. My father gave a condition that I have to go to the farm before I go to school. It was not easy, but the brain is here. I spent only three years in primary school before I moved to town. The first school I attended when I got to the town was St. Paul's Ibadan, where I met brilliant teachers. I spent two years there, then I moved to St. David's School, one of the best schools established by the colonial administration. At that time, there was what we call standard and I got a very good foundation from the primary school.'Pa Alimi, who recalled how he mixed up with students of his grandchildren's age, insisted that there is no age limit in learning. 'Some people think that they are old, no. The more you read, the more your brain will be functioning. If you don't read, the brain will be declining,' he maintained.Meanwhile, the university has on the occasion of its 17th convocation ceremony conferred first degrees on 22, 034 graduates, diplomas on 438 on the first day of the ceremony, while Post Graduate Diplomasand Higher Degrees in various fields was conferred on 4, 615 granduands, among which there are 40 Ph.D.The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa had at the ceremony, declared that the era of missing scripts, missing results and difficulty in accessing results was over, as no LASU students would have to wait till final year before they could access their results.He said that the institution had recorded tremendous academic, physical and landmark achievements, adding that emphasis was being placed on accountability and high ethical practices.He said that his administration had put in place a number of innovative measures to curtail financial leakages and channel the savings towards activities that are germane to the primary roles of a university.He hinted that LASU is presently involved in collaboration with reputable foreign institutions geared towards staff and students exchange programme and research. 'A memorandum of understanding with University of Nebraska and bilateral agreement with University of Chicago, U.S.A was signed recently on this effect.'He reminded the audience, that university education was a collective responsibility of the government, citizens and corporate bodies. He called on the private sector to partner with government in facilitating more funding of the institution.Commending the Lagos State government on the massive construction projects going on at the institution, he passionately appealed to government 'to increase substantially the monthly subvention, which at present is not enough to pay staff salaries let alone meet the day to day running of the university. We will continue to improve our internally generated revenue but government continued help is needed now to stabilise the system in our bid to reposition the university.'He urged the graduands to contribute heavily in solving societal needs in their various fields and endeavours.
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