By Saheed Ibrahim
|
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State, Prof. Akinbo Adesomoju has urged students of the University to emulate the good legacies of the ex-governor of the State, late Dr. Olusegun Kokumo Agagu, as a very decisive and impactful leader.
The scholar gave the charge while making remarks at the unveiling of Agagu’s statue/ Agagu Day Lecture organised by the University’s Students’ Union on Saturday, 9th September 2023, at the institution’s main campus in Okitipupa.
According to him, the late Governor Agagu made meaningful impacts and touched the people’s lives across the state’s length and breadth because he had a clear and untainted vision of what he wanted to do.
“His vision was to transform Ondo State from poor agrarian cum civil servants state to an industrialised, self-dependent and highly developed economic hub in Nigeria and the West African sub-region,” the don revealed.
He stated further that Agagu’s brilliance and background as a well-groomed academic aided him in matching his vision with his solid plan and developing a well-articulated blueprint/working document tagged “Roadmap to Progress” for steady state transformation.
He added that his great determination to succeed, backed with extraordinary diligence and hard work, translated into his impactful governance and rapid transformation of Ondo State.
The OAUSTECH’s first Vice-Chancellor stated that Agagu’s achievements manifest in many of the massive developmental projects and programmes accomplished by his administration between May 2003 and February 2009.
Prof. Adesomoju, who emphasised hard work, warned the students against shortcuts to success, stressing that the greatest asset that helped Agagu remarkably was his integrity.
In the same vein, the OAUSTECH’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, said the late Dr. Agagu was an academic cum political icon, a first-class product of the premier University of Ibadan, a well-trained global scholar by the best Geology School in the world, the University of Texas, Austin, USA, deserved such an iconic celebration.
He appreciated the Agagu Family and the Agagu Foundation for their unrelenting support for the University.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Student Union President, Comr. Matthew Ogunsoto stated that Agagu’s impact in Ondo State and Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised.
The programme and the thanksgiving service held for the late Governor thereafter in St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Iju-odo, Osooro, his hometown, were well attended by government functionaries, politicians, royal fathers, clerics, well-wishers, principal officers, staff and students of OAUSTECH.
