YOUR EXCELLENCIES, MY LORDS, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I have the greatest pleasure to welcome you all to this Congregation for the conferment of Honorary Degrees and the presentation of the Univer-sity's graduates.

We are greatly honoured and deeply delighted that so many of our friends are able to be with us on this 21St Foundation Day of the University. We are particularly delighted that we shall be able today to honour some of these friends whose interest and help have made the good fortune of this young institution. For in this Congregation, Honorary Degrees will be conferred on six men of distinc¬tion who are among the best known and most admired figures of our generation. Let me take this opportunity to thank them on your behalf and on behalf of our nation, and to congratulate them on their achievement. We are proud of them.

It is my special privilege to welcome His Excellency, General Yakubu Gowon, the Head of the Federal Military Government and Visitor of the University as well as his colleagues, Governors of States who have suspended their manifold duties of State to come to Ibadan today to rejoice with us. On behalf of the University, I salute Your Excell¬encies for the great task of keeping Nigeria one and I express the deep appreciation of our staff and students for your continued interest and support.

Those who have been here on similar occasions in the past will find a few changes in our proceedings today. These changes have been necessitated by the fact that this Hall has ceased to be adequate for these occasions. In the past, we have been able to invite as many as possible of those whose functions impinge on the life of the University; we have usually invited the parents of all graduands as well as others in whom we have special interest.

Necessity now compels us to limit numbers, and we apologize to those friends of the University who, for this reason, cannot be with us on this occasion. The Vice-Chancellor has assured me that a Committee is actively engaged in considering ways and means of making the most of the limited space until we are fortunate enough to have a larger assembly hall.

In terms of the future, twenty-one years is nothing very much, but in terms of the University's achievement and contribution to the progress of our society and of scholarship in general, there is every reason to mark this occasion with joy and thanksgiving and I am sure we all wish the Univer¬sity and those who are at the helm of its affairs God's blessing and future guidance.

Your Excellencies, My Lords, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the pleasure to call upon the Visitor, His Excellency, General Yakubu Gowon, to address the Congregation. Download