The President, Nigeria Young Academy (NYA), Dr Abiodun Egbetokun, has felicitated with the Vice-Chancellor of Covenant, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, a Fellow of the Academy, for being the first among the ranks of fellows of the Academy to emerge the helmsman of a reputable academic institution like Covenant University.
Dr Egbetokun delivered the Academy's congratulatory message during a recent courtesy call on the Management of Covenant University. Accompanied by other members of the Executive Council of the NYA, Dr Egbetokun said the Academy that just clocked ten (10) years was proud to identify with the successes of her members in the political, business, science and the academic spheres, both in Nigeria and around the world.
Addressing the University's Management, he said the Academy would like to solicit the support of Covenant University, taking cognizance of the prime position of the University in the African continent. "We need Covenant University to assist the Academy with a physical space that will host the secretariat. It will be a rallying point to motivate undergraduate and graduate students of the University to work assiduously towards emerging young academics, by dint of excellence and hard work," he stated.
Dr Egbetokun said the Academy was looking forward with renewed optimism towards further collaboration with Covenant to promote antiplagiarism initiatives, strengthen the existing relationship, and enhance greater visibility for both organizations.
The Acting Dean, Covenant University's School of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Obinna Nwinyi, commended the Academy for becoming a veritable platform for ideas exchange between young professionals from different fields of human endeavour. "The NYA has evolved into a body of young experts making intellectual submissions, to proffer solutions to diverse societal and natural challenges bedevilling the society," he added.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, said it gladdened his heart that Covenant University just had four members of her staff inducted as new members of the Academy, thus accounting for six (6) of the 60 serving members of the Academy. "At this pace, the leadership of the Academy must strive to maintain the standard it started with, as the body produces tomorrow's leaders for the nation," he counselled.
Professor Adebayo charged the Academy to continually drive academic excellence and uphold the sanctity and integrity profile of the body. Furthermore, he advised the team to work at imparting the mandate of the Academy into the young and upcoming professionals, through orientation and initiation of programmes to provoke an attitudinal change of the youths, to rescue the soul and destiny of the nation.
He tasked the NYA leadership to spearhead initiatives that would help inspire upcoming generation towards thinking a better Nigeria, through building stronger ties with other existing academies in Nigeria and integrate them into the overall goals and objectives of the NYA.
He also called for an increased drive of the antiplagiarism workshop, as the issue of plagiarism was becoming an endemic issue that must be tackled in all academic institutions across the nation's education landscape.
Also present during the visit were Mr Olumuyiwa Vincent, representing the Registrar, Dr Oluwasegun Omidiora; Director, Financial Services, Pastor Babatunde Onatola; the Chaplain, Pastor Kayode Martins; and the newest member of the Academy, Dr Sunday Edeki of the Department of Mathematics.