The Chancellor of Covenant University, Dr. David O. Oyedepo, has counselled the freshmen of the 2023/2024 academic session, to bring themselves into discipline, under the University’s rules if they desire a life of no regrets in the future.

Dr Oyedepo gave the charge while delivering a paper titled, ‘Discipline - a Foremost Asset of Destiny,’ during the 22nd Matriculation ceremony of the University, on Friday, November 24, 2023. According to him, relevance and exploits in the race of life, are functions of adequate spiritual preparation; and the greatness of anyone’s adventure on earth is a function of the quality of their preparation.

He stated that investment in wisdom and knowledge are strong determinants of the worth and stability of an individual; as no one ever arrives at a future he is not prepared for.

Dr. Oyedepo said, subscribing to discipline, is simply operating as demanded, not as convenient, and being a law to oneself in a bid to accomplish a desired goal. Furthermore, he said it is setting order over one’s life in dogged pursuit of one’s vision.

“Discipline is being able to separate between the lawful and the expedient, that is, separating between the permissible and profitable and operating without requiring supervision towards the delivery of a given task,” he stated.

The Chancellor said anyone who will not take responsibility early enough in life, will end up a liability later. He noted that no one will ever be any more accomplished in his pursuit than he is disciplined, which is why at the root of success is high-level discipline.

He concluded by tasking the freshmen to embrace discipline in their lifestyle, approach to work, time management, and the way they spend their resources.

Addressing the 22nd Matriculation Ceremony, the Pro-Chancellor of the University, Bishop David Abioye, admonished the matriculating students to look beyond the ceremony and sit up to clearly define their purpose for the next 4 or 5 years of their academic pursuit.

Bishop Abioye said it was time for each one to become very intentional and careful in selecting the kind of company they want to cultivate. “It is important to note that the vision of Covenant University goes beyond issuing certificates to students at graduation. For this reason, academic programmes in this Institution are clad in customized life-changing core values which aim at training each student to become self-efficient and self-sufficient upon graduation,” he asserted.

He said the freshmen’s choice to study at Covenant University was not by happenstance, but God-ordained, for the molding of their destiny, because of the contacts they will be making with our intellectually buoyant faculty and a highly inspiring atmosphere of learning. “You certainly will have no reason to look back with regret at any point but will remain ever thankful to God for bringing you into this environment to shape your destiny,” he added.

In his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, said Covenant is becoming synonymous with the identity of a leadership development institution, with a strong commitment to raising a new generation of leaders in all fields of human endeavours.

Professor Adebayo said God has been faithful to the Covenant University project, with attendant validations of her founding vision with many infallible proofs, as the university has remained the most preferred university for candidates seeking quality and life-applicable higher education in Africa, with the overall best two candidates of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) making Covenant their preferred choice of university.

He admonished the matriculating students to be mindful of the fact that God has brought them to Covenant to upgrade and rebrand their status, noting that Covenant University has remained a place where visions are caught and kings are enthroned.

The 22nd matriculation ceremony of Covenant University witnessed 2,153 undergraduates and 198 postgraduate students taking the matriculation oath for the 2023/2024 admission exercise, thus making it the largest number of undergraduates to ever matriculate at once in the University's history.