Saturday, May 28, 2011, the day Wesley University of Science and Tech-nology, Ondo (WUSTO), Ondo State celebrated its 3rd Founder’s Day, would remain remarkable in the history of the university.

Although, it was not the first Founder’s Day to be celebrated by the university owned by the Methodist Church, Nigeria, it was the most uniquely celebrated.

In the sense that it was the day the university formalised the appointment of its first Chancellor, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr) Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, Jilo III, the Osemawe of Ondo kingdom. It was also the day the university, in a special convocation,  conferred on the revered monarch, the honorary Doctorate degree of Science in Management Science.

Therefore, it was not surprising, seeing the whole of Ondo community on the day, led by the Ondo Development Committee, an umbrella body for the socio-economic cum political advancement of Ondo kingdom, trooping to the High Chief (Sir) Olabanji Akingbule multipurpose hall of Wesley University, venue of the event.

On this special day, High-chiefs, chiefs, Baales, Olojas, men and women of Ondo kingdom, all dressed in the native attire called Alaari, which the Ondo people regard as the best among traditional clothes, singing and praising the management of WUSTO for the great honour done on their king.

The event started at exactly 9:00 a.m. after all the guests had been seated at the main auditorium of the university. Immediately, the academic procession of all principal officers of the private institution moved from the front of the administrative/senate building to the investiture and convocation arena.

After this, both the national and the university anthems were sung while the opening prayer, which was said by the chaplain of the university, Reverend O. G. Soniran, followed.

The university’s Registrar, Mr. Abioddun Ijasan later invited the vice-chancellor, Professor Tola Badejo to present his welcome address.

In his welcome address, the vice-chancellor gave the rationale behind the establishment of the university. According to him, the establishment of WUSTO was in line with the go ahead, given by the Federal Government that private universities be established to cater for the educational need of the country. He said because of this, the Methodist Church thought it should be part of the development and so the church decided to establish a specialised university of Science and Technology to take care of the technological need of the country.

Speaking on the objectives the university is set to achieve, Professor Badejo disclosed that the university is poised to provide human resources, needed for the socio-economic advancement of the country through contribution of knowledge and skill. In addition, the Professor of Zoology said the institution is determined to solve the problem of moral decadence in Nigerian society.

“Our major aim here is to bring up students morally, so that they can become role models in the society and we call this moral regeneration. At WUSTO, if a student is admitted, we assume the student is hundred percent morally upright from home and so we score him or her hundred per cent in moral excellence.

However, the moment the student starts misbehaving, we start deducting marks from his or her hundred per cent score. By the time the student loses thirty marks, we invite his or her parents for explanation on why we should retain the student in the university. In view of this policy, our students strive to keep hundred per cent score in moral excellence and they spice this with sound academic learning,” Badejo said.

On the achievements recorded by the university in the last three years, Professor Badejo declared that within a short period of time, the university has achieved a lot. According to him, at the commencement of operation, the university started with two colleges, namely College of Natural and Applied Sciences and College of

Technology, but within the first year of operation, the university management discovered that it would need more colleges, especially in management science which have courses like accounting, banking and finance. The authorities sought and got approval from Nigeria University Commission (NUC) to run the courses.

“We have also been able to develop the infrastructure we met here. As a matter of fact, in April 2007 when we started here, we had just two buildings. The first is the main building, where we have our administrative offices now and the local government building of NRC and SDP era, which was bought over by the community and donated to the university.

“But as soon as I became the VC, Methodist released money and we built a library. We have also built a museum of national history, which is the second in the whole of West Africa, the first being in Obafemi  Awolowo University (OAU). We also have an aquaculture garden and a mini zoo, being used as an amusement park,”Badejo noted.

Akinrolabu Akinduro is on the staff of Tribune.

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