“You are absolutely responsible for the outcome of your life. Life is an adventure that is segmented to times and seasons. But the seasons of life are irrecoverable and irreversible. For example, you cannot be 20 years old twice, neither can you be 30 years old twice. You cannot be an adolescence twice, neither can you be a youth twice. As a youth, you are in your explorer’s age, you are in your age of visions and dreams. Whatever you won’t discover now, it has been lost for life. Only responsible youths today, emerge responsible citizens tomorrow.”

The Chancellor, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Dr. David Oyedepo gave those words of advice at the 12th Undergraduate and 4th Postgraduate Matriculation ceremony of the University held on Friday March 18, 2022 at the Institution’s Multipurpose Hall, where over 600 Undergraduate and 60 Postgraduate students were matriculated. 

 The Chancellor challenged the students to take responsibility for their success, noting that success is an offspring of serious-minded individuals. Emphasizing the importance of self-drive and hard work to success in life, the Chancellor noted that success is not transferrable while citing biblical example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying each of them defined their success in life. "Note that success is not transferable, Abraham could not transfer his greatness to Isaac. Neither could Isaac transfer his greatness to Jacob. Jacob had to work out his own destiny with hard work for 21 years,” he said. He also cautioned that they should never see prayer as a substitute for hard work. “Proclaiming a blessing upon you is not equal to success, you have to work your own success out,” he warned.  

Therefore, the Chancellor urged them to leverage the institution's custom-built programmes for their advantage.  According to him, the custom-built programmes included Total Man Concept (TMC), Entrepreneurial Studies (EDS), Agripreneurship (AGP), and Towards a Total Graduate (TTG) and they were designed towards “promoting the Man-child model of education, that is, making men out of children, stirring accelerated maturity, spiritually, intellectually and entrepreneurially.”

In furtherance of their preparation for the Landmark University experience, the Pro-Chancellor, Pastor Mrs Faith Oyedepo, in her remarks, noted the relevance of the University core values to acquiring quality education and distinguishing them from the crowd. Quoting C.S Lewis, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil”, the Pro-Chancellor said the core values of the University which are Spirituality, Possibility Mentality, Capacity Building, Integrity, Responsibility, Diligence, and Sacrifice are essential for moulding total graduates with direction and purpose for their world. She urged the new students to imbibe the core values in order to make the desired impact on themselves and society. “When you engage with these values, not only during your stay here, but as a lifestyle, you are on your way to the topmost top,” she added. 

In the same vein, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charity Aremu, reiterated the commitment of the University towards fostering an ambience for unbroken academic engagements with excellent character. She said, "As a University, we pride in our academic selling points as defined by the physical support facilities and international faculty platforms strongly validating the intentional engagements of our faculty, staff and students at all levels.” She recounted some of the recent defining successes of the university, the most recent being the ranking of 25 members of faculty of the University among "Top 500" Nigerian authors for the year 2021 as captured by SciVal. Some others included, "Gold shield for best research paper in taxation category at the ICAI International Research Award by a group of faculty, and the CSIR Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) postdoctoral fellowship. 

She noted that the University has graduated over three thousand (3,000) pathfinders whose testimonies of impacts in the society keep validating the fulfilment of the vision of the University. 

Earlier, the Registrar, Miss Adefunke Fola Oyinloye, in her welcome remarks, congratulated the matriculants and more importantly their parents for making the Landmark University their choice for their academic pursuits. In her words, the University will be matriculating over 600 undergraduates and over 60 postgraduates for the 2021/2022 academic session.

Some of the new students and their parents who spoke with our correspondents expressed unreserved joy at the event. A parent, Pastor Oladapo Hambolu said, “I appreciate what God is doing here, so much that it fascinated me to also pray that my son will go to this school. It’s a prayer answered and I thank God it has come to pass today. Looking at the level of the spiritual impact that my son has received, the level of moral impact, the discipline and orderliness, couple with the fact that he will spend the exact time for his programme, they are all encouraging to any parent. The fee is moderate and the opportunity to pay in instalments are some of the things that have also encouraged us to bring our son here to be part of the blessing here. I appreciate God and His servant whom God has given the vision and it’s really speaking. I bless God.”