A 71-year-old ex-banker and lawyer, Dr Olusegun Fredrick Bolaji is among the 217 graduands of Babcock University, Ilisan who bagged doctorate degrees in different fields of study at this year’s convocation slated for Sunday.
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Speaking with our Correspondent on Thursday during the Doctoral Hooding ceremony held at the university’s Amphitheatre, Dr Bolaji who bagged his doctorate degree in Law said that he was only trying to be an encouragement to those coming behind.
The Kogi State-born Chartered Accountant and one-time Executive Director of the defunct Bank PHB now Keystone Bank explained, “I just want to prove that there is no time you can’t purpose to run after excellence.
“You don’t have to rot away, I just want to serve as a source of encouragement to the younger generation, that you can challenge yourself, you can challenge the status quo to get better and there is no limit to learning as well”.
He said that he started pursuing law at a relatively old age when he was about retiring from the banking sector.
Bolaji said that he had his first degree in law from the Lagos State University in 2004 at 50 and his Master’s Degree as well from the same university in 2014 when he was 60 years old after which he enrolled for his doctorate degree at Babcock University about four years ago.
The lawyer has however called for a change of orientation among the workers of the government-owned universities as they tend to treat their students in a way not too deserving and friendly.
Bolaji said “I attended public universities; the University of Ibadan where I studied Economics and Lagos State University for my first and second degree in Law and I have also attended a private institution.
“I can say that the ball games are different. Private institutions are more friendly but for the public universities may be it is because the people there are government workers they feel that they can treat you as they want but that should not be and I think there should be reorientation so that people could be encouraged to want to study.”
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Ademola Tayo has however urged the doctoral holders to use the knowledge garnered to rebuild the nation, build a better world by helping to provide answers to the myriad of developmental challenges confronting humanity.
Prof Tayo lamented that for too long, intellectuals have taken a back seat in the political discourse of our nation, ceding ground to mediocrity, to noise, and at times, to corruption.
He said that Nigeria needs a new breed of leaders—men and women of ideas and integrity, grounded in data and driven by vision urging them not to just be critics but as creators—of policy, of solutions, and hope.
The VC said “Let your scholarship challenge the status quo, disrupt decay, and advocate for evidence-based governance. As Plato once warned, ‘The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.’ Let your voice be loud, and your impact even louder. Venture boldly into the future, because the times are changing
“Ours is a country full of promise and paradox—a land teeming with talent, yet struggling under the weight of structural inefficiencies, economic uncertainty, and political fragmentation.
“As PhD holders, you now belong to a rarefied class of the population whose minds have been shaped by the highest form of education. This knowledge must not remain an ornament of prestige. It must become a tool for national transformation.
“Your intellectual capital must serve as a catalyst for socio-economic rebirth. Whether you are in the lab, in the boardroom, in a classroom, or the halls of government, use your expertise to create systems that work—for agriculture that feeds our nation, for technology that bridges our gaps, for policies that put people before power.
“The real value of your doctorate is not in the title before your name, but in the impact of your work—tangible, visible, and transformative.”
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