The Lagos State University LASU celebrates Oladimeji Shotunde for his sterling academic performance, as he recently set a new CGPA record in the 37 years of establishment of the institution, in which no student had ever achieved the CGPA in the history of the University.
Dimeji Shotunde was recently listed to have graduated as the overall best graduating student of the Lagos State University LASU Ojo Campus after he emerged with a cumulative grade point average CPGA of 4.95 from a total CGPA of 5.00 scale academic performance.
The 22 years old, who hails from Abeokuta South L.G.A, in Ogun State, graduated from the department of business administration, from the Lagos State University and will be decorated on Wednesday, 16th of December 2020 at the LASU Ojo campus 24th Convocation Ceremony of the Lagos State University.
During a conversation with the lagosspyNG correspondent, Dimeji expresses his gratitude to his parent while highlighting that, education is the bedrock of any civilized country. He noted his peculiar parental circumstance, saying; “my Dad is a mechanic and my mom a trader but they place premium values on education, as I still help my mom to stay at her petty trading shop, to grind pepper with the aid of the grinding machine.”
He also reiterated that over time he had noticed that the Federal and State government and the Nigerian society barely reward academic excellence hence the Nigerian youth resolve to mundane extracurricular activities which has continually defeated the essence of educational pursuit among the Nigerian youth.
While noting the lack of proper government and corporate organization recognition to the academic excellence of sterling performance, he then cited the recently concluded big brother Naija reality show, where Olamilekan Agbeleshe popularly known as Laycon emerged as the BBNaija 2020 Winner, was rewarded with 85 million naira, whereby the Ogun State Governor Mr. Dapo Abiodun also rewarded Laycon with 5 million cash price, a bungalow house at the chosen area in the state and also appointed him as a youth ambassador in the state.
“How can you motivate the Nigeria youth to excel in the pursuit of academic excellence when their academic excellence is repeatedly downplayed and not celebrated by the government and their academic performance is not rewarded accordingly,” Dimeji said.
Oladimeji Shotunde founded the foremost student-led academic platform in Nigeria, EXCEL MINDS Academic Support, an organization that caters to the academic welfare of over 10,000 members. In addition, he was a pioneer executive of the first campus-led SDGs movement in Nigeria, SDGsACT LASU.
Oladimeji represented Lagos State University as a delegate at the 2018 Edition of the Nigerian International Tertiary Institutions Model United Nations (NITIMUN) Conference, held at Abuja, where he scooped the much-coveted award of “Most Outstanding Male Delegate”. He was thereafter appointed as a Conference Official for the 2019 edition of the conference, where he displayed excellence to emerge the “Best Conference Official”.
Oladimeji Shotunde was among the 50 student leaders, selected globally in 2019 for the Hesselbein Leadership Summit/Global Academy, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America. In addition, he was among just 50 Finalists shortlisted across Africa, for the Afresist Youth Leadership Program held in Kenya.
Oladimeji Shotunde is a prolific writer. He emerged prize winner of some Essay competitions held by both professional and humanitarian associations in 2020. He has won numerous awards and gotten various recommendations.
Oladimeji Shotunde can be reached at his personal email; shotundeoladimeji07@gmail.com