UNILORIN Turns Out 8,320 U-INSPIRE Participants
Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
The University of Ilorin has graduated 8,320 participants of its U-INSPIRE Programme out of the 10,545 participants enrolled during the 2025/2026 academic session.
Speaking at the 2nd Graduation Ceremony and Prize Awards Presentation of the U-INSPIRE Programme, held at the University Main Auditorium, with the theme, “Transformation of Innovative Ideas into a Viable and Sustainable Establishment: The U-INSPIRE Model,” the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, charged the beneficiaries of the programme to make the best use of the skills and opportunities provided through the initiative.
Prof. Egbewole also charged the beneficiaries to move beyond academic certificates by acquiring practical skills and transforming innovative ideas into sustainable enterprises.
The Vice-Chancellor thanked Almighty Allah for inspiring the University to establish U-INSPIRE and appreciated the team that had taken the programme forward, as well as the partners supporting the initiative.
Prof. Egbewole said U-INSPIRE was created to take students beyond academic certificates, noting that while degrees remained important, 21st-century skills required in the workplace were far more important.
He illustrated this with the experience of a cousin living in the United States who had secured several jobs without being asked to present her academic certificate, saying the companies were interested in her skills.
According to him, U-INSPIRE was therefore designed to provide students with additional skills and certifications required by industry.
He disclosed that one of the programmes judged among the best in the previous exercise won a ₦50 million grant, describing this as a validation of what the University was doing through U-INSPIRE.
Prof. Egbewole said the programme currently has 10 partners, expressing the hope that more partners would be onboarded before the third cohort graduation and that relationships with existing partners would become more sustainable and visible.
He also directed the U-INSPIRE team to liaise with the University’s ranking team on the documentation required to strengthen the academic-industry partnership and ensure that it blossomed beyond the University of Ilorin brand.
The Vice-Chancellor urged beneficiaries to proceed to the University’s Innovation Hub, where their ideas could be developed, intellectual properties registered and patented, and viable companies established.
He further called for assessment of students’ needs, wants and available offerings, including surveys of final-year students, so that the University could deliberately seek partners to provide opportunities students wanted beyond certification.
Prof. Egbewole noted that 8,320 of the 10,545 participants graduated, representing 78.8 per cent, which he described as an “A-plus” anywhere in the world. He congratulated the beneficiaries, describing them as among those who had been chosen to complete the programme.
In his welcome address, the Chairman, U-INSPIRE Implementation Committee, University of Ilorin, Prof. Rasheed Gbenga Jimoh, FNCS, said the programme represented an important investment in human capacity development, stressing that university education should equip learners not only with certificates and theoretical knowledge but also with practical competencies, creativity, confidence and the ability to create value.
Prof. Jimoh congratulated the 8,320 graduating participants, urging them to see the graduation not as the end of their journey but as the beginning of a new phase of responsibility, creativity and purposeful engagement. He also commended the facilitators, mentors, partners and members of the Implementation Committee for their contributions to the programme.
The keynote speaker, Mr. I.K. Obi, who spoke on “Transforming Innovative Ideas into Sustainable Businesses,” congratulated the graduates and shared his entrepreneurial experience, including his work with PiggyVest and his current leadership of Alvative Resources Limited and Shuru Farms.
He identified knowledge and technical expertise as important foundations of successful business ideas, urging the graduates to continually improve their knowledge because sustainable businesses depend on maintaining a superior knowledge advantage.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Foluke Eunice Sola-Ojo, Chairman of the University of Ilorin GgMAX Farms Limited, highlighted the role of partners in the success of the programme. She recalled that the first set had graduated the previous year and received cash prizes as well as opportunities to incubate and execute their ideas.
She said the partners had trained students in different skills and technological innovations in collaboration with the University, the U-INSPIRE Committee, and the University of Ilorin Holdings Limited.
At the pitch presentation, McGeorge Consulting Limited emerged first with 76.70 per cent, while Lassod Consulting Limited came second with 73 per cent. Groom to Lead Integrated Services Limited placed third with 71.67 per cent for its Uni-Hub project.
The Professor of Mathematics ( Prof.Yidiat O.Aderinto) who announced the results said the projects were assessed on problem-market fit, solution innovation, business viability, team credibility, investment outlook, and presentation impact, with a total of 100 points.
She explained that McGeorge Consulting Limited’s project was designed to create a hub where people could move, stay, conduct research and trade within the same context, while Lassod Consulting Limited proposed a platform to automate project supervision and facilitate interaction between students and supervisors.
She said Groom to Lead Integrated Services Limited’s Uni-Hub project was designed as a platform for University of Ilorin students to register and showcase their skills and abilities, with free registration.
The ceremony featured the graduation of the second cohort, presentation of prizes and recognition of the University’s partners and stakeholders, reaffirming U-INSPIRE as a platform for innovation, entrepreneurship, skills development and preparation of students for the workplace.
