February 17, 2025

Unilagsun

Serving the university community

Alumni Association President Charges All to Cultivate ‘Giving Back’ Culture 

By Victor Chijioke, Ameerah Junaid, Daniel Nnamani

Engr. Ifeoluwa Oyedele, the President Worldwide of the University of Lagos Alumni Association, has called on university alumni and Nigerians at large to cultivate a culture of service to help key social institutions thrive. 

In an interview with UNILAG Sun, Engr. Oyedele said that alumni bodies must reverse the slow development of the culture of volunteering and giving back to contribute optimally to their institutions’ progress. 

“We don’t have that culture of giving back to society. And that’s what organisations, associations like the Alumni Association are trying to do,” he said. 

Engr. Oyedele emphasised the role of a united and well-run alumni body in contributing to the university’s progress. Zeroing in on the UNILAG, the alumni president said his administration’s organisational restructuring and review of the association’s constitution have birthed an association better-positioned to respond to the needs of its members and the university community. 

“I think the most significant milestone is that I’ve been able to bring all members of the association together. And I’ve ensured that all of the breakaway factions are fully back into the alumni association,” he said. 

“Because unfortunately, before I came in, even some state branches were suspended from the national body… But the first thing I did was to go around and ensure that we can resolve our differences. And that, we were able to do very well because without unity, there can be no progress.”

The engineer who is serving his second term as head of the alumni association recounted his administration’s contributions to the university during the interview. He noted that the donation of a scanner to improve the speed of response to transcript requests by alumni was one pressing problem the organisation solved. 

“The university was trying to digitise their records so that when you apply for your transcript, just by a click of the button, the whole of your record comes out,” he explained. 

“But that was taking time because they needed a scanning machine to ensure that the records are scanned onto the computer to enable them to respond appropriately. However, there was only one machine that they had, which the records office shared with the library. So it was taking time, and they had only done it 10 years back.

“What we have done is to donate a modern scanning machine to the records office so they no longer have to go and borrow. And with speed now, they have been able to increase the number of students’ records that have been digitised. Therefore, response is faster now.” 

Engr. Oyedele also disclosed the alumni association’s plans to add to the existing number of student hostels. He however maintained that the association is equally vested in ensuring that the renovation of the existing hostels are completed and living conditions for students improved despite the challenges the university faces in this area. 

“It is important that we refurbish the existing hostels so that it will be more comfortable for students. And we’re also building a new hostel. I mean, not only are we building new hostels, we’re also encouraging people who have the facility to come and build hostels in and around the university,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, you must realise that the University of Lagos doesn’t have too much land to play with, but we’re also trying to maximise the use of the available land. So sometimes it’s more expensive to build in and around the university. But we’re working on so many things together that will not allow students to be 22 in a room.”