“Work Hard to Justify Your Admission,” Cleric’s Wife Urges Newly Matriculated UI Students

Newly matriculated students of the University of Ibadan have been charged to work hard to justify their admission into the university. 

This charge was given by Dr Lovett Olajumoke Oladele, wife of the Chaplain of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan, in a sermon delivered at a special service to commemorate the matriculation of new students for the 2025/2026 academic session which coincided with Mothering Sunday. 

She acknowledged that grace has brought the students this far in their quest for higher education and they have been singled out by God’s mercy among thousands of applicants. 

Dr Oladele, however, submitted that the reward for their emergence is more work, stating that they need to be diligent on their academic journey in order to have a glorious end.

She told the fresh students that they are the first beneficiaries of the success they would achieve in UI, therefore, she admonished them to seize the opportunity of the fresh start to lay solid foundations for their desired heights of academic accomplishment. 

While congratulating the new students on their admission into UI, the Chaplain’s wife warned that a degree without character is a disaster waiting to happen, hence, she counseled them to add sound character to diligence, warning that sin sinks the reward of hard work.

The preacher reassured the students that every lecturer in the university are parents but encouraged them to take to corrections for their own good, making reference to Esther in the Holy Bible, who listened to the counsel of her uncle, Mordecai and later became queen.

She called on lecturers to let God use them as instruments to guide the fresh students, urging them to play their roles with nobility as Mordecai did to Esther. 

Dr Oladele charged the students to be moral compasses in a corrupt world by embracing integrity, self-control and prayers, thereby making their parents proud.

The service witnessed a thanksgiving session and prayers for the university, its management, and the students. 

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration of the University of Ibadan, Professor Peter O. Olapegba, FNPA, fspsp, led other members of the UI management to the service on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode O. Adebowale, mni, FAS, fspsp. 

The service was also attended by executive members of the Student Union and the newly matriculated Christian students.