Caveat emptor: Though I am a Christian, I am not a worshipper at Winners Chapel or Living Faith Worldwide, the mega church owned by the swash buckling Bishop David Oyedepo. But I cannot refuse to recognize the great work the Bishop and his organization have done in the expansion of knowledge, not only within our frontiers but also across Africa, and indeed, the rest of the world.
Oyedepo earned this commendation through his academic institution, Covenant University, Ota, near Lagos. Apart from using the school to impact knowledge with Godly character in its students, the university has also impacted this generation, and possibly many to come, with the entrepreneurial orientation given to the students.
Regardless of the side of the divide you may be, you also cannot take away another credit richly earned by this university: academic excellence. Little wonder, the university thumbs its chest with the soaring statistics of employability of its graduates. In an era when very few graduates can prove themselves worthy of their degrees, be found worthy both in character and in learning, the chest-thumbing cannot be regarded as frivolous.
More so, evidence abounds proving that graduates from Covenant University are highly equipped for whatever job description they are called into. The reason is simple: students, in their undergraduate days, are usually exposed to many skills that resonate with the constantly changing world that we are in.
However, many Nigerians are unimpressed by the exorbitant fees charged by Covenant University. While some see the fees as merchantile, others think they are exploitative. This is aside from the criticism that every service and utility on campus is ‘privatised’. For instance, rather than allow students to use their cell phones, the authorities erected commercial phone booths across the campus and mandated students to patronize them. Yet another minus is that many staff and professors who work in Covenant University cannot afford to enroll their children in the institution. Whereas, the normal thing to do should have been to approve heavy subsidy for staff-both academic and non-academic.
Despite these anomalies, Covenant University is still one of the best sought private universities in Nigeria. Recently, WeboMetrics, a well-known performance ranking tool, placed Covenant University as the sixth best university in Nigeria, and this might not be a no-brainer. For a school that was created about 17 years ago, it is a massive achievement to be able to attain such feat. So, if you’re wondering why the first question you are asked, when you go for an interview is, which school did you graduate from? Now, you have an idea why! If you opened your Twitter account to see why “Covenant University” is trending, you just got your reasons here.
