Three prominent Nigerians, Chief Tony Elumelu, Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo and Chief Folake Solanke (SAN) on Saturday, 15th June, 2019 were conferred with Bayero University’s prestigious Honorary Doctorate Degrees during its 35th Convocation ceremony. The University also conferred its Emeritus Professorship on Professor Abdulkadir Dangambo.
Elumelu is the Chairman of UBA Plc, a bank that is present in twenty African countries, as well as Paris, London and New York, while remaining the only African bank with a deposit taking presence in the United States of America. His initiative of Tony Elumelu Foundation founded in 2010 is the leading African philanthropic body empowering African entrepreneurs and championing African entrepreneurship. The foundation’s flagship initiative is a 10-year $100m commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs. Mr. Solanke is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who contributed immensely to the legal profession in Nigeria. Her distinctive hard work, perseverance and commitment were recognized, acknowledged and rewarded by many institutions in Nigeria, Africa and the world.
Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo is a three-term Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was nominated and conferred with`. He is a recipient of the national award of Commander of the Order of Niger, CON. He is also a recipient of two honorary Doctorate degrees by the Maryam Abacha American University, Maradi, Niger Republic and Abia State University, Uturu.
His 16 years sojourn in the Senate brought about tremendous improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens of the Kano North Senatorial District. It has also attracted countless developmental projects that have impacted positively on the 13 Local Government Areas his zone in particular and the entire Kano State in general.
“None of the honourees requested or asked of it. Bayero University only awards its honourary Doctorate degrees on individuals who have enormously contributed to the growth and development of the country,” Vice Chancellor, Professor Yahuza Bello emphasized.
The University also conferred emeritus professorship on Professor Abdulkadir Dangambo, who retired from the services of the University since 2010 after serving meritoriously for 37 years, but has continued to serve the University through teaching, research and supervision of students.
Speaking on behalf of the awardees, Mr. Elumelu commended the management of Bayero University for honouring them and congratulated the University for graduating over 9,000 candidates. He said they were honoured with BUK’s prestigious honorary degrees being one of the leading Universities in Nigeria.