Dr Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti State, Thursday, hailed Dr Aarinola Olaiya, Obafemi Awolowo University’s (OAU’s) Overall Best Graduating Student, for demonstrating the core values of hard work and excellence for which Ekiti people are known.
The 24-year-old Usin-Ekiti-born graduate of Medicine had distinctions in 11 courses, breaking 28 years’ old record of the institution.
Fayemi, who attended the 43rd convocation ceremony of the university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, to honour Aarinola, said she had shown that Ekiti is not a state of stomach infrastructure but the country’s intellectual capital.
The governor said Aarinola would be given all the support she desires in her quest for greater heights.
He said: “I want to pledge before this august audience and the council, though she hasn’t told me what she wants to do, but whatever she tells me, she can consider it done.
“If she wants to go into housemanship, residency or even a PhD in Medicine, we will support her. It is very important to us that we restore the values for which we are known in Ekiti.
“We are not a state of stomach infrastructure. We are the centre of excellence in this country. When it comes to intellectual capital, we really should restore our very first place; that’s what the government in Ekiti is about. It is about promoting the knowledge economy and celebrating the very best of us who have a lot to teach the rest of us.
“This is because I know Medicine is not a tea party. For her to have impressed all of her lecturers and broken all of the records here, which excellent people have set here, I hope the college will retain Aarinola. Having produced her, it is only fair to let Ife have her.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
