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It was a privilege to have His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, CON, at the 2025 matriculation ceremony of Miva Open University, the third since its inception. There, he delivered the keynote address to newly admitted students, faculty, families, and distinguished guests.
His presence marked an important moment for Miva as it welcomed over 8000 learners. The occasion—and the keynote speech—provided an opportunity to reflect on the value of higher education in a changing world and to inspire the matriculating class as they formally began their journey with the university.
The Keynote Speech Delivered by H.E. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, CON, at the Miva Open University Matriculation Ceremony on 15 November 2025
I have given many speeches in the last two decades of my public service, but never a matriculation speech. This is a first for me!
I am delighted to share this first experience with all of you—over 8,000, I am told—who are matriculating today and starting a lifelong relationship with Miva University. This is what your matriculation process is about, in case you have not thought about it: it is the formal enrolment process that signifies the entering of a university.
As I said, this will become a lifelong relationship because “if you successfully complete the programme and graduate, then you become a member of the alumni, and you will not be able to ever change that.”
Have you thought about this? Do you want to have a forever relationship with Miva, because this is a marriage from which there will be no divorce?
I think it is safe to assume that no one here wants to back out of the matriculation process, and so I will proceed by asking another question:
Why did you choose an open university and not a conventional university, and why Miva and not any other open university?
I am asking these questions now because nobody asked me these questions when I chose my university, the University of Benin, with whom I have had a happy lifelong relationship.
So, if you do not have an answer yet, you must find one that convinces you to stay for your lifelong relationship with Miva. But I have seen many reasons why I would not only like to have a relationship with Miva, I would like to have an enduring one.
The first and perhaps the most important is the reputation of the founders and operators of Miva, which has been forged over the years. Another reason for affiliation would be the innovative outlook that conforms with this global season of unceasing disruptions and innovations.
Miva seeks to disrupt the norm about how people get education by not only offering “flexibility” and “affordability” but also projecting itself as being “more than a university”.
Miva says “We are a movement driven by our belief: education should be for anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
Were any of these a consideration in your being here today?
For me, the more compelling reasons are situated in the 5 (five) Schools established under Miva’s programmes of training and the specialities I observed in the courses on offer.
But before I continue about these programmes and courses, let me tell you something about my own education. I honestly did not like school, but my parents were having none of it. However, what I recall all through was why I must get an education in order to get a job and be self-sufficient. I do not recall anyone telling me that my education was preparing me not only for myself but for my community and my country.
In that regard, you might be right to say that at that stage of my life, I was not prepared for leadership.
In this sense, Miva is deliberate. Miva makes it very clear by adopting the statement of Mariam Wright Edelman that “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”
Let me connect this statement to Miva and to all of you.
In 2014, when the Ebola virus came into Lagos, the first time in history that it was entering a metropolitan city, it was the experts in public health at local and national levels who held our hands to confront and defeat the dreaded virus.
They knew that their education was not for them but for their community: state and nation. While understandably scared, local and foreign residents were planning how to leave town and run away from the virus, public servants and health workers were bracing to confront the virus, the dangers it portended, and to defeat it.
The index case of Ebola, Patrick Sawyer, was brought to First Consultants Medical Centre hospital when Justina Obioma Ejelonu resumed as a nurse on her very first day of work. All of her training from school was put to the test on that day.
Who could have predicted that, on her matriculation day as an undergraduate nurse, she would confront Ebola on her very first day at work? She did; she caught Ebola, defeated it, and got on with life.
I am happy to note that Miva offers training in Nursing and Public Health, because this is where the battle to protect and preserve human civilisation will be fought and won.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its aftermath are still with us, and the next epidemic or even another pandemic is around the corner.
Many of those who fought to keep you and me alive have aged and retired. You will therefore be part of the next army of public health soldiers who will defend your community with the knowledge and skills that Miva offers you.
I hope that the dots are beginning to connect: you will not just be getting an education here; you will be trained to serve, to lead, and to solve problems.
As I was preparing this speech, an item in the news caught my attention. A bank had lost over ₦1.3 billion to about 718 customers who unlawfully withdrew money from the bank because of a software glitch and transferred it to 45 other banks.
Apparently, none of the withdrawals or transfers were done in cash. Instead, they were done electronically, but the bank could not electronically reverse the withdrawals and restore all accounts to normalcy. The bank has resorted to the law courts to solve a digital and information technology problem.
While that was the lawful thing to do, I just wonder if there was a tech solution to the problem. But I am pleased that Miva is offering a programme that trains people in Cybersecurity on the one hand and Criminology and Security Studies on the other, in addition to several other programmes.
How fitting and proper would it be that someone in this matriculating class can develop the software that reverses that kind of malevolent withdrawal and financial fraud without needing to go to court?
Of course, it is impossible to conclude this conversation without responding to those who ask the question whether a university education and degree are still necessary in securing employment in a rapidly changing economic and employment terrain.
The available evidence suggests that degree holders are still significantly better paid than non-degree holders. So, you are doing the right thing by starting this relationship with Miva.
According to a report, degree holders go through a process that improves their capacity for critical thinking and problem-solving, unlike non-degree holders. Each one of you is, therefore, rightly preparing to be a critical thinker and problem solver for Nigeria and the rest of the world.
While views are mixed on the matter due to the emergence of Information Technology (IT) based jobs that thrive on vocational and technical skills rather than a university degree, the necessity for continuous learning in a rapidly changing world drives up demand for university education.
You cannot go wrong with continuous learning.
This is where the Miva Open University and online model become the game changers of the day, with the flexibility and quality they offer, and with competitive pricing.
Ladies and gentlemen, have you found the answer to the questions:
Why did you choose an open university?
Why did you choose Miva?
Are you ready for a lifelong relationship with Miva?
I am willing to bet that you have found the answers.
I believe you have decided to be part of Miva’s movement that will become the army of soldiers who will defend the community and the country.
I believe you now know that this is more than being about you and more about your community and country.
I believe that you understand that the necessity for continuous learning seriously commends the Miva option persuasively.
Please keep these answers at the fore of your minds throughout the period of your training. They will help you remain focused at a time when we all face distractions, especially from social media.
Now that we have a mutual understanding about what Miva represents and why you have all chosen to be part of such a movement, I can only urge you now to make the very best use of the opportunity that you presently have.
I implore you to be the best version of yourselves by being very dedicated and diligent in the pursuit of your studies.
Let me be clear that the knowledge that you acquire, on its own, will not be enough to support and sustain you in your journey of life.
Your character, which is the sum total of many values such as honesty, trust, respect for constituted authorities, rules and regulations and your fidelity to your colleagues and associates, will be most important.
After all, when your degrees are ultimately issued, they will assert that you were all found worthy in knowledge and character, which makes you truly university graduates, unless you let yourselves down.
Do not let yourselves down, so that you can become worthy champions of the Miva brand that will pass it on to the next generation as worthy alumni of this institution.
I hope that the knowledge you get at Miva will help build your individual self-belief that leads to resilience.
I wish you the very best of luck and outstanding success in your chosen courses of study.
Thank you for listening.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
