 I'm honored to have been invited today to share this very joyous occasion with you and I bring you all the very special greetings of President Mohamed Buhari, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is clear that Nassarawa State University has come a long way since it was established 20 years ago, a result of the bold vision of His Excellency the former Governor of Nassarawa State and now Chairman of the APC Dr. Abdullah Adamu. The quality of your alumni speaks of the commitment to that vision by succeeding administration as well as the dedication of the University's administrative and academic staff over the years. Graduates of Nassarawa State University have excelled in almost every field of human endeavor and they have continued to do the University proud. This includes to mention a few, the immediate Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Mohamed Akaro Meinoma, who is also the current President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, and Haji Aramati Tijani Aliyu, the current Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory who also received her Master's in Public Administration from this University. You have so much to be proud of and this sixth combined convocation ceremony is a good occasion to reflectively bask in how far you have come. Congratulations to the visitor of the University and the Executive Governor of Nassarawa State, my dear brother, engineer Abdulaz Suley, who has built excellently on the legacies of his predecessor. Let me also commend the Vice Chancellor Professor Suleyman Bala Mohamed, the entire academic and administrative staff whose hard and sometimes thankless work has culminated in the momentous celebration of academic excellence and attainment that we are here today for. May I also congratulate the six illustrious Nigerians who today were conferred with Doctorate Degrees Honoraries Causa, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubaka Malami, S.A.N., Senator Umaru Aumakura, Alaji Dangote, G.C.O.N., Malam Melekiyari, and Chief Peter Eloka Okocha. Congratulations on this very well-deserved conferment. Congratulations also to the parents, the guardians, relatives, and friends of the graduates. This is your day and you have worked hard indeed to get here. I say to the graduates, you must take pride in this moment, but it is also important that we celebrate this milestone in your journey and see it for what it is. This is a portal leading you into future careers that will define the fate of families, of industries, of nations, and the world at large. The world is waiting for you. Nigeria is waiting for you. Young people like yourselves have been the difference between the relative stability of the old and the possibilities of the new, the bridge between the past and the future. The innovations that have positively disrupted the world, as we know it today, have largely been pioneered by the boundless vision and the boundless brains of young people like yourself. Fresh out of school, eager to apply themselves, to experiment, to try out new things, to make mistakes and to learn from them, you will be doing this great institution and the investments of faith made in you by professors, parents, and guardians a great deal of honor by believing in your own capacity to make a difference. Do not let anyone tell you differently and you must resist the prevailing cynicism or the suggestion that the system is somehow rigged against you on account of your background, your gender, your tribe, or your religion. Education gives you a platform from which to make something out of yourself. And this is as true today as it was two decades ago when this university was founded. What will set you apart as you journey forward is how far you are willing to dream and how much work you are willing to put in. You belong to the most advanced generation in human history, a generation that's not bound by the rigid conventions of the past, a generation that is unafraid to ask questions, one that has inherited centuries of human innovation and advancement, and so you know much more than your predecessors, much more than those of us who are sitting on this stage. But there is nothing impossible to accomplish in the face of persistent, innovative, and collaborative effort. Many of you who are here today are digital natives, heirs of artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, nanotechnology, and quantum computing. You know, first hand, the wide-ranging opportunities of digital and mobile technology, the disruptions in logistics and global supply chains that have allowed for cheaper and more effective trade while opening up new markets and spurring economic growth around the world. It was Franz Fanon who said that each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it, end of quote. These signs are clear that you, the signs today are clear that you are on a generation that is on the path and with the heart to fulfill its mission. And we see it in the everyday stories of young people like you out there changing the Nigerian and African narrative, one idea, one bold move after another. In June 2021, African tech startups raised over $4 billion in funding with over 564 startups across the continent solving critical problems in almost every sector. Nigeria accounted for 35% of all of these startups. Beyond the numbers are daring young men and women molding a new future from their restless imagination with ambition and remarkable resolve. In the last 10 years, we have watched young Nigerians significantly expand the creative and cultural capital of the country on a global scale with our music, our movies, our fashion, our literature dominating the airwaves across the world. These creative young people have borrowed from the past and the future to invent a present sound, style, and aesthetic that is wholly Nigerian completely invented and filling up auditoriums from Lagos to Europe to the US and reaping every global award available for the ticket. Part of this movement, by the way, is Chokes D General, a fast-rising comedian and graduate of statistics from the Nassarar State University, this university. Now, three things are important to keep in mind as you journey on and I would like to leave you very quickly with these three things. The first is persistence. Persistence, there will be setbacks and things will not always work out quite the way you expect them to. You may fail more times than you will prefer, but when you do remember that failure is never the end. It simply is a signpost pointing you in a different direction and it's like useful data that you can try and use again and try to do better. So, keep at it no matter what. The world has always been pushed forward by people who refuse to take no for an answer. The second is ambition and innovation. Your hands can accomplish as far as your eyes can see. If fortune favors the bold, it does so now more than ever. The complex challenges facing our country and continent-at-large require ambitious thinking and courageous undertakings. The likes of Odoa Ieweni, Somto Ifezwe and Joshua Chibweze, Covenant University students were all in their 20s when they founded the now multi-billion dollar piggy-vest in 2016 and it has grown to one of Africa's most profitable and most respected FinTechs. The founders of the billion dollar Flutterway and Della and Paystack also young Nigerians in their 20s when they started barely six years ago. There's no telling how far you can go. I've been made aware of your university's robust research and innovation directorate. I think you need to honor the investment that has been made on it by finding creative ways to apply the knowledge that you have gained. You are graduating from a school located in the home of solid minerals and in the home of agriculture. What value can you add? What difference can you make? And finally the third point to keep in mind is collaboration. Collaboration is the key to building the game-changing technologies and businesses of this century. It's no longer smart or profitable to go it alone. And I must say that our administration, the administration of President Mohammed Buhari, has in the last seven years worked around the clock to ensure that your dreams and abilities find necessary support to come alive for the benefit of all. So far the federal government has established a 75 billion Naira Youth Investment Fund which provides financial support for small businesses in any field. There's also the new program called Investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises with over 600 million dollars to support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure. In 2021 the federal government partnered with the UNDP and the EU that's the European Union and the private sector to start a program called the Jubilee Fellowship's Internship Program. For the next five years, every year 20,000 students after youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public agencies. The idea will be for the participants to gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them to transition seamlessly into professional business or other public sector careers while also earning very good pay during the period of the internship. These opportunities exist to support your dreams and you can readily access them so step out and take your place in the world. I think that a university education as important as it is does not give you all the knowledge that you require or all you need to go out there and succeed. It arms you more than anything with the skills you need to seek out to organize and apply information constructively. You have countless sources of information available to you at the push of the button. Use them. Don't stop learning. Don't stop acquiring new skills. But let me leave you all with an important task. Our nation is a nation of diverse tribes and diverse faiths and diverse beliefs. But this is how most great nations are formed. The challenge is how to wield all of our tribes into one tribe, a Nigerian tribe, a tribe of Nigerian men and women of all faiths, of all tribes, of all ethnicities and beliefs, committed to a country run on high values of integrity, of hard work, of justice and love of country. A tribe of men and women who are prepared to make the sacrifices that are crucial to building a strong society, who are prepared to stick together to fight corruption side by side, to insist on justice, even where our own friends are the receiving end. A tribe consisting of professionals, businessmen, politicians, religious leaders, students and all others who believe that this new Nigeria is possible. And I challenge you to play your own part in bringing forth this new tribe and the nation reborn. In conclusion, I urge you all to remember, especially those that are graduating today, where you're coming from, this great university, the Nassau-Arts State University, where you have imbibed the values of integrity, discipline and empathy, aside from all the academic attainments. Remember that all of these attainments are attainments that are meant for you to prosper and to develop this society and to develop the world that you're in. Nothing you can achieve, nothing you can achieve will compare to your service to others and your service to humanity. And I leave you with a prayer that your journey will be prosperous, joyful and successful. And that all your dreams will come true in Jesus' name. Amen.