CENTRAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE MATRICULATION ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE

PRESIDENT PROFESSOR VICTOR P. Y. GADZEKPO, FGA

DURING THE 10TH MATRICULATION CEREMONY HELD ON 20TH AND 21ST

DECEMBER 2007.

Mr. Chancellor

Registrar, Central University College

Deans of Schools

Lecturers

Students

Matriculants

Parents

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me welcome all of you to the tenth matriculation ceremony of this our noble
university.

Today’s gathering is to formally and publicly admit fresh men and women into
the rights and privileges of Central University College as we have just witnessed.
Such a ceremony offers the opportunity for us to give information to the public
about developments, achievements and concerns of the institution.

DEVELOPMENTS:

Central University College has finally got approval from the National
Accreditation Board to start the Environment and Development Studies
programme in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Seven students were admitted to the programme and were matriculated this
evening.

The number of students admitted to the school each year is on the increase.
This shows that our University is fast becoming a preferred choice.

This year the University admitted 2833 students into the various programmes
from level 100 to level 300. These include 79 international students from the
United States of America, France, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Guinea, Gabon, Cote
d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. 550 students of this number are
at the Miotso campus and they will be matriculated tomorrow.
As usual the female/male ratio still remains in favour of the women, that is 46%
male and 54% female.

The following programmes are offered in the university:

School of Business Management and Administration (SBMA):

BSc. Administration with the following options:

Accounting, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Banking and Finance,

Agribusiness Management, Management Studies.

School of Theology and Missions (STM) B.A. degree in

Family Counselling, Christian Education and Church Administration. MA and

M.Phil. programmes in Theology.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has commenced the newly accredited
programme in Environment and Development Studies. This is in addition to B.A.
French, English and Economics. This faculty is now in its third year. The
programmes have been made flexible such that students are free to combine
their course offering for example French, English with any other course. This
flexibility will be extended to all programmes in the University.

MBA SCHOOL

The Pioneer students in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme

are now in the third out of four stages in their programme. The 18-month
programme has the following options:

Finance

Human Resource Management

Marketing Management and

General MBA

I hope most of you will take advantage of the MBA programme after completion
of your current studies.

Our programmes as you realise are worker friendly as provision is made for all
categories of students. We offer programmes in the following sessions:
Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Weekend.

Community Service:

The Board of Regents at its last meeting decided that every student must be
involved in one form of community service or the other during his or her stay in
the University. It will be part of the requirements for graduation. This is to
inculcate the sense of patriotism, good citizenship and leadership in our
students. This community service may involve offering helping hand to students
in deprived Basic Schools in the form of assisting them with their homework or
helping market women with new ways of doing things. The Academic Board is
working out the details which will be made know to all of you soon.

Mr. Chancellor, I am happy to announce to you that the Ghana Education Trust
Fund (GETFund) has this year approved the donation of a number of computers
and photocopiers to the University in addition to books and journals for the
library. Last year they donated 30 computers, 10 printers, 2 heavy duty
photocopiers, 3 air conditioners and books worth 150 million cedis to our
University College. The total cost of all these items came to GH¢75,000. We
want to use this opportunity to let the government know that we very much
appreciate this gesture. We look forward to receiving more support from her.
Now that we are preparing to offer Science programmes, Science equipment for
Biology, Chemistry and Physics Laboratories would be very much appreciated.

Achievements

The University has completed the first phase of its permanent campus at Miotso
and has since 19th September 2007 moved the General Administration of the
University there. We have 550 students also pursuing business programmes
there. For us this is a great achievement and we are grateful to God for it. It is
the greatest thing that had happened to us in recent times.

Hostels have been provided for the students outside the campus.

Reading Rooms

Reading rooms have been created for you students on the first floor of the main
mataheko building. We have employed a number of Library staff to help you
with books in the reading rooms. Please take advantage of this.

Science Programmes

The University is determined to offer Science programmes. In this vain we have

submitted curriculum document to the National Accreditation Board to offer
Doctor of Pharmacy, Bachelors degree in Nursing, Bachelor of Science degree in
Civil Engineering, Bachelors degree in Physician Assistantship Studies and
Architecture. We have put up a state of the art Science laboratory and have
acquired a number of science equipment for this purpose. The National
Accreditation Board has paid a visit to our permanent campus at Miotso and has
sent subject panels to assess the Doctor of Pharmacy, Nursing and Civil
Engineering programmes. We hope the team for the Physician Assistantship
Studies and Architecture Programmes will visit soon. We are hoping that these
programmes will be accredited early enough for us to admit student into them.
This will be a direct response to the recent call by H. E President Agyekum Kufuor
and Otuomfouo Osei Tutu II that private Universities should introduce Science
and Technology into their programme offerings.

Matriculants

Congratulations to our matriculants. You are looking very smart in your SRC
cloth. You look pretty and handsome this evening/morning. You must be very
proud to be students of Central University College. We are also very glad that
you made this institution your preferred choice. Tell more of your friends to
come and join us.

You have heard a lot about the University’s principles during your orientation but
for the purpose of emphasis, I would take this opportunity to remind you that the
philosophy of this University is founded on Christian principles and values. Our
emphasis is on training devout, well-grounded leaders, executives, analysts,
entrepreneurs, and industrialists who would meet the challenges of our time and
serve as positive influence in society. We cannot achieve this if we do not
address your moral and spiritual needs alongside the academic needs. We are
all aware that government has removed Religious and Moral Education from the
schools’ curriculum. The University therefore has a greater responsibility to take
up the task of inculcating in you good moral values. You cannot train the mind
alone and leave out the morals. Such individuals will be of no use to the society.
I therefore call on private Universities to take up this challenge in inculcating
good moral values into the lives of their students.

We at Central University will accept the challenge to work on the moral character
of our students to make them transformational leaders. This can only happen if
you our students give us the chance to do so. When we correct you it is because
we love you. This should make you better citizens for Ghana.

To achieve the aim of character development, we have put several structures in

place. Various preachers are invited to minister the word of God to you during
Chapel service every week on the various campuses. This is to edify you
spiritually. You are to read a number of set books in your Christian Ethics class.
You are to pay attention to the characters in the books and apply them to your
lives.
We desire that you to conform to all the rules and regulations of the university,
as you signed the covenant when you were admitted. We are very particular
about the dress code and wish that you would all dress appropriately and
decently to school and even outside school so you can serve as role models for
others. Skimpy and short blouses, spageti straps or bear backs, very short skirts
and very tight trousers for example are not allowed on our campuses.

It has become a fashion these days for the young men to put on earrings and
braid their hair. Some even grow dreadlocks and wear trousers with holes in
them and some dirty looking jeans. These are all not considered appropriate
dressing for this university.

In case you signed the covenant of the school without reading the content,
please look on the notice boards where they have been posted and do well to
abide by the principles and values spelt out in it. Ignorance of the law is no
excuse.

Even though we would not expect you to look as beautiful and immaculate as
you do today, as future or even present Business Executives it is our desire to
see you dressed at least close to what you have done today. Let us also support
the government’s initiative by putting on African costumes on Fridays as most of
you have done today.

Another sore point in educational institutions is examination malpractice. It is

our hope that CUC students would dare to be different in this area. Please do not
indulge in any form of examination malpractice because if you are caught, there
is a very heavy price to pay for it. As students of Central University College, we
are trying to inculcate the virtue of integrity in you therefore examination
malpractice must not be mentioned among you.

Mr. Chancellor, this brings me to my next point that affects integrity. We are
currently checking all the admitted students’ SSSCE or WASSCE results with the
WAEC office to ensure that what the students brought for admission are correct.
Any student discovered to have faked his or her results would be withdrawn from
the University and handed over to the Police for Fraud.

My dear students, especially the youth, mobile phones are tools that are useful
but their usefulness depends on how you manage them. They can be a nuisance
and can waste your time if you do not know how to manage them well. The time
you use to read and send text messages on the mobile phone can be used for
your books.

It is important that you pay particular attention to your studies and take them
seriously in order to make the grade. Any student with more than two E’s or a
CGPA less than 1.0 is automatically withdrawn from the university. Last
academic year 22 students were withdrawn for non performance.

It is compulsory for all of you to study French. This is to make you more
marketable in this competitive era.
It is important that you take note of deadlines set for paying school fees. We are
a private university as you know and as such school fees are important to us as it
is our only source of income for the day to day running of the University.

If you have any difficulties that need to be addressed by the school authorities,
please do not hesitate to approach the Students Affairs Coordinator or his
representatives on all the campuses. He is a father and would give you a
listening ear and advise you on what to do. The Chaplain’s office is also
available to you for counselling in case you need that.

Finally, let me remind you of the matriculation oath that you have just taken.

By taking the oath and signing the matriculation register, you have made a
faithful promise on your honour to abide by all the contents of the oath.
Remember, students of Central University College are leaders of tomorrow and
as such you are very special.

We expect the best of behaviour from you.

Congratulations again on your matriculation and a warm welcome to this noble

institution. Enjoy your stay at Central University College and make the most out
of the opportunity.

May The Lord bless you while you are here at CUC

May He help you in your studies

May He protect you on this campus

May He open doors for you in the future.

May He grant you good health in the coming year.

AMEN

I wish all of you well while you study in this university.

Let me take the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
year in advance.

May the Lord bless us all.

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MATRICULATION ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT PROFESSOR VICTOR

PATRICK YAO GADZEKPO, FGA DURING THE 7TH MATRICULATION CEREMONY
HELD ON 17TH NOVEMBER, 2005.

Mr. Chancellor

Registrar, Central University College

Deans of Schools

Lecturers

Students

Matriculants
Parents

Brothers and Sisters

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me welcome all of you to the seventh matriculation ceremony of this

wonderful university. It is beautiful to see the matriculants dressed smartly and
looking their very best for the occasion. We hope you will keep this standard of
dressing throughout your stay in the university.

Mr. Chancellor, matriculation ceremonies are usually held to formally and

publicly admit or receive fresh students into the rights and privileges of a
university, even as we have done today. The ceremony also gives us the
opportunity to give some information to the public. I would therefore like to
crave your indulgence to say a few words about Central University College.

Mr. Chancellor, Central University College, over the years has concentrated its
programmes in two schools: the School of Business Management and
Administration (SBMA) and the School of Theology and Missions (STM). The
School of Business Management and Administration offers the following degree
programmes:

B.Sc. Administration (Accounting Option, Marketing Option and Human Resource

Management option)

B.Sc. (Banking and Finance)

B. Sc. (Agribusiness Management)

B. Sc. (Management)

BA (Secretaryship)

The School of Theology and Missions on the other hand offers a degree
programme in Theology. The School also runs MA and M.Phil. programmes in
Theology.
In responding to the demands of the time, Central University College has
introduced new programmes, which started from this academic year. The new
programmes in the School of Theology and Missions are as follows:

BA (Family Therapy)

BA (Christian Education) and

BA (Church Administration)

These new programmes are unique. We believe they will be of great benefit to
present day churches.

The School of Business Management and Administration is in the process of

introducing an MBA programme. The MBA is a 15-month programme with the
following options:

Finance

Human Resource Management

Risk and Insurance Management

Marketing Management and

General MBA and

Health Care Economics and Management

We are currently seeking accreditation from the National Accreditation Board to

commence this programme. We hope to start in January 2006 by which time we
expect to have received accreditation.

I am happy to inform you that the National Accreditation Board has given
accreditation for the commencement of a third faculty called the Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences.

This faculty is made up of the Department of French, Department of English and

the Department of Economics. These Departments will offer degree programmes
in French, English, Economics and combinations with other courses. We as a
university now have three faculties. We are indeed grateful to the National
Accreditation Board for the prompt attention they accorded our request to start
the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. We are hoping that these programmes
would be over subscribed within the coming years.

Mr. Chancellor, this year the University received a total of about 2000
applications. Admission was offered to 1500 candidates. Out of this number a
total of 1154 students reported and registered for the programmes. Included in
this number are 10 international students.

This number is made up of 44 % males and 56 % females. The male to female

ratio in our university is an interesting one. The percentages are the same as
that of last year. Perhaps we need to put measures in place to encourage more
male students to apply for our programmes.

23 students were admitted into the new faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The
following is the break down of students admitted into the other two schools:
Morning School - 375; Evening School – 412 and Weekend School – 410. For the
first time we have a number of students showing interest in attending the
weekend session, which we think is a very good sign.

Now let me turn to the matriculants. You must be very proud to be students of
Central University College. Let me take this opportunity to remind you that the
philosophy of this University is founded on Christian principles and values. Our
emphasis is on producing devout, well-grounded leaders, executives, analysts,
entrepreneurs, industrialists and scientists who would meet the challenges of our
time and serve as positive influence in society. We cannot achieve this if we do
not address your moral and spiritual needs alongside the academic needs. We
have put several structures and measures in place, to address these needs. We
expect you to avail yourselves of these structures and make good use of them.

These days the youth in our society are loosing their values. Through the
Internet and too much watching of unproductive movies on television, the youth
have acquired strange values, which leave much to be desired. This has made
our young ladies take delight in wearing skimpy and short blouses, very short
skirts and very tight trousers. They dress to expose parts of their bodies, which
under normal circumstances should be covered. This provocative dressing is part
of the moral canker that has made its way into our society. We at Central
University College frown on this. We do not expect you to dress in that manner.
We expect you to conform to the dress code that you have signed and be a role
model for others.
It has also become a fashion these days for young men to put on earrings and
braid their hair. Some even grow dreadlocks and leave their trousers to hang at
their buttocks, calling the style “Oto Fister”. Such fashion is totally unacceptable
on our campuses. We have empowered the lecturers and staff to drive you out of
the lecture halls, offices and campuses should you contravene the dress code.

Mobile phones are tools that are useful but their usefulness depends on how you
use them. They can be a nuisance and can waste your time if you do not know
how to manage them. The time you use to read and send unnecessary texts on
the mobile phone can be used for your books.

As students of Central University College, what ever you do must be of good

report.

It is important that you pay particular attention to your studies and take them
seriously in order to make the grade.

Remember that if you do not make the grade you will be withdrawn from the
university and all the money, time, energy and other resources would have been
wasted.

It is compulsory for all of you to study French. This is to make you more
marketable in this competitive era. However difficult the study of French may
seem, you should be steadfast and apply yourselves to it. To facilitate the
learning of French, we are in the process of setting up a ¢500 million language
laboratory. This language laboratory is almost ready. It is located in the Stone
house just behind this dais. It will be commissioned once it is completed
hopefully before the year ends. You will appreciate the study of French when you
graduate from the University.

Finally, let me remind you of the matriculation oath that you have just taken. An
oath is a formal promise made or a solemn declaration made on ones honour. By
taking the oath and signing the matriculation register, you have made a faithful
promise on your honour to abide by all the contents of the oath therein. We
expect you to abide by them.

Remember, students of Central University College are leaders of tomorrow and

as such you are very special to us. We expect the best of behaviour from you.
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate you on your matriculation and to
welcome you warmly to this noble institution. Enjoy your stay at Central
University College and don’t just pass through the University but allow the
University to pass through you.

I want to wish all of you well while you study in this university.

May the good Lord bless us all.

Amen.

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SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE CHANCELLOR - MATRICULATION 2001

CHANGE OF DESTINY
The future of Africa must be totally different from its past. We who are here
have been called and have enlisted into a process of changing the destiny of our
continent particularly of our nation Ghana, and it is heartening to note that in the
last elections, the two major political parties all campaigned on the need for
change. That indicated that we had come to a point in our own realization that
where we are headed was not very promising and that we needed to head in a
totally new and different direction. The NDC campaigned on the need for
progressive change, which seemed to me like the campaign of the other parties
in our pre-independence era for self-government in the shortest possible time,
and the NPP campaigned on positive change, which seemed to me like self-
government now.

The people of this nation have become very impatient with our own
underdevelopment and as a result we are ready to make the necessary changes
that will be required to bring about the difference that we desire.

WHY YOU ARE HERE

For those of you who have become part of this University, over four hundred of
you chose to be students in this place. In making that choice you were also
aware of the cost of being in this place; and I do not think you made that choice
out of convenience; but I am convinced that you made that choice out of a sense
of purpose and mission. You wanted to belong to a place that you felt your life
would be well-shaped to face your own personal hopes and aspirations, as well
as contributing to our nation’s endeavours.

OUR MOTTO

The Central University College has as its motto three words: FAITH, INTEGRITY
and EXCELLENCE. In making the choice to be part of this University, you
committed yourself to those three cardinal truths on which this University is
built. “Except the Lord builds the house they labour in vain that build it,” and the
need and the burden of our human efforts, with our faith in God, are translated
into responsible actions in our day-to-day choices.

FAITH IN GOD
Our faith in God must not become what Karl Max termed as the “Opium of the
people”. Our faith in God must not obscure our response or deaden our
alertness to the demands in our community. Faith must not make us so
heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. Faith in God must produce
works. Scripture says faith without works is dead. So when we introduce you to
faith in God, we are not introducing you to nostalgic religion. We are introducing
you to a vital relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ which must result in an
improved quality of life. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself has said that he had come
so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The abundant life of
Jesus Christ is not a life that is seen only in its longevity, but life that is seen in
its quality improvement and quality deliverance. So our faith must produce
works, and our faith must demonstrate the God we serve and worship. If the
Lord is good, then our works must be good. If the Lord is merciful, our works
must be merciful. If the Lord is mighty then our works must also be mighty.

INTEGRITY

We are also committed to integrity, which of late has become a political word
that is used without real practice. Integrity simply means a life that is complete,
whole and total where what we do in private and what we do in public are all in
agreement. Integrity means that we live an upright life and a righteous life, a
pure and wholly life. That means we commit ourselves to moral integrity to live
life, overcome temptations that come our way. There is the temptation to fulfill
your own personal desires instead of living for a higher ideal that God demands
from us. There is the temptation to fall into that which is very easy for you to do
instead of struggling to do what is difficult for you to do. Temptation always calls
us to go lower, while God calls us to go higher. Temptation calls us to yield,
while God wants us to stand firm. One of the reasons why Africa is where it is
today is because of the immoral leadership we have had for a very long time.
Leadership that has elevated corruption of virtue, corruption of character,
corruption of choices, corruption of decisions which has resulted in massive
mismanagement of our national resources. If we are going to correct the
mistakes in our society we need a generation of leaders who have moral
uprightness; who can resist the pressure of public office; who can resist
temptation and stand firm for what we believe in, which is in the will of God.

MATRICULANTS
You who are being matriculated today are going to have to inculcate this
disciplined Christian life into your life. You cannot come to school here and
fornicate at the same time; you cannot come to school here and commit adultery
at the same time; you cannot come to school her to steal and use profanity and
get drunk and defile your body with smoke and tobacco. You cannot come to
school here and still live a wayward life, because we believe that character is
what is needed to build the future of Ghana.

COMMITMENT

So you are committing yourself to integrity, and as you know, you are going to
sign an oath today. If you break that oath you will also “be broken” and you will
be asked to seek for your future elsewhere. We are going to try as much as it is
in our power as God enables us to demand from you that which is noble; that
which is upright and that which is right. So integrity is the cornerstone of our
school and it is not only demanded from students but it is also demanded from
Faculty and Staff. Leaders must show the way.

EXCELLENCE

We are also committed to excellence. That talks about a desire to go beyond

that which has been normally accepted performance. Excellence means you are
ready to go beyond the accepted performance limit in order to create new
performance opportunities for yourself and for the places you have been
working. Ordinances, mediocrity, acceptance of that which is positivity is not
accepted here. I believe that ordinariness is even a sin against God, because
God is extraordinary and created us to do things that are in his nature.

A CHRISTIAN’S PEFORMANCE

A Christian who performs averagely does not please God with his performance.
A Christian must be one who commits himself to above-average and beyond
average performance, and I trust that in your performance you will seek to do
that. We are going to try your excellence through your academic performance.
You will be taking lessons, and we will be requiring you to respond to questions
as you learn.

CONSEQUENCES OF CHEATING

Some of you will be tempted to cheat, and to copy questions on handkerchiefs,

in your clothes, on pieces of paper and in other forms. When we catch you, we
will teach you how to be upright. If we don’t catch you, life will catch you,
because one day you will be demanded to produce what you’ve learnt, and if you
didn’t prepare, you will be holding an empty certificate that does not have the
backing of your own performance. Remember, nobody will respect your
certificate and so you can validate your own certificate by your own
performance. So don’t cheat yourself.

CONCLUSION

Give yourself the opportunity to try yourself and to demand the best for yourself.
So you have come into a school where your faith will be strengthened, where
character will be demanded from you; an excellent performance will also be
demanded from you. And in that demand I trust that you will fulfill our
expectations, your own expectations and above that God’s expectations. We
hope that your stay in this school will be a joyful one. You will have the
opportunity to grow your gifts and talents.

Yesterday when I met with the student body, I said that I was very confident that
within the next twenty years one of you will become the President of this
Country. And when you do, I will come and take a picture with you and frame it
in my home. I will shake hands with you, the President, and I will not wash my
hand for three days. I want to see you in future and be proud of you. That is the
only reward we need; to see that the seed we sowed has borne good fruits. I
want to see you in future that you did greater than I did; that which those of us
teaching you have never dreamt of doing. The children must be greater than the
fathers. That is how society develops. So I wish you God’s best, the fulfillment
of your vision, the fulfillment of your dreams, and the realization of your personal
ambition in life.
Thank you.

[Top]

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE VICE CHANCELLOR.REV. DR. E. K. LARBI 13th January

2001
The Challenges Of Leadership

“As we mark the third matriculation exercise of this university today, we are
again reminded of the goodness of God. It was indeed. Because of the Lord’s
mercies we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new
every morning; great is his faithfulness. … The Lord is good to those who hope in
him, to the one who seeks him" (Lam. 3: 22-23, 25). Our experience as a
university community has abundantly demonstrated that God is faithful.

Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, Africa is starting this century with several
challenges. Most of us are painfully aware that Africa is not making much
progress in her development agenda. The bulk of our problems border on bad
leadership. The crisis of leadership is the greatest threat to an African
renaissance.

The African Dream

As the moments tick away into years, the question that should occupy the minds
of all well-meaning Ghanaians, and Africans for that matter, is whether or not
Africa can claim the 21st century. This question has largely to do with Africa’s
development agenda. A recent study commissioned by the Breton Woods
institutions provides us with the following dark picture:

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CENTRAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CAROLS NIGHT 18th & 19TH DECEMBER 2007

PRESIDENT’S CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR MESSAGE

Mr. Registrar, Academic and Administrative staff, students, guest choristers and
all here present…

The celebration of the birth of Christ is the biggest celebration in the lunar
calendar and by accident or design it comes at the tail end of the year. The
season of Christmas brings people together, giving them the opportunity to say
thank you to friends, relatives, loved ones and all others for support and services
rendered throughout the year, and to wish each other well for the coming year.
It is a time when people give gifts and exchange greeting cards as well as share
with the less fortunate or even with friends and loved ones, what has been
provided for them by the almighty God.

I wish to use this yuletide which is a season for appreciation, reflection and
soberness to say thank you to all staff of this university for the support they gave
and continue to give throughout the year 2007. No amount of success could
have been chocked by the University if it were not for the relentless support and
cooperation given by the hard working staff. A special hand of appreciation is
extended to those who accepted to relocate from Mataheko to the permanent
campus in Miotso since last September. We acknowledge that it was a very bold
step taken and a painful sacrifice made by you all, having to report for duty at
7:00 am each day, traveling for 3 hours to and fro as well as getting home late
because of the traveling time with all its attendant problems. Through the
turbulent days, when school reopened in October, you were again saddled with a
lot of problems that surfaced as a result of our unpreparedness for the year. But
who completes a house before moving into it. Whilst we are in our own house
with our roof on our heads, we put the other structures in place. We believe it is
a sacrifice worth making. In the long run, we shall all be remembered for the
role we played and sacrifices we made as the pioneers to the Promised Land,
Miotso. The STM staff also relocated from Mataheko to Dansoman campus and
this was very gracious on their part, considering the inconveniences involved in
change in any form.

For those who are left on the Mataheko and other campuses, we do appreciate
the manner in which you are holding the fort and comporting yourselves,
keeping the flame of the University burning. We are very grateful to you all and
sincerely hope that you would keep up the good work so that the good Lord will
continue to bless and reward you in all that you do for in all good deeds, it is the
Lord who rewards.

Mr. Registrar and all here present, Christmas is also a time when people take
stock of their lives. Stocktaking is a very important principle that promotes
growth and development individually as well as collectively. When we examine
our lives we would find out where we fall short of the expectations of Christ, to
enable us rectify our mistakes and determine to work hard not to repeat those
mistakes. If we do not identify our weaknesses, how then can we rectify or
amend them? Regular examination of ones life leads to maturity making us
increase in our successes and work on our failures to turn them into successes.
Hence at the end of each year, we make resolutions to do things that we did not
do or vow not to do the things that we have been doing which we ought not to
have done.

In our case in Central University College, as students and staff, we need to check
how we related with our superiors, our subordinates, our peers, our students and
visitors who came to the University in the past year?

Did we support each other to make work easier, or appreciate and encouraged
each other to make us feel useful or we undermined, frustrated or discouraged
others when they put in extra efforts?

Did we speak ill about our colleagues and our peers, insulting them behind their
backs or delay their work by slowing down the process when things got to our
desks or did we call to advise them or guide them drawing their attention to their
mistakes or helping them solve their problems when they were in difficulty?

Did we insult our students and blackmail them to give us what you wanted or
else…………… or did we treat them like our brothers, sisters or our children
guiding them and helping them when there was the need?

What about your customers/clients, the public who visited our campuses? Were
we disrespectful to them and treated them with contempt or we were helpful to
them making them feel comfortable to the point that they wished to come again
and do business with our University?

How about our attitude to work in the year? Did we work lethargically without
any form of commitment?

Were we late to work most of the time?

Did we meet our deadlines?

Were there things we should have done but did not do?

How about our academic or our study lives?

Were we regular and punctual at Lectures?

Did we cheat in the examinations?

What about assignments?

Did we do them diligently without copying from friends?

How about our spiritual lives?

Were we faithful with our quiet time?

What about prayers, Bible study and morning devotion? Did they form part of
our daily activities?

Was chapel service important to us?

If our answer to any of these questions is not favourable, then we must re-
examine ourselves, do a SWOT analysis by identifying our strengths, using it to
overcome our weaknesses, resolve to grab every opportunity that comes our
way in the year 2008 and ensure that we use all our might to resist any form of
threat that would attempt to come near us to be a hindrance to our progress.

There is still hope for every one of us. This hope came to all mankind, with the
birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which we are celebrating at this time of
the year. This hope should lead us to greater heights in the coming year.

In all that we plan to do this Christmas season, whether to go to the beach, or

night clubs, or eat good food, or visit friends or relatives, or go to church, we
must remember the essence of the celebration of Christmas which should be
Christ centred and ensure that we do nothing that would displease Him.

We must make sure that whatever we choose to do will be of good report and
the Lord Jesus will not be ashamed to associate with us at the end of the day.

Let us remember that He is the only one who can change our lives for the better
so if we have any habits we are trying to break, let us call on Him to help us get
rid of those old ways that are hampering our match forward.

On this note, on behalf of the Board of Regents, Management and on my own

behalf, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year.

Professor V. P. Y. Gadzekpo, FGA

PRESIDENT