I flew into Abuja for the 2025 MIVA University Matriculation Ceremony with a sense of purpose that went far beyond attendance.
This year marks ten years since the passing of my father, Prince Ifeanyi Favour Abraham (may his soul rest in peace). He was a scholar in the purest sense: disciplined, relentless in his pursuit of knowledge, and deeply committed to academic excellence. Degrees, certifications, courses. He treated learning as a lifelong obligation, not an event. His legacy demanded seriousness, and it shaped the path I walk today.
Last year, in honour of his memory, I established a scholarship to support young Nigerians with the discipline and determination he embodied. One of the beneficiaries, Joseph, is now in his second semester studying Cybersecurity at MIVA. He currently holds a strong Second-Class Upper, but I have made it clear that this must rise to a First Class. Expectations matter. Standards matter. My father lived this truth, and I insist on it as well.
Walking into the Ladi Kwali Hall at the Abuja Continental Hotel, the atmosphere was charged with ambition, seriousness, and clarity. A university that understands what it is trying to build.
A Personal Fulfilment and a Full Circle Moment
One of the most meaningful moments of the day was seeing Dr Abraham Nwankwo, former Director-General of Nigeria’s Debt Management Office and now a Professor of Practice at MIVA. As a young boy, he made quiet but significant financial contributions to my education from afar, without fanfare or expectation. Seeing him now shaping minds as a Professor of Practice made the day feel like a completion of something. Education is a relay race. One generation invests in the next.
Sim Shagaya’s Vision in Full Flight
I have known Sim Shagaya since 2012, first as a visionary I followed from a distance and later as my boss when I served as Head of PR at Konga. Few Nigerians possess his discipline of thought or his long-term obsession with education. uLesson was the first manifestation of that obsession. MIVA Open University is the second. Today, with more than 18,000 students and its first BSc cohort graduating this year, the vision is no longer conceptual. It is operational.
A System Engineered for Capability, Not Convenience
I have followed Joseph’s coursework closely since his first semester. Weekly updates, his quiz scores, the pace of each module, the adviser check-in, and the structure of his assessments. That firsthand visibility removed any doubt about the seriousness of MIVA’s academic engine. There is no laxity in the system. No room to hide. No opportunity to drift. Every week demands evidence of learning, and every lapse is immediately exposed. It is a university built to produce competence, not convenience.
The architecture behind this became clearer from observing Joseph’s progress and from today’s matriculation:
- MIVA Success Advisers: Each student is paired with an adviser who monitors progress, checks engagement, nudges them when performance dips, and provides academic guidance. This eliminates the isolation that weakens most online learning models.
- Professors of Practice: The institution has brought in seasoned national figures who have spent decades shaping the country’s public and private sectors. Those inducted included:
- Dr Abraham Nwankwo
- Dr Joe Abah
- Dr Linus Okorie
- Dr Fene Osakwe
- Others across governance, administration, and enterprise
Their presence means students are not just learning theory but absorbing practical intelligence accumulated over long careers.
- A Rigorous Learning Management System: The LMS forces consistency. Weekly quizzes, timed assessments, structured modules, and analytic dashboards. Students cannot coast. The system measures everything, flags gaps, and demands engagement.
- Transparent Feedback Mechanisms: Students are encouraged to file formal complaints about teaching quality or course delivery. The university responds and adjusts. Academic accountability is non-negotiable.
- Industry-Relevant Course Design: Courses are clean, well-structured, and practice-based. No unnecessary academic padding. Every module pushes students towards actual competence.
Human Stories That Capture MIVA’s Promise
One of the most compelling students today was Mercy Onyeche Obiabo. After a long work sojourn in Dubai, she returned home but soon experienced a health scare in Nigeria that forced her to rethink her trajectory. Determined to pivot into Public Health, she went back to sit for WAEC again simply to qualify for MIVA’s programme. Today, she is on a First Class GPA, and the university’s advisers continue to push her to maintain and extend that performance. Her story reflects the seriousness of intention that MIVA attracts and demands.
The ceremony was professionally anchored by Kayode Okikiolu, widely known as the Gentleman of the Press. His clarity and composure carried the audience through the programme without losing momentum.
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A Historic Keynote by Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
The keynote address was delivered by His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola, who revealed that despite decades of public service, this was his first keynote address at a matriculation ceremony. He said he was pleased that his first was at MIVA.
Fashola had taken time to study MIVA’s course breakdown and linked each discipline to critical national sectors, including public health, digital technology, governance, economics, and data. He urged students to examine why they chose MIVA, why now, and what they intend to build. He reflected on his own choice of the University of Benin and the stark differences between his era and the present. He admitted openly that he did not enjoy academics in his youth, but maturity and responsibility eventually transformed his relationship with learning.
He ended with a charge for the students to be solution-oriented. Approach the world with competence, not excuses. He congratulated Sim Shagaya and the entire MIVA leadership for building an ambitious and serious institution.
Watching the students take their oath, I thought about Joseph and about my father, Prince Ifeanyi Favour Abraham (may his soul rest in peace). I thought about the millions of Africans whose brilliance is often trapped not by lack of intelligence but by lack of structure, discipline, and opportunity.
My father believed in education as the great leveller. Sim Shagaya believes in education as the great transformer.
MIVA is proving that Africa can build a university system that demands excellence, measures progress, and rewards discipline.
This matriculation was a declaration of what African education can become.
And that is why I came.
