Out of 60000 applicants, you happen to be part of the about 15% who got admitted. By now you must have realised that you cannot exist here in isolation and that Unilag is not an incubator that can shield you from the impact and effect of the larger society.

You will be influenced positively or negatively by fellow students as much as you too will be an influence on others. With your new found status and freedom, you must be prepared for the attendant distractions and problems. The ability to decipher the type of influence you are exposed to, becomes a choice you have to make. May you make the right choices.

The country is currently under the siege of drugs and substance use.
Almost everywhere you look, the problem stares you in the face. A girl almost died from drinking what she thought was Milo. Unknown to her, she was given Colorado- a cocktail of drugs including Canabis among others mixed with Milo, packed and sealed for sale to it’s users.

Synthetic variations of traditional drugs now exist, which are different in colour and smell from the original. You need to be vigilant.

It should be uppermost on your minds that acquiring a University education is not an end in itself. Life-long learning is better and helps you adapt to the rapidly changing realities of the world of employment. You cannot catch massive fish in shallow water. You need to go to the deep and wide sea to catch them. Only you and the effort you are willing to put in will determine how high up you can climb on the ladder of success.

You can be rest assured that you will enjoy a wide horizon without boundaries, except that which you set for yourself. It is common for graduates to make career changes immediately after graduation. Nowadays, we have learned photographers like T.Y. Bello. She graduated in Law and took to photography. I.K. Osakioduwa read economics and veered into media as a presenter and is currently a producer. There are engineers who have begun careers and businesses in the fashion industry. The list is endless. The possibilities, enormous.

To harness the endless possibilities, you would need to develop new habits and have a paradigm shift, You will need to constantly evolve based on the new skills you acquire along the way.

Time will not permit me to go into details of this. You are however invited to participate at one of our sessions coming up on 19th February at NAPTIN Executive Hostel Hall, Adelabu, Surulere, Lagos. You can pick the slips with the details or visit www.stevealabi.com for details.

The African continent and even the world is the stage on which you can bring out innovations and creative problem solving. Robotics will continue to grow and advance in sophistication, but the future belongs to the few who would make the difference as creative problem solvers.
Even they will control the brain of the robots.

Who among us will seize the available opportunities, surmount the inherent obstacles and challenges, proffer creative solutions with their acquired purposeful knowledge and be able to create new opportunities?

How many of us here will have their names mentioned as part of the group that despite all odds are able to chart a course based on the clear idea of the future they will lead us into tomorrow and make the difference?

Once again I dare say, to these belong the future and it might as well include you!