EXCERPTS OF THE GRADUATION PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE CHAIRMAN BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IGBAJA ON Friday, 1st November, 2013

 Gentlemen of the Press

 

2.     I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

3.     It is with great pleasure that I address you today on behalf of the board of governors of ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, on the occasion of our 2013 graduation ceremony.

 

4.     We give honour and glory to God for giving us the grace to get to this stage of releasing our graduands who have successfully gone through an approved programme and are adjudged capable of being recognized and certified by ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja.

 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, IGBAJA

 

The Beginning

 

5.       Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Theological Seminary, Igbaja, started as a Bible College in 1941 with eighteen students as an institution of the Sudan Interior Mission (now Society for International Ministries) for biblical and pastoral training. According to Late Rev. Olatayo.

6.       Rev. W. G. Crouch started the only SIM Bible School taught in English with appropriate subjects in 1941 at Igbaja. The institution was called “Seminary.” It had 14 male students in its first class ever.

7.       They were drawn from various professional backgrounds.

 

AN ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF ETSI DR. SAMSON A. OPALUWAH, ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 49TH GRADUATION CEREMONY ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013

In the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I welcome everyone here present at this very important ceremony – the 49^th Convocation programme of this great Institution, ETSI.  Please permit me to specially welcome the leadership of the ECWA – the President, Rev. (Dr.) Jeremiah Gado, the ECWA General Secretary, who happens to be our Guest Speaker today, Rev. (Prof.) Samuel Kunhiyop, and all members of their team.

2.       It gives me a great pleasure to on behalf of Board of Governors of ETSI, give this address which I can appropriately call my inaugural address to this august assembly as the new Chairman.

3.       I however can’t afford to continue with this address without first and foremost acknowledging the great work of the immediate past Board of Governors under the most enviable leadership of Prof. Luke Dayo Edungbola.  This is a team that has aptly left its mark on the solid sand of progress in this Institution.  I invite this assembly to please rise and applaud God for the excellent administrative and advisory work this enviable team  had done. May the good Lord reward you for all your labour.

4.       Let me also acknowledge the current hard working management team of the Institution under the visionary leadership of Prof. Julius Lawal, the Provost.  It certainly won’t be an overstatement to assert that this team has, within the last one year, given the Institution a face-lift that beats human imagination.  The development, spiritual and physical, are all there for us to see.  This team also deserves our applause.  So also do the Academic, Faculty and indeed all members of staff deserve commendation for their commitment and zeal to serve.

5.       Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I don’t intend to bore you with the background history of ETSI.  The man who knows it better, the Provost, has already adequately done that.  He has also presented to us a comprehensive update on the academic achievements and the Institution’s future plans to further strengthen this area, especially the efforts to add the NCE programme and courses for the award of PhD to the existing curriculum.  Not the least, I congratulate the 250 students that are graduating today.  They are in this order: 3 each from the Women Bible School and Certificate in Pastoral Studies Class; 12 will be awarded certificate in Theology; 10 Diploma in Pastoral Studies while 17 are graduating with Diploma in Theology.  For the Bachelor of Arts Degrees we have 32 in Christian Education, 38 in Pastoral Studies, 24 in Theology, and 10 in Missions.  At the Master of Arts level, we have 8 graduands in Divinity; 12 in Christian Education, 6 in Missions and Evangelism, 2 in Theology (Old Testament), 1 in Systematic Theology, and 14 in Theological Studies.