Two UNILORIN students have landed plum jobs at one of the world’s top financial institutions, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, after an internship programme.
While many Nigerian students are languishing in the faltering Nigerian education system and graduates are scouring the labour markets, two students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have been given permanent employment by the the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, London.
The students, Abeeb Adebayo and Ajoke Ogunshola, had undergone a nine-week internship training programme with the Bank, one of the world’s top financial institutions, Unilorin Bulletin reports..
Both in their final year, Adebayo is an Accounting student while Ogunsola is a student in the Department of Counsellor Education.
As ‘Campus Ambassadors’ They had been selected for the 2014 summer undergraduate internship programme.
It was not an easy path to success, Ongunsola told Unilorin Bulletin.
“In my intern class, we were close to 200 from different continents of the world; Nigeria and Ghana represented Africa,” she said
“Students were selected from the best five universities in each of these countries in order to meet the standard.”
She added that UNILORIN played a big role in making her what she is.
” I think if I have not been in this kind of environment, I might not have been able to do so well because the challenges came and we are able to deal with it and above all, the University of Ilorin has a disciplined environment.
Her fellow ex-intern, Adebayo said the experience would last him a lifetime.
“I gained a lot of experience that I wouldn’t have learnt in the four walls of the classroom; an experience that would last me a lifetime.
This news will do a lot to support UNILORIN’s case that it is the best University in Nigeria.
This point was noted by the Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Abayomi Omotesho.
“I think they have portrayed the University well that they can compete with their peers anywhere; for them to have gone from this relatively backward background –talking about the infrastructure in the country, and to have performed so well,” Omotesho said.
“They have placed the name of the University on the world map, I am sure Merrill Lynch will be very willing in the future to take more interns from the University.”
According to the 2014 UNIVERSITY WEB RANKINGS for Africa released by International Colleges and Universities (ICU) UNILORIN was 20th in Africa bust number 1 in Nigeria.
The internship programme targets undergraduates with a Flair for Finance, regardless of the courses they are currently studying.