He was speaking at the 7th congregation of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at the main campus at Sokode-Lokoe, near Ho, on Saturday (January 21, 2023).

Togbe Afede who was a special guest, said success and wealth were realised through hard work, honesty and perseverance, adding that riches derived through fraudulent means came with no honour.

The Agbogbomefia said the current economic and development challenges facing the country may look overwhelming but they also provided opportunities for graduates to be innovative and use their liberated minds from the education they acquired to address those challenges.

Service to the community

He pointed out that university degrees served little purpose if they did not help to meet the aspirations of the community.

“Therefore, you must focus on things that matter to the people and not the desire to attain money, expensive cars and massive houses with money cash from dubious sources,” he told the graduands.

Togbe Afede noted that greed among the citizenry was not helping to address the needs of country which was debt-ridden, but rather projecting a bleak future for the people.

To reverse that trend, he urged graduates to spearhead a vigorous campaign to inspire Ghanaians to cut their coats according to their sizes and embrace a life of modesty.

Shedding more light on wealth creation, Togbe Afede said it was time Ghanaians sacrificed a bit of their sleep and put more time in serving the nation with great zeal and enthusiasm.

“Poverty is created in bed, and you cannot sleep as if you are competing with the dead and expect success to come your way,” he added.

Enough resource

The Agbogbomefia maintained that Africa had enough natural resource to create wealth for its people, with innovation and appropriate development policies from the state.

The Minister of the Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the guest of honour, commended UHAS for attaining a high standard as a university in international circles within a decade.

He gave an assurance that the government would take the necessary steps to address the infrastructural deficits of UHAS sooner than later.

He entreated the graduands to be humble in their practice, saying a certificate without a good attitude by the holder would be meaningless.

He said the government would continue to invest massively in education, without which the country would not move forward.

Already, he said there were now 1.3 million children in senior high school, as against 800, 000 in 2017 as result of the Free SHS Policy.

The Vice Chancellor of UHAS, Professor Lydia Aziato congratulated the graduates and advised them to be guided by the institution’s ethos and values of excellence, integrity, innovation, and service and care.

“Humble yourselves and learn from all the people you meet in your practice; as you are aware, provision of healthcare requires teamwork, so, be an emphatic team player,” she added.

In all, 826 degrees were conferred on graduands from the Schools of Allied Sciences, Basic and Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy and Fred N. Binka School of Public Health.