It was a double celebration for the family of Okereke and the Ngor Okpala
Community in Lagos who turned out en masse to celebrate one of their Illustrious sons, Dr Longinus Okereke who bagged a PhD in Law at the Babcock University in Ogun State, while the daughter, Miss Chidindu Okereke also graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from the same University.
For Dr. Okereke, such academic feat comes with hard work, commitment and determination to make a difference in one’s academic endeavours.
Speaking after the convocation and celebration in Lagos, Dr. Okereke noted that the feeling of acquiring the highest level of academic endeavour is indescribable.
He said: “When you are coming from a very far distance. By that I mean when you look back at your background, you do an introspection about your life, family and general background and eventually get to this height. This is the highest level of academic endeavour. It feels so great and it is indescribable to say the least”.
Commenting on why he focused on Public Law and Jurisprudence, Okereke explained that Public Law is an area that has no limitation.
He stated that: “If you look at what is happening globally when it comes to corruption, global politics, international relations, you will know that everything has to do with public law. If you bring it back to Nigeria, you can guess exactly what is happening. There is no day you open your newspaper or tune in to a news channel that you don’t get stories about corruption. Jurisprudence and public law, public law is merely the catch. Now we are talking about legisprudence. Law has evolved beyond the traditional jurisprudence to now legisprudence, hence my evaluation of the effectiveness of Legislative responses to economic and financial crimes.
He continued that: “We are looking at corruption now from legisprudencial standpoint. Next assignment I want to do is to look at corruption from judicial standpoint. This are the areas law is evolving or has evolved. If you are not a researcher, you will not be able to understand that all the corruptions that go on around have their own theories that you can trace to something which will enable you to begin to pinpoint the root causes and why we are having failures”.
Commenting on why he focused on Public Law and Jurisprudence, Okereke pointed out that Public Law is an area that has no limit.
He noted that “It has no limitation. If you look at what is happening globally when it comes to corruption, global politics, international relations, you will know that everything has to do with public law. If you bring it back to Nigeria, you can guess exactly what is happening”.
He continued that “Public law is merely the catch. Now we are talking about legisprudence. Law has evolved beyond the traditional jurisprudence to now legisprudence, hence my evaluation of the effectiveness of Legislative responses to economic and financial crimes. We are looking at corruption now from legisprudencial standpoint”.
He stated that his next move is to begin to think about how to give back to the society.
According to him: “Whether we like it or not, the society is also fair to us and there has to be a way of giving back. We have to go into mentorship to young people and adults and do all sorts of things either privately or publicly”.
Okereke advised other PhD students and others aspiring to be determined and to be self motivated.
“There were lots of obstacles and if I was not motivated, I would have dropped out. So my advise to every other person is that the obstacles will always be there. Nothing good in life comes easy”, Okereke said.
He disclosed that
part of his giving back to the society will be to lecture, though, not as a paid lecturer, but as a visiting lecturer.
Commenting on his academic achievements, Mr Iyke Ako, his bosom friend, Mr. Henry Mougoh, Kelo Okoli, his inlaws and Mr. Victor Okereke, his brother extolled his doggedness and determination to excel coming from a humble beginning.
