Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide and Chancellor of Covenant University, recently revealed that nine top international universities influenced the creation of Covenant University.
During the university’s 19th convocation ceremony, Oyedepo shared that he had studied institutions like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Duke, and Dartmouth to develop Covenant University’s unique educational system.
He explained that the insights he gained from these prestigious universities helped shape the core values of Covenant University, although nothing was directly copied. “While nothing was copied, a lot of inspiration was drawn from those studies, which eventually led to the crafting of our core values, making our products very unique,” Oyedepo said. His aim was to provide young Nigerians with quality education that could prevent them from lifelong struggles. “My passion came alive to provide an alternative education, in terms of quality, that would rescue these young individuals from lifelong crises,” he added.
Covenant University, located in Ota, Ogun State, has since become one of Nigeria’s top universities. In the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking 2025, Covenant University ranked as the number one university in Nigeria and sixth in West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the only Nigerian university listed among the top 1000 universities worldwide.
At the 19th convocation ceremony, 339 students graduated with First-Class degrees, representing 23% of the graduating class. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abiodun Adebayo, also announced the introduction of an Open Distance Learning Programme, beginning with Computer Science, to expand the institution’s reach.
Pro-Chancellor Bishop David Abioye advised the graduates to embrace patience as they embark on the next chapter of their lives, highlighting the importance of perseverance and hard work for future success.
