APWEN Honors Ayisat Folasade Adedokun as Nigeria’s Best Female Engineering Graduate at 2022 National Conference in Abuja
At the 2022 National Conference of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN National Headquarters), held from September 19–22, 2022, at Sandralia Hotel, Abuja, Ayisat Folasade Adedokun received one of the most prestigious recognitions in Nigerian engineering education.
APWEN officially honored her as the Best Female Graduating Student in Nigerian Public Universities (2020/2021) in the Faculty of Engineering, a national distinction awarded only to the most outstanding female engineering scholar in the country.
Adedokun’s recognition by APWEN and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) marked one of the highest honors ever awarded to a female engineering graduate in Nigeria.
Her remarkable academic record, graduating with First Class Honours, earning a CGPA of 4.88 on a 5.00 scale, from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), placed her at the forefront of engineering graduates nationwide.
During the ceremony, which brought together senior engineers, industry leaders, and academic representatives from across Nigeria, Adedokun was presented with a ₦50,000 cheque and an HP laptop, symbols of her exceptional achievement.
Photographs from the event show her standing at center stage as APWEN executives applaud her accomplishments, capturing a defining moment in her rising prominence within the engineering profession.
This national award was the culmination of an extraordinary series of honors that positioned Adedokun as one of the most celebrated engineering graduates in recent Nigerian history. In May 2022, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the country’s premier professional engineering body, bestowed upon her its two highest distinctions for students within the field of engineering:
• NSE Award for Overall Best Student in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, LAUTECH, and
• NSE Award for Best Student in Computer Engineering, LAUTECH.
These honors recognized not only her superior academic performance but also her demonstrated excellence across core engineering disciplines. Her outstanding achievements further earned her multiple Awards of Excellence from APWEN, which
acknowledged her as:
• Best Female Graduate in the Department of Computer Engineering, LAUTECH, and
• Overall Best Female Graduate in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, LAUTECH.
These recognitions, granted by a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers devoted to advancing women in engineering, highlighted her exceptional leadership potential, academic distinction, and the significance of her contributions to the engineering community.
Adedokun’s record of recognition extends beyond academic institutions and professional bodies. In November 2021, the Oyo State Government honored her with an Award of Appreciation for her “Years of Outstanding Leadership, Service, Concern and Support” toward the student community. This award signaled the broader societal impact of her work, reflecting her influence not only in academic circles but also in statewide leadership and service.
These accolades collectively illustrate a pattern of nationally recognized excellence, meeting and surpassing standards typically associated with top engineering graduates across Nigeria. Adedokun’s achievements are particularly notable given the scale and competitiveness of engineering programs in Nigerian public universities, which host tens of thousands of students annually.
Being singled out as the nation’s top female engineering graduate demonstrates an uncommon level of distinction that is rarely achieved at such an early stage of an engineering career.
The breadth and prestige of the awards, spanning national government bodies, the Nigerian Society of Engineers, and APWEN, reflect the engineering community’s acknowledgment of Adedokun’s exceptional talent and contributions. Her recognition by multiple independent organizations, each employing its own competitive selection processes, provides compelling evidence that she has risen to the very top of her field among her peers.
As Nigeria continues its efforts to advance technological innovation and expand representation in STEM fields, Adedokun’s achievements stand as a powerful testament to academic excellence, leadership, and the emerging role of women in engineering.
The national spotlight directed toward her reflects not only her personal accomplishments but also her growing influence within the engineering profession.