The Taraba State University Jalingo convocated 8,525 graduands and awarded honorary doctorate degrees to Maj. Gen. Paul Tarfa (Rtd), pioneer Chairman, Board of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.Others that bagged the award of Doctorate Degrees include Justice Mahmood Mohammed, Former Chief Justice of the federation, and Alhaji Najimudeen Usman Yasin, Vice President of the NLC.The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th combined convocation ceremonies took place at the premises of the university which is located at ATC, along Takum road in Ardo Kola local government area of the state.Our Correspondent reports that out of 75 best graduating students, 30 are first-class who were privileged to have an executive handshake with Governor Darius Ishaku Taraba State.In his address, Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Vincent Tenebe said that the awardees were carefully chosen based on their track records.He explained that the university needed funds to address more challenges, adding that the university had achieved tremendously under his tenure.According to him, the support by the state government had led to the recent ranking of the university from number 170 to 17, making it one of the best twenty universities in the country.Prof. Tenebe added that the university which has 1,221 staff in 2017 had 2,241 staff at present, adding that the institution which had two professors in 2017, now had 79 professors.Delta State Governor, Sen. Patrick Okowa who spoke on behalf of the awardees, commended Taraba State University for maintaining strong academic standards.He also described the university as one of the fastest-growing universities in Nigeria and pledged to support the institution to grow to an enviable height.He thanked his colleague Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State for achieving such a milestone by dusting such a university in the time of unavailability of resources.Sani Sulaiman