…As Council Appoints First Female Acting VC

The Federal Government has said President Muhammadu Buhari as visitor to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will not interfere or influence the work of the Special Presidential Visitation Panel set up to probe the removal of the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.

Prof Ogundipe was removed from office by the Wale Babalakin-led Governing Council over allegations of financial infractions and impropriety.

The President last week announced the setting up of a special panel to look into the processes leading to the removal of Ogundipe and subsequently asked Babalakin, who was the pro-chancellor/chairman of Council and the former vice-chancellor to step aside until investigation was concluded.

President Buhari, the government noted, has no personal interest other than that of the university.

Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu said this during the inauguration of the seven-member panel looking into the removal of Ogundipe from office by the Governing Council of the university.

The special presidential visitation panel, which is chaired by Prof Tukur Sa’ad, has two weeks to complete its assignment and submit a report to the federal government.

Mr Adamu advised the panel chairman to focus its probe only on the issue of the crisis rocking the university.

He said the Federal Ministry of Education over the past one year, had been inundated with complaints and correspondences from the management and the governing council of the university as well as the National Assembly, on lingering governance issues in the institution, including allegations of financial infractions and breach of responsibilities.

He said: “I will like to assure the chairman of the panel that in this case there will be no influence on you or UNILAG by the visitor and I also assure you that the visitation is only on the issue of the crisis in UNILAG.

“Over the past one year, the ministry has been inundated with complaints and correspondences from the management and the governing council of the University of Lagos as well as the National Assembly, on lingering governance issues in the institution, including allegations of financial infractions and breach of responsibilities.

“The face-off has lingered on unabated, in spite of several interventions by the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Education, many stakeholders and the National Universities Commission [NUC), eventually leading to the removal of Professor Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe as Vice Chancellor by the University Governing Council during its meeting of Wednesday, 12th August 2020. The council thereafter appointed an acting vice-chancellor to fill the void.”

The Minister noted that the decision of council to remove Ogundipe from office further opened up a plethora of accusations and counter-accusations.

He appealed to stakeholders in the university to fully cooperate with the panel and to allow it to work unhindered.

“It is instructive to note that the decision of Council, instead of stabilising the University of Lagos, only managed to open up a plethora of accusations and counter-accusations.

“Due process was alleged not to have been followed in the removal and appointment of the vice-chancellor and the acting vice-chancellor, respectively.

“This led to the widespread protests, outright rejection and lack of acceptability of the acting vice-chancellor by the university community,” the Minister stated.

Chairman of the panel, Prof Sahad, thanked the Minister for finding the members of the committee worthy of carrying out the national assignment.

He said the panel will put in its best to ensure the resolution of the crisis rocking the university while calling on the university’s governing council as well as the Senate to give them full cooperation in the course of discharging their duties.

However, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has asked the Federal Government to reconstitute the Special Visitation Panel set up to look into the crisis rocking the University of Lagos.

It also called for a fair and unbiased panel with representatives of all stakeholders in the university system.

SSANU in an open letter to the President, copied to the Minister of Education and Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, dated August 24, argued that the panel, as presently constituted, has the tendency to deepen the crisis rocking the university.

The letter titled, ‘Observations on the visitor’s setting up special visitation panel at the University of Lagos and ordering of a special senate meeting of the university: A call for a review,’ was signed by the President of SSANU, Mr Samson Ugwoke.

It observed that the panel members comprised professors who are members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, noting that its decisions may be influenced by ASUU.

According to the union, “The crisis in the University of Lagos has the Academic Staff Union of Universities as a major participant. Indeed, ASUU is the complainant in this matter.

“The composition of the Special Visitation Panel with a preponderance of professors (ASUU members) is an indication that the decisions of the panel would be tampered with by ASUU.

“The fact that they are former vice-chancellors also implies the tendency to protect one of their own – an embattled vice-chancellor.”

SSANU stressed that a fair and unbiased panel should include at least a retired registrar, bursar, and a prominent individual with undoubted integrity, who should be a former Pro-chancellor

“With the present composition and membership of the panel, the Federal Government may have unwittingly handed over the panel to ASUU to return victory to its member and condemn all others,” the association cautioned.

Meanwhile, the Governing Council which now has Dr John Momoh as interim chairman, has ratified the appointment of Prof Folasade Ogunsola as acting vice chancellor. A Professor of Medical Microbiology, Ogunshola was on Monday elected the acting VC by the Senate of the institution. Until her election as the acting VC, Ogunshola who was the deputy vice-chancellor, Development Services, defeated her counterpart, Prof Ben Oghojafor, the deputy vice-chancellor, Management Services. she scored 135 votes, while Oghojafor scored 31 votes, with one vote voided.

One hundred and sixty- seven members of the Senate took part in the exercise. The Emergency Senate Meeting was presided over by Prof. Chioma Agomo, the former dean, Faculty of Law, while the Director of Academic Affairs, Mrs Ola Makinde, served as the electoral officer. Makinde took attendance of the Senate members as they entered the Prof. J. F Ade-Ajayi Auditorium, venue of the meeting and later called out the members to vote according to how they registered their names.

The third DVC, Prof. Oluwole Familoni, DVC, Academic and Research, could not seek election because his tenure has lapsed and a replacement has not been appointed. Chairman of the meeting Agomo, while speaking with the press shortly after the meeting, said it was done in accordance with the laws and regulations governing the university.

“The Senate Emergency Committee met today and we have just conducted the election of our acting vice-chancellor in line with the directive by the Federal Government.  We followed due process because that is what we have insisted on,” she said.

On how long the acting VC would be in the office, Agomo said going by the directive by the government, it could be until when the Visitation Panel completes its assignment.

The Chairman, ASUU, UNILAG chapter, Dr Dele Ashiru, said with the development, calm has been restored to the university. “We are now awaiting the Visitation Panel believing that all parties concerned will have a day with justice,” he stated.