UNILAG Council Moves Sitting to Abuja
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, Dr. Wale Babalakin, SAN, and the management of the institution has taken a new turn as the Council has scheduled its meeting for the National Universities Commission, NUC, headquarters in Abuja.
This is because of the inability of the Council to meet on the campus of the university in Akoka, Lagos following the declaration of Babalakin as a persona non grata by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, UNILAG chapter. It was said on Wednesday that the meeting of the Council would run from Wednesday to Friday this week in Abuja.
Babalakin and the UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof Toyin Ogundipe, have been at loggerheads over some issues relating to the running of the school. The face-off led to the last-minute suspension of this year’s graduation ceremonies of the school.
Based on the development, ASUU, UNILAG chapter under the leadership of Dr. Dele Ashiru, held a Congress where Babalakin was declared unwelcomed on campus.
When the Council attempted to hold a meeting a few weeks ago, ASUU also fixed its congress for the foyer of the Council Chambers and the Council called off it’s meeting due to that.
As a fallout of the matter, four senior professors in the school including Prof. Lai Olurode issued a statement lambasting ASUU’s stance and saying that the action amounted to overzealousness on the part of the union.
Ashiru, in his reply, said since it was a Congress of the union that declared Babalakin unwanted on campus, it was another duly held Congress that could vacate the decision and say something else.
Though the National President of ASUU Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said that the national leadership of the union was looking into the matter, it seems the efforts have not yielded results.
Ayooluwa Joshua