There are feelers among University staff that the inexplicable exclusion of those who have become professors, but without PhDs, was as a result of the outgoing vice-chancellor’s desire to have Odusanya as his successor. The question, however, is whether a university that is currently flushing out some of its academics without PhDs on account of the lack of academic progress can afford to have a vice-chancellor who does not possess a PhD.
The tenure of the eighth substantive vice-chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Professor Olanrewaju Adigun Fagbohun, will end on January 11, 2021. However, there are a number of professors who have been shortlisted for interview for the position of the ninth vace chancellor of LASU, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, December 21. Among the five already shortlisted candidates, there are clear two frontrunners, Professors Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello and Olumuyiwa Odusanya, both of the College of Medicine, Lagos State University. The other three contestants are not pushovers. They include Professors Senapon Bakre and Kabir Akinyemi, both of the Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, and Professor Muyiwa Awofolu of the Namibian University of Science and Technology.
Professor Olatunji-Bello is not new to the game. This is her third attempt at the goal, and the chances that she will be appointed as the ninth vice-chancellor are quite bright. She is a professor of Physiology, an astute academic and an administrator per excellence. Ibiyemi once served as deputy vice chancellor (Academic) and later acting vice-chancellor of Lagos State University. She is the current director of the Directorate of Advancement, office of the vice-chancellor, Lagos State University. Olatunji-Bello is also chairman, 2020 National Working Committee of the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO).
Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya came to limelight in LASU politics with his appointment as the University’s director of Research and Innovation by the outgoing vice-chancellor. Odusanya is a professor of Public Health and a Consultant Community Physician. In his role in the Directorate of Research and Innovation, he has to his credit two well organised Research Fairs in LASU in 2019 and 2020. What is interesting about his candidature to the position of the ninth vice-chancellor in LASU is the how and why he has been shortlisted, not having a PhD degree. Although he possesses the Fellowship certificate of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, the advertisement for the position clearly states that such a candidate must be a scholar with significant impact in areas of international supervision and examination of PhD, and must also have supervised students (especially PhD candidates). You cannot supervise a PhD if you do not possess one yourself. The question that is facing the Joint Council and Senate Selection Committee, headed by Professor Bayo Ninalowo, the chairman of the Governing Council is how it arrived at shortlisting Professor Odusanya a few weeks after the Governing Council of the University dismissed many academic staff across different cadres for not possessing PhD degrees.
The shortlisted candidates, meanwhile, continue to explore all avenues to make their cases by visiting political leaders and traditional rulers, including the wife of the former governor of Lagos and current senator, Remi Tinubu, whom some have said to have promised Odusanya, in discussing him with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is believed to have the final say on the matter.
There are feelers among University staff that the inexplicable exclusion of those who have become professors, but without PhDs, was as a result of the outgoing vice-chancellor’s desire to have Odusanya as his successor. The question, however, is whether a university that is currently flushing out some of its academics without PhDs on account of the lack of academic progress can afford to have a vice-chancellor who does not possess a PhD. One of the issues raised against the predecessor of Fagbohun, Professor John Obafunwa, by the staff unions at the peak of the 2014/2015 crisis that rocked the University was that he was unfit ab initio to lead the University, since he didn’t possess a PhD.
At the valedictory speech of Fagbohun on Friday, December 18, shouts of ‘incoming’ could be heard each time he eulogised Professor Odusanya, who was in attendance. It is not out of place for an outgoing head of an institution to be interested in who succeeds him or her. However, caution should be served and Fagbohun should not assume that he possesses a divined-grace-gift to LASU to warrant him become the schemer of a successor, as a matter of his choice and caprice. The recent call by some ‘opinion leaders’ in LASU that Governor Sanwoolu, the Visitor, should pick the next vice-chancellor on merit has been described as part of a coordinated media effort set to intensify in the last week of the year to force the hand of government in appointing a candidate who enjoys the backing of the outgoing vice-chancellor and the chairman of Council. The shortlisted candidates, meanwhile, continue to explore all avenues to make their cases by visiting political leaders and traditional rulers, including the wife of the former governor of Lagos and current senator, Remi Tinubu, whom some have said to have promised Odusanya, in discussing him with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is believed to have the final say on the matter.
The call that merit should be considered in the appointment of the new LASU VC appears unwarranted, especially without a proper articulation of what merit in this case entails. Beyond the proxy war, all the five candidates have some merits, to a reasonable level.
It is unclear yet where the pendulum will swing in this race for the position of the ninth vice chancellor of LASU. Beyond the two leading candidates, the other three also have outside chances. Although Professor Akinyemi is said to be statutory unqualified, not having met the 10 years post-professorial experience stipulated in the advert. It is on the same basis of this 10 years post-professorial experience that a former deputy vice-chancellor (Academic) to the outgoing vice chancellor, Professor A.O.K Noah was disqualified. This is what is fueling the feeling in some quarters that the Joint Council and Senate Selection Committee seemed to have varied the conditions in the advertisement in order to suit some and disqualify others. There is thus a burden of demonstrable transparency on the Ninalowo-led Committee, to ensure that a new round of crisis does not engulf the University on the basis of the selection process.
The call that merit should be considered in the appointment of the new LASU VC appears unwarranted, especially without a proper articulation of what merit in this case entails. Beyond the proxy war, all the five candidates have some merits, to a reasonable level. It is only the governor and Visitor to the University, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu, who is bestowed by the LASU Laws of 2004 to make the choice among the shortlisted candidates after the Joint Council and Senate Selection Committee led by the chairman of Council presents the details of the results of the interview to him. Whether the various political moves by the different parties will influence the Visitor’s decision, it is the LASU community that will bear the outcome, no matter how good or bad.
Olalekan Akinloye writes from Ojo, Lagos, and can be reached through lekanakinloye64@gmail.com.
