The crises at LASU – The Sun

The Lagos State University has, for a variety of reasons, been a hotbed of crises for much of its 30-year history. But, the un­healthy situation in the higher institu­tion degenerated about two weeks ago as some of its workers chased the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, from the campus and barricaded its gates, thereby effectively aborting the uni­versity’s convocation ceremony sched­uled for March 19 and 20. This blatantly illegal act was perpetrated in a sup­posed citadel of learning which ought to be a shining example of decorum, law, order and intellectualism. Now, the institution has once again been closed indefinitely as has happened so many times in the past at the expense of its students.

We perceive several unhealthy sig­nals at LASU. It appears that the in­stitution has overbearing and militant workers’ unions that relish confronta­tions with its authorities on sundry is­sues. There is also a super-militant stu­dent body which, probably taking a cue from the unions, sometimes resorts to violence. There also appears to be the problem of questionable interests that will do practically anything to prevent progressive changes in the administra­tion of the institution.

There is also a state government which owns a university but is utterly ambivalent about policy, funding, ad­ministration and protection of its ap­pointees. This, probably, is because the government is unsure of what to do in the face of contending claims of the different interests. But, this should stop.

The Lagos State Government has to accept responsibility for what hap­pens at LASU because it owns the university, funds it and appointed its management. To pretend to be an in­nocent bystander on the matter of the many crises rocking the school is tan­tamount to playing games with the fu­ture of the students and the reputation of the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola.The issues in LASU are legion but three or four stand out. Activities in the school were, for long, disrupted by massive protests by students over the increase in tuition fees. These went on for weeks on end forcing even the Lagos State House of Assembly to in­tervene in the dispute.

When this problem was resolved, the House failed to lay down any policy guidelines about fees in LASU and it fell eventually on the governor to an­nounce a total reversal of the fee in­creases from a height of N348,750 to N25,000 for some departments It was a reversal which most objective ob­servers felt was more political than ra­tional. LASU, therefore, had to refund N209 million to students who had com­plied with the fee increases. Till date, the Lagos State Government has not laid down policies about LASU tuition fees, yet it is obvious to even a casual observer that the government is not comfortable with the level of subsidies it pays to support the institution.

Then, there was the outrageous issue of the 19 doctor of philosophy (PhD) certificates that were said to have been issued in error by the university and had to be withdrawn. This should have been a straightforward matter of ascer­taining through records what the can­didates studied and the research they did to deserve their doctorates. But, the Academic Staff Union of Universi­ties (ASUU) in the university accused the Vice Chancellor of a witchhunt of its members, thereby beclouding the issues. It did not seem to matter to ASUU that the university Senate actu­ally debated and resolved to withdraw these certificates pending authentica­tion.

There were also issues relating to fraud pervading the university. Prof. Obafunwa has explained that N13 mil­lion was expended per month when he arrived but, as he put it: “…By the time I finished my analysis within the first month, the imprest to the office of the vice chancellor was reduced by 66 per cent…I know a particular unit where a particular director was collecting N610,000 monthly. We were able to run the same unit with N90,000 monthly.”

Accusations by ASUU against the vice chancellor range from “withhold­ing ASUU check off dues”, “abuse of laws”, “intimidation and victimization” of students and staff and “collusion with suspended union members to fo­ment crisis.”

We hope the problems of the institu­tion have not overwhelmed the Lagos authorities. A visitation panel of quali­fied scholars and administrators should be set up immediately to thoroughly examine the problems at LASU. Cer­tainly, the university cannot continue to operate epileptically as it has done up till now. The way Vice Chancellor Oba­funwa was chased from the institution is shameful and should not be heard of in an academic institution. Already, the excesses at LASU are casting doubts on the commitment of some of its stakeholders to peace and academics. Let the workers unions in the institu­tion do a soul searching to determine if selfish interests have not overwhelmed their primary responsibilities.