The professional future of 13,489 graduating students of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka hangs in the balance as the management of the university have suspended the 51st convocation ceremony.
The convocation of the institution originally scheduled to commence on the 9th through to 12th of March, 2020 was suspended as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University’s Governing Council, Wale Babalakin says the 51st convocation programme was not approved by his board.
Wale Babalakin in a letter dated March 2 to the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Ochono, informed Education Minister, Adamu Adamu that the convocation programme was not approved by his board.
Taiwo Oloyede, Deputy Registrar, Information and Protocol in a chat with journalists confirmed the postponement of the convocation adding that the University would release its official statement Thursday night.
Reacting to the suspension of the convocation, The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Lagos chapter condemned in strong terms the postponement of the 51st convocation ceremonies of the University.
In a press release signed and issued today by the Chairman, ASUU, Unilag chapter, Dele Ashiru, the union said, “AGAIN ASUU UNILAG received with rude shock the news of the postponement of the 51st convocation ceremonies of the University of Lagos scheduled for 9th-12th of March, 2020 barely four days to its commencement.
Preliminary investigations by our Union reveal that the postponement was occasioned by the Pro-Chancellor’s unilateral complaint to the Ministry of Education that the “2019 convocation ceremonies were not approved by Council” contrary to available evidence.
“Our Union therefore condemns in the strongest terms this wicked, inhuman, egoistic, retrogressive, unconscionable and satanic postponement of this historic convocation ceremonies on account of the over bloated ego of the Pro-Chancellor.
“This latest antics of the Pro-Chancellor has further confirmed our age long fears about the destructive machinations of the Pro-Chancellor in the University of Lagos in particular and the entire Nigerian University system in general. Otherwise, how else can one explain the role of the Pro-Chancellor in the calamitous postponement of a convocation ceremony without any consideration for the psychological trauma this may cause the graduands, their parents, relatives, the image and reputation of the University. This is apart from the huge human, material and financial resources that have been committed to planning the ceremony.
“That the Ministry of Education could by fiat request the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to advise the Vice Chancellor to suspend the University’s convocation ceremony without investigating the veracity of the Pro-Chancellor’s claim is not only worrisome but highly depressing.
It is a blatant erosion of academic freedom and University autonomy for which our Union has consistently fought for over the years. Not only that, it is also an eloquent testimony to the leadership bankruptcy at the helm of affairs of our Nation’s education system. But for this kind of leadership, Leviathan like. Wale Babalakin, who erroneously assumes that a University established by an Act of Parliament is an extension of his law firm would not have any business superintending over a University.
KELECHI EWUZIE
