The Committee of Vice-Chancellors
of Universities (CVC) has condemned the removal of the Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
It also criticized the
appointment of an acting VC outside the university’s three Deputy
Vice-Chancellors.
Prof. Theophilus Omololu Soyombo
of the Faculty of Social Sciences was named as a replacement for sacked Prof.
Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
CVC Secretary, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, reacted to the development in an interview on Friday in Abuja.
He noted that the said Chairman
of the Governing Council, Wale Babalakin, knew that the tenure of two members
had expired, so he waited for them not to be in council to get the majority
vote.
“It is like a hatchet job, we
don’t want it to appear like that because of the integrity of the University of
Lagos. The integrity is very high and we don’t want council members to
degenerate to that situation. We have a stalemate and it is looking more in
favour of the university senate than the council.”
Ochefu insisted that the extant law of the university states that if a vice-chancellor is removed, one of the deputies should be appointed to act.
“UNILAG has three deputies, none
of them was appointed as acting vice-chancellor but somebody else entirely.
This is going to pose another problem, senate members will not allow such a
person to chair their meeting because they don’t know him within the context of
laws establishing universities.”
The CVC advised the council to
follow due process in the removal of any vice-chancellor by providing Ogundipe
with an opportunity to defend himself.
The Committee of VCs noted that
though the law establishing universities gave the council the power to hire and
fire a vice-chancellor, it should not be done in an arbitrary process.
Ochefu explained that in the
procedure for removing a vice-chancellor, a joint committee of the council and
the senate must be set up.
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