How will the five-year single tenure of vice chancellor of LASU stave off leadership crises in the school?

Like has been done for the federal university system and for far-sighted state and private universities, the five-year single term tenure for the vice chancellor will be a damper on the leadership upheavals in LASU. The development is Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s master’s stroke at crushing one of the heads of the three-headed serpent pouring venom on LASU’s peace. The second head of the serpent, incidentally the biggest of the three that he must crush is the funding gap between what LASU needs to become a truly world-class university and what is currently available to the university from all funding sources.

The third head of the serpent, which happily is already being laid on the guillotine is the off-campus system for students. Now back to the single, five-year term for LASU VCs. Unknown to many, the variable with the greatest direct and indirect impact on our troubled LASU is the ‘second-term for VC syndrome.’ Where the model has been consigned to history in federal and state universities, relative peace characterise the university because people who are vexed by the VCs style of leadership make little or no trouble but simply say, ‘the VC will soon carry his/her trouble and go.’

Why the Lagos State government has waited for this long to experiment with the single-term for the VC baffles me. I reckon it is on account of wanting to be different from the federal system, especially when the state was ruled by a party different from the party at the centre. But this is a big mistake. As executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), I saw the beauty of the single five-year term. Since it took off, the number of petitions against the style of leadership of federal VCs has nosedived. Now the mistake has been corrected for LASU. I am not a betting person, but I am willing to wager that from now on, we shall see a significant positive change in the temperature of “aluta” in LASU. In the lingo of statistics, I am confident of this assertion at alpha level .001.

If you permit a little expatiation, all the beleaguered LASU VCs had the smoke of trouble rise when people sensed the discrete or open moves of the VC to get a second term in office. While other variables interplay in this equation, it is the desire for a second term that fuels the angst of staff, especially those with axe to grind with the VC. I must applaud ASUU-LASU for its doggedness in spite of all odds to convince the Lagos State government to amend this provision in the LASU law.

What were your experiences (both pleasant and ugly) while in office as VC?

Let me begin with my baptism of fire. LASU was on strike and General (then Colonel) Buba Marwa directed me to get everybody back to work within a week. This could not be achieved until after about three weeks. A cabal in LASU was bent on seeing me fail. Now looking back after 20 years, all members of the cabal have been swallowed up one way or the other in their wickedness. A counter group forced the strike to be broken and LASU significantly benefitted because from that time on, General Marwa turned a very favourable eye on the development of LASU.

I should add that one of my pleasant memories derives from this. The Marwa era saw relatively generous funding for LASU, which enabled the university step up its academic and physical development. I was appointed by Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, another fine military administrator of Lagos State, but spent most time under the superintendence of General Marwa as visitor and Bashorun J.K. Randle as chairman of council.

Another pleasant experience was the take-off of the Epe Campus, which my boss, Professor Enitan Bababunmi secured in 1994, from Governor Michael Otedola. Professor Bababunmi as VC got Oyinlola to begin the first phase of Epe Campus development. My second noteworthy unpleasant experience was the gang up of a small clique of Lagosians at Senate who desired the post of VC at all cost. Their unrelenting death threats and intimidation was unquantifiable annoying. God fought my battle as I was soon to be called to service at the national level as executive secretary of NUC.

Why do most vice-chancellors and workers unions in the school always go for each other’s jugular at regular intervals?
 

Let me approach this question from the lens of service as executive secretary of NUC where I was able to see the entire Nigerian university system. The friction with unions is essentially induced by a lowering of entitlements relating to welfare. In turn, the lowering is triggered by the inability of university management to muster financial resources to service such welfare needs. If we decompose all welfare needs, including allowances or issues relating to promotion, they will come to just one factor- funding. Pushing back the blame game one step upstream, university management is unable to meet the financial demands of unions because the proprietor is unable to subvent the university appropriately.

As executive secretary of NUC, we had enough financial muscle to pay all staff in the federal university system hence the index of staff union tension was low. Every month, I signed a cheque of about N5 billion to the University of Ibadan alone for staff entitlements. State universities have the poorest record among federal, state and private universities in funding in the Nigerian university system. Most state universities are given between 50-60 per cent of their funding needs for staff emoluments. When you add the token intake from tuition and other user charges, you end up with about 80 per cent of what the university needs to ‘make the staff happy.’

Some state universities turn to obnoxious paths of bridging the gap between what they need and what comes in as total income by running all manner of poor-quality sandwich and outreach programmes, which end up demeaning the quality of certificates issued by them.  Other factors that contribute to union agitations all over the Nigerian university system are high-handedness on the part of university managers, intolerance on the part of union leaders, failure to objectively and dispassionately apply the rules and regulations governing the university and underlying political forces to harm university management.

All these factors have interplayed in the LASU story since 1986. In the light of the foregoing and other considerations, two things can be done to make LASU crisis free. First, provide enough funding for the university to be able to discharge its academic and social responsibilities to staff and students. Second, require management and unions to explore dialogue to the fullest in conflict resolution.

A new governing council has been put in place, a new vice chancellor appointed and retirement age of professors pegged at 70. Do you think these major demands granted ASUU have the capacity to restore peace in the troubled school?

Yes, they are significant milestones in the quest for a peaceful LASU. Take council for instance, the chairman, Professor Ninalowo is a highly distinguished university academic and seasoned university manager. He has excellent credentials to lead council in its policy formulation and oversight roles. Our new VC, Professor Lanre Fagbohun, one of Africa’s leading lights in environmental law knows LASU in and out. I have known him almost forever and he brings to the office, cool-headedness, freshness of vision, sense of urgency to make a positive impact. I predict that he will be one of the most successful VCs of LASU. The 70-year retirement age for professors will also help to retain our good hands for longer.

As a former vice chancellor of the institution, why is it that the school is almost, always never far away from strife, especially leadership strife?

Because you press people are dense around the location of LASU, you seem to overplay, perhaps over-report our troubles! Talking seriously, and as I stated earlier, we are never far away from trouble when funding is a challenge, when there is leadership deficit and when the unions cannot be meaningfully engaged in dialogue.

What are the major factors that the new vice chancellor should take into cognisance in order to maintain a harmonious relationship with the workforce?

Since this question is on harmonious relationship and not on academic and physical development of the university, I will simply say that the new vice chancellor should not run an opaque government. As much as possible, he should be inclusive in his approach to management. He should explore dialogue to the fullest with staff and student unions, but should not compromise on discipline.

From the feelers I am getting, Professor Fagbohun is very well on track to make these happen. The Fagbohun that we know as a staff of LASU will not be the Fagbohun as VC after a few months or years in office. My experience tells me so. The office changes the person for better or for worse. We will continue to pray for him for every success since he is the captain of our LASU ship.

The last VC of LASU, Prof Obafunwa was not the first to be chased out of campus by workers.  Profs Lateef Hussain and the late Jadesola Akande suffered the same fate. How primitive is this practice by the unions?
Newton’s third law of motion states that action and reaction are equal and opposite. You people out there only hear one side of the story.

I have been in this university forever and a day. I have worked in LASU for the 32 years of its existence (I was employed as a senior lecturer when the university opened its doors in November 1984). The unions in LASU have their excesses but they do not exhibit tendencies that can be labeled as “primitive” when you consider the events triggering their actions.

It is a long story that time will not permit telling in a short interview as this. The short part of the long story is what I mentioned in response to your first question. With the five-year single term, the phenomenon of chasing out VCs who people suspect is angling for a second term in office and is not amiable in his/her leadership, will soon be a dim speck in the firmament of LASU.