ASUU faction denies crisis over withdrawn LASU Ph.D certificates

A FACTION of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) Lagos State University (LASU) on Tuesday denied rumours making the rounds that that the school was enmeshed in internal crisis over the recent withdrawal of 19 doctorate certificates from some persons, including a factional chairman, Adekunle Idris.

  According to the faction, the affected certificates had been re-issued and not a subject of controversy as currently peddled in some quarters.

  Interim chairman of the union, Ayodele Asokere, said the statement credited to some aggrieved members of the school that LASU was in crisis was not true and capable of putting the institution in bad light.

  According to him, the environment is peaceful and students and staff, both  academic and non-academic- were fully and dutifully engaged.

  It would be recalled that members of the Idris-led ASUU-LASU, in company of ASUU in Lagos Zone, last week protested that the school was in crisis, stressing that it was high time Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), looked into the matter. 

  The Idris-led group had complained of victimisation by management, withdrawal of doctorate certificates, alleged incompetence of the vice chancellor, infrastructural decay among others.

  On Tuesday, however, Asokere and seven of the nine affected Ph.d holders (among the academic staff ) said they had received fresh certificates following necessary reviews and corrections.

  The university authority last October ordered that nine lecturers who had completed their doctorate between 2003 and 2013 return their certificates for corrections to be effected. 

  The matter went up to the Senate of the school, when the Head of Department, Marketing, Dr. Scholastica Udegbe, complained that her certificate showed Marketing instead of International Business that she had researched. Further investigations revealed that several other certificates (issued between 2003 and 2013) carried wrong nomenclature, including courses that were not offered in the university.

  Affected candidates, both within and outside the institution, were asked to return the certificates, to which nine lecturers complied, except ASUU chairman, Idris.

  One of the affected lecturers, Dr. Babatunde Yusuf, said they were all directed to return the certificates on or before Tuesday, November 18, 2014. 

  “Nine out of 10 of us complied with the Senate’s directive and handed over our certificates to the issuing body and exactly 72 hours later, the senate met and re-awarded the degree reflecting what we applied for and studied, thereby correcting the anomalies reported,” he said.

  Yusuf observed that the award took into consideration key stages like the area of specialisation, as stated in the application; course work as reflected by area of specialisation; seminars presented in the area of specialisation and lastly specialisation as stated in the thesis.

  “It was after this that nine of us who obeyed the Senate’s resolutions were re-issued with the corrected certificate. Rather than Adekunle Idris submitting his certificate for review and re-award, he has been denigrating and demeaning the power of the university senate and the integrity of LASU,” he said.

  Asokere stressed that there was no crisis in the university, saying “those fanning the embers of crisis in the university were outsiders who are working in collaboration with a few disgruntled elements in the university.”

  According to him, “Please do not be misled by mischief makers and propagandists who are determined to create panic where there should be none and indeed, there is none.

  “I stand here representing the position of all the academics in Lagos State University to state that there is no crisis in the Lagos State University. We desire sustenance of the peaceful and calm atmosphere which prevails in LASU especially as this has brought about so many development that are ongoing especially in the area of infrastructure development in Lagos State university,” he said.