UNILAG crisis: Committee of Vice Chancellors demand due process in removal of VC

The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Universities in Nigeria (CVC) has called on the Governing Council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to follow due process in the removal of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.

The CVC urged the council to provide Ogundipe the opportunity to defend himself.

Secretary General of the CVC, Prof. Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, made the call in Abuja during an interview with journalists.

Ochefu stated that the law establishing universities gives the council the power to hire and fire a vice chancellor but not in an arbitrary manner.

He said: “The challenge we have with this particular action is that the university community is saying that the council did not follow due process and indeed the communication from the embattled vice chancellor is clear.

“It is very clear just like the process of selecting a vice chancellor. You have a selection committee and they will advertise the job and interview the applicants and make recommendation to the council and the council will appoint one person out of the three applicants.

“To remove a vice chancellor, you also have to set up a joint council Senate committee that will charge the vice chancellor. He will be given the opportunity to defend himself and from there, the submission will be presented to the council and they will now take the decision.”

He noted that, “what the university community is saying in Unilag is that this process was not followed.”

“A committee was set up charging the vice chancellor of a number of issues but he was not given the opportunity to defend himself and we believe that the law has not be properly adhered to here,” he stressed.