UNILAG’s non-teaching staff pass vote of confidence in Babalakin

Stakeholders ask VC to proceed on leave

The crisis in the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has taken another dimension as a group of non-teaching members of staff of the university has urged truce between the Pro-Chancellor, Wale Babalakin and the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, while another stakeholder asked the VC to proceed on compulsory leave.

The nine members of the non-teaching staff: Adekola Adetomiwa, Asaju Toye Ogundeji Ademola, Babatunde Oseni ESQ, Godson Nwankwo, Kolawole Kolapo, Koleowo Omolabi, Adeniyi Adebowale and Ibrahim Adenekan, while passing a vote of confidence in Babalakin, said that they were in support of amicable resolution without loss of any position on any side and that their decision was also hinged on their appreciation and support for his leadership.

Oseni, who spoke on behalf of the non-teaching staff during a press briefing at the weekend, said: “The vote of confidence was borne out of a dispassionate assessment of his contributions to nation-building and the university’s progress. He is a man of goodwill.

“Babalakin parades intimidating but beneficial credentials of outstanding performance in business and public life. To us in the University of Lagos, he amply demonstrated his goodwill when, shortly after his appointment as Pro-Chancellor, he convened a village square meeting with all the non-teaching staff members, junior and senior. Through the meeting, he obtained salient information on marginalisation, stagnation, delayed promotion and several untreated welfare matters.

“Today, many staff members have been positively affected by measures, steps and directives, which issued out of that village square meeting. Many stagnated officers have their careers restructured and delayed promotions granted. We are equally aware of his insistence on the need for prudence in the utilisation of the university resources.

Meanwhile, the stakeholders calling for the VC’s removal said: “We, the concerned stakeholders of the University of Lagos, comprising members of staff, old students, parents and students, have finally been vindicated on the current state of impunity and lawlessness, which is actively backed by the university’s ASUU leadership on our darling campus.”

“When the University Council under the able leadership of Dr. Wale Babalakin sought to call management to order from its avowed path of financial recklessness, outright departure and flagrance disobedience to the University’s Edict, it was bullied and accused of seeking to hijack the authority of the Vice-Chancellor. But the sequence of events as recorded by the council minutes and relayed in the latest edition of Campus News, leading to the tragedy of postponing the university’s 2019 convocation, has exposed the unrelenting path of insanity and lawlessness embarked upon by the management as cheered on by ASUU leadership.”