Rejoice with LASU on the exit of evil; it’s the dawn of independence” goes the inscription on a banner carried by workers of the Lagos State University (LASU) to celebrate their “independence” on November 1, 2015!
For years, I have resisted the temptation of writing about the perennial management crises that has rocked LASU until now. I have in the past spoken to students and a few lecturers I was opportune to meet at events to find out what the problems of the institution are. I often get conflicting answers that would’ve made it difficult to write an objective piece.
However, it is assumed that things may begin to change for this 33 year old institution following the swearing in of a new Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun. How would the road ahead look like for Prof. Fagbohun? Would he have the determination and courage to tackle the plethora of issues that has thus far made it difficult for real academic work to flourish? Would he take head on some ‘entrenched forces’ that I hear have turned themselves into fifth columnists?
The height of LASU’s crises was the show that followed the exit of the immediate past VC Prof. John Obafunwa last year. In a ‘celebratory’ mood, workers were decked in Aso Ebi (uniform) specially procured for the occasion. We all know that in Nigeria a celebration would be incomplete without a carnival like setting. The workers hired drummers and praise singers for a “thanksgiving” at the university’s main gate. They also sang “victory songs” while dancing.
They danced through the departments and faculties defying a heavy downpour. In the report I read one union official was quoted as saying: “We are celebrating the anniversary of LASU which clocked 33 last Sunday. But why we call it Independence Day is because we are celebrating our independence from the draconian administration of the outgoing management, headed by Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa.”
For over nine months, Prof. Obafunwa, and other principal officers went on forced exile as they were banished from operating from the campus. Key unions; the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) ensured the former VC never set foot on the campus till his tenure expired last year.
I was really depressed when I read that story in this newspaper. Why and how did workers in an ivory tower descend to this base level of crass mediocrity? I hope we don’t get to see such display that completely negates what a varsity stands for in the years ahead.
If they didn’t know, or perhaps have forgotten, they need to be reminded that a university is not a place for the display of such mediocrity. A university is renowned for some salient functions: teaching nation’s future intellectuals and leaders by providing instruction on various matters of intellectual importance and conducting research for the development of humanity and the society.
By its structure and configuration, a university is different from other educational institutions not only because of the highest level of sophistication that attends its ideals and operations, but also because a university derives its authenticity, its essence, from a dynamism of ideas, clash of ideas, discoveries and constant research in an ambience of free contest of thoughts and minds.
Anyone familiar with the first generation universities in the country would not fail to notice that everything is factored into a varsity campus. From filling stations, supermarkets down to sports complexes, everything is provided so that academics won’t feel the need to leave the premises to look for anything.
There’s a reason for this: the formulation of ideas need thinking at the highest level. Presently working in the creative industry, I know too well that for unfettered creativity and experimentation with discoveries to take place, a university needs total independence in an atmosphere that enables the best to contend with the best. It is only by so doing that any society can progress.
A university must therefore deliberately create an environment that places the highest premium on intellectual freedom because intellectual work can only be done in a conducive environment where scholars feel free to let their imagination run “wild and free” to challenge an existing ideal or system. The world is in a constant flux and you need people with critical thinking faculty to align with rapidly changing times.
Furthermore, the bedrock of any true varsity is academic freedom. Take that out and the chaff you have left is not a varsity but a glorified secondary school. We have them littered all over the place in the country. This is the singular reason there’re often clashes when varsity authorities try to sway, silence, intimidate, threaten, or otherwise influence faculty members to take, renounce, or be silent on any particular position, or monitor ‘controversial’ actions.
Can we then have a peep into how the road ahead would look like for LASU and the new VC? He has vowed to ensure that the institution achieves its statutory mandate. “I feel good,” he stated at the inauguration, “today is one of the proudest days of my life because LASU nurtured me, so my coming here as the eighth Vice-Chancellor is for me a thing of joy and at the end of the day, I see it as the grace of God for me to come back and give my own little bit back to the system that made me.”
He agreed that there were challenges and some of them were not well managed. This notwithstanding, one of his goals would be to ensure LASU remains a citadel of excellence and the management under him would rededicate itself to ensure that the university take its enviable position.
“LASU is a place where you have tremendous potential. The bundle of energy waiting to be put to constructive use is enormous; it is simply enormous. Above all, we have the assurance of our Visitor, His Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, that he will surely support us.” Fagbohun said.
He described his coming as “the beginning of a new dawn. The name of the game is inclusive governance and I am going to work with you to make LASU the greatest. I can’t do it alone. I need everybody. We will think together and leverage on each other’s capacities. The opportunities in Lagos are enormous.”
He promised that within two weeks of his assumption of office, there would be provision of suggestion boxes in strategic places across the school in other to allow members of staff to drop their suggestions, which he promised to work on. I will however advice that in addition, he should provide a portal where suggestions can be sent online in line with present realities.
With the coming of this professor of Environmental Law, described by workers as a “team player,” it is expected that LASU should be on the right track. However, he faces the challenge of dearth of infrastructure; tens of thousands of unsigned degree certificates, relating with militant unions amongst other issues.
On the Aluta front, he may have a breathing space for now as some major demands by ASUU have already been met by the state government, which should facilitate the process of peace building and mutual harmony on the campuses. The fact that there is a groundswell that needs to be done in the school is not lost on Fagbohun. That perhaps explains why he, upon assumption of office promised to restore the lost glory of the institution. He has also promised to restore peace, foster high-level scholarship and consolidate on previous gains.
As he traverse the road ahead, Pushing out wishes the new vice chancellor well in his mission to restore the glory of LASU.
