More than 12 days after his appointment
as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos
State University, Prof. Fidelis Njokanma
has refused to occupy his office at the Ojo
campus of the institution, our
correspondent gathered on Tuesday.
Instead, Njokanma, who is a professor of
Medicine, is operating from the
institution’s College of Medicine at Ikeja.
It was learnt that the delay in resumption
was because the acting VC was scared of
the charms surrounding the
Administrative Block and the Senate
Building of the institution. The Admin
Block houses the office of the VC as well
as those of other principal officers of the
institution.
Our correspondent gathered that
Njokanma presided over his first Senate
meeting last Wednesday at LASUCOM
amid tight security.
The Lagos State Government through the
university’s Governing Council led by
Prof. Adebayo Ninalowo, appointed
Njokanma, who hitherto was the Deputy
VC, Academic, as the acting VC on
November 7.
He took over the reins of office from the
immediate past VC, Prof. John Obafunwa.
The desecration of the Admin Block and
the Senate Building with charms
reportedly took place on March 16, 2015,
at the height of the dispute between
Obafunwa and members of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities and the Senior
Staff Association of Nigerian Universities,
among other unions in the institution.
Obafunwa, who the union members
accused of maladministration, also did at
use the building in the last six months
leading to the end of his tenure. His first
four years as the VC of the university
ended on October 31.
Other principal officers of the institution
also shunned their offices in the building.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Student
Union of the university on Tuesday
frowned on the recent increment of the
new students’ Acceptance Fee and
Indigienship Verification Fee.
Whereas the Acceptance Fee increased
from N10,000 to N20,000, the verification
fee rose to N5,000 from N1,000.
Reacting to the increment on Tuesday,
the SU President, Adeyemi Onikoro,
described the action as “shocking and
unwarranted.”
According to him, the authorities did not
carry along the student body in carrying
out the exercise.
He added that the move was akin to
“introducing tuition in the institution
through the backdoor.”
He said in a statement, “Our position is
that this increment is unwarranted and
unnecessary at this point in time. It is our
strong belief that the university
management never thought of the
consequences of this before rolling out
information to the effect of the
increment.”
