A group of Lagos indigenes under the aegis of Omo Eko Pataki has called on the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to appoint a “Lagosian” as the Vice-Chancellor of the state University (LASU).
The group spoke against the backdrop of the visitation panel set up by Sanwo-Olu following the controversy trailing the appointment of a substantive VC.
It would be recalled that the governor had in January terminated the process of the appointment of a substantive VC following a series of petitions on the process and appointed an acting Vice-Chancellor.
The panel raised by Sanwo-Olu comprising former vice-chancellors, seasoned administrators, technocrats and top public servants is headed by the Pro-Chancellor of the Ekiti State University and former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Bamitale Omole.
It was charged to look at issues stalling the appointment of a substantive VC.
But the Lagos indigenes, who spoke through Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtrd), former GOC Third Armoured Division and a trustee of Ọmọ Eko Pataki, said the panel was “needless, time-wasting and diversionary.”
According to him, the impasse over the new VC appointment was “self-inflict.”
He said, “The well-known norm in the appointment of all state universities’ Vice-Chancellor is to give the deserving, well-qualified indigene the opportunity to lead the state institution after all necessary screening processes must have taken place.
“The Governing Board of LASU had shortlisted well distinguished and internationally recognized four professors and forwarded same to the governor since early February. What then is this rigmarole?
“Why this deliberate attempt to sideline a native Lagosian to lead an institution created by the legendary Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande for the sole purpose to create opportunities for our professionals to rise in their various fields of academic endeavours?”
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