Less than 48hours to the end of his five-year tenure, the scorecard of the 12th Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe has been unveiled.
The scorecard which chronicled the new approaches and strategies that have enabled the university to expand its frontiers in the areas of teaching, learning, infrastructural development, research and innovation among others was unveiled on Wednesday at the end of tenure valedictory programme held in his honour.
On November 12, 2017 Professor Ogundipe assumed office as the vice chancellor and steered the ship of the institution despite the gloomy period of internal and external crises.
The VC will finally bow out of office on Friday, November 12, 2022.
Ogundipe on August 12, 2020 was purportedly removed from office by the then Governing Council led by Dr. Wale Babalakin.
The Council had accused Ogundipe of wrong doing, gross misconduct, financial recklessness and abuse of office among others, while it appointed Professor Omololu Soyombo as Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University.
Intervening, President Muhammadu Buhari then, approved the constitution of a special visitation panel to look into the lingering crisis at the university and after careful review approved the report of the panel by reinstating the Ogundipe as the VC of UNILAG while he approved the dissolution of the then university’s Governing Council in order to bring peace, stability, focus and direction to the institution.
Some of the landmark achievements of the outgoing VC include attraction of over 267 research grants worth over N19bn; improved security and accesstransition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, continuous improvement in global ranking bringing the university into the band of 401-500 (top 25percent bracket, Times Higher Education) and first in Nigeria alongside the University of Ibadan in 2022.
The University of Lagos also ranked third best entrepreneurship oriented university in Africa by FORBES. Ogundipe’s tenure is also characterized by massive infrastructural development and upgrades while he optimized the opportunities that came with Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) which is evident in the establishment of the UNILAG Microfinance Bank and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with LEKOSA Ltd to shore-up the university’s finances among others.
Meanwhile encomiums flowed in for the outgoing chancellor at the valedictory programme. Past vice chancellors of UNILAG, Professor Rahmon Ade Bello and Professor Ayodele Ogunye extolled the virtues of Ogundipe.
The Immediate past vice chancellor, Prof. Bello expressed that despite the daunting challenges that almost rubbished the status of the university, his successor was able to achieve so much. “Very interesting events came up under his tenure. In fact, his five years is like 10years. He waded through the turbulences of COVID-19, and the crisis that rocked the university under Babalakin.
“Kudos to you for the successes you have achieved. Five years is more than enough for anyone who knows his or her onions to work, achieve success and leave the seat for someone else. Nigeria can take a leaf from us,” he said while he advised the incoming VC to hit the ground running; praying that God spare his life to also celebrate her as part of the success story of the University of Lagos.
Also, the various workers’ union at the university including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), students’ leaders and friends of the university among others described the VC as a dogged fighter, audacious, articulate and union friendly.
They all urged the incoming VC, Professor Folashade Ogunshola to organize the students’ leadership and take the welfare of staff very seriously.
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