There is palpable fear among professors and other members of the academic staff of Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo over who the governor of Lagos State and visitor to the university, Mr Babajide Sanwo- Olu, will appoint as the next substantive vice-chancellor for the university.
The joint-selection committee headed by the chairman of the governing council, Prof Adebayo Ninalowo, had on Thursday completed its assignment and submitted names considered to be most successful candidates among the eight candidates who made the final interview held at the institution’s college of medicine(LASUCOM) to governor Sanwo- Olu to pick the new VC from.
And by implication, the governor is expected to announce the ninth VC of LASU from the list any moment from now.
But the university’s staffers under two groups, namely: the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) of the branch and the Liberators who are mostly professors, expressed worries on who the governor would choose.
They said even though they did not know the identities of those submitted, they want the governor to pick who has the highest score in the final interview.
Speaking on behalf of ASUU, the chairman of the branch, Dr Ibrahim Bakare and the Liberators, Prof Adeleke Fakoya, who is the Director of Ventures and former Dean of Faculty of Arts of the university, said their prayer is one and that is for Governor Sanwo- Olu to appoint whoever that emerged best among the three names submitted to him.
They said the selection committee had done their bit by following due process to arrive at the three recommended names.
They said though they knew that the governor had prerogative power to appoint whoever deems fit among the trio, he should pick the best on the list and not the second nor third best.
They said the selection committee had put all factors including intelligence and competencies of all the applicants into consideration to produce the final list and no other factor should be considered again by the governor to pick the new vice-chancellor.
They said they wanted the governor to sustain the experiment of picking the best candidate on the list as it was done for the first time in the history of the university in the case of the last vice-chancellor.
They said Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun, the immediate past vice-chancellor, was appointed in 2016 based on his emergence as the best among the three names submitted to the then visitor to the university, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.
They said LASU could not afford to go backward again having been put from nowhere to the right path by Prof Fagbohun, who left the office on January 11 following the expiration of his five-year single tenure.
They said as critical stakeholders in the system, they wanted the university to continue to progress in all spheres including having an uninterrupted academic calendar, peaceful atmosphere, good image, united workers and students, promotion of scholarship, networking, the attraction of more research grants, winning of more laurels and be a good partner with the state government.
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