‘I spent my early weeks in office’

Those were the events that led up to the unforgettable Friday. I had anticipated a short and light day devoted to catching up with my mail and attending a meeting with some colleagues in the department. That was not to be. About halfway through my mail, I found invitations to two functions scheduled for that day in honour of Professor Ayo Banjo, whose tenure as vice-chancellor would end the following day. The first was to a thanksgiving service at the university’s Chapel of Resurrection, which was scheduled to start about 45 minutes before I saw the invitation. The second was to a cocktail party in the evening. It was rather inconvenient but I decided to attend because of my respect and admiration for Ayo Banjo. My efforts to reach Tola by telephone to inform her about the party were unsuccessful. It seemed that the telephone at our residence had decided to take the afternoon off! When I got home to have a change of dress, Tola was having her hair plaited, so we agreed that I would go ahead and send the car back to fetch her. It was a nice party but Tola did not arrive until it was over. I was waiting for her at the porters’ lodge when Prof. Sola Akinyele passed by and said: “See you at the dinner.” I retorted: “which dinner?” He then explained that the university was hosting a dinner party for Professor Banjo about an, hour after the cocktail. The invitations had gone out in his name as deputy vice-chancellor and he was surprised and sorry that I had not received one.

He pleaded that my wife and I should attend. He would be receiving the guests at the entrance to the venue (Sultan Bello Hall), and assured me that I would not suffer any embarrassment on account of not having an invitation card. Tola arrived at about that time. Sola apologized for lack of notice regarding the dinner and expressed the hope that we would both attend nevertheless. It was all rather embarrassing, we decided that we had no choice but to attend. The immediate problem that arose was how to ‘kill’ time before the event. We decided to visit our friends, Prof. & Mrs. SKT Williams in Bodija. When we returned to the campus, I bid our driver good night and took over the driving. At the dinner, we shared a table with Professor and Mrs. Fola Aboaba. It was widely expected that the federal government would appoint a new vice-chancellor for the university before the expiration of Ayo’s tenure. Fola asked me for the latest development in the matter. I knew of none. We then spent the time discussing various matters unrelated to DI, while Tola and Bisi Aboaba were similarly engaged. When it all ended we said our goodbyes to various people and headed for home, several kilometers away, in Iyaganku. It was about 10.30 p.m. and, after an unplanned and unexpected IS-hour non-stop schedule, I was exhausted. I remember telling Tola that I might not have enough energy to undress and get into my pajamas before falling asleep. I was glad the following day would be an environmental sanitation day and I could sleep late. Well, again, that was not to be. When we reached home our night watchman informed Tala that one of our neighbours had paid a visit, and had left word that Tola should phone her that night no matter how late. He, Alimi, also gave me what he described as letters which several people had left for me. It all seemed strange but all I could think of was the shortest route to my bed. As I opened the door for Tala to go in the telephone rang. While I was locking the door Tola picked up the phone, then I heard her say, first, “you have the wrong number,” then “Praise God.” I was bewildered when she turned to me and said: “Darling, congratulations. You have been appointed vice chancellor of DI.”

It turned out that the caller, Chief Janet Akinkugbe, had said “ls that Mrs. VC?” To which Tala had responded “wrong number.” She then told Tola there had been an announcement on the NTA that evening, hence the ‘Praise God’. I then looked at the letters Alimi had given me; they were messages of congratulations. We were still trying to take it all in when a car arrived at the gate. It was the Aboabas whom we had bid goodnight at DI. More cars followed, my exhaustion was replaced by elation, and we proceeded to celebrate with drinks. I did not make it to my bed until the early hours of Saturday.

Although I was very tired, the excitement precluded any proper sleep. Moreover, it dawned on me that neither I nor Tala had heard the announcement on TV or radio. Furthermore, I had not received any letter, and I did not know what I was supposed to do. I then recalled that the pro- chancellor had presided at the dinner and, being environmental sanitation day, he could not leave the campus for Lagos or wherever before 10 a.m. At about 8 a.m. I forced myself to get out of bed, I bathed, dressed up and drove to the campus. I put my stethoscope conspicuously on the front seat so that, if I was stopped by a zealous officer, I could explain that I had been summoned for a medical emergency! I told Tola I expected to obtain information and be back within two hours. Some hope! When the pro-chancellor saw me he said: “ve congratulations.” So it was not a dream or an expensive joke! He had sent a note to me that morning but I had left the house before the driver could reach me. I was surprised when he said it was time for us to go to the meeting. “What meeting, sir?” “The meeting of the board of trustees of ISI.” “But, sir, I thought the appointment would be with effect from tomorrow, December 1.” “VC, it has started, let’s go to the meeting.” So off we went to the meeting in the Council Chamber. There, I was congratulated by Professor Ayo Banjo and several others. Ayo was visibly relieved that a successor had been announced and he could handover the affairs of the university. On his request, after the meeting, we went together to a cricket match in his honour. Then we went to the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge, where he insisted on taking me round and handing over the keys. He had already moved out his personal belongings and his family! He congratulated me again and we agreed to meet in the vice-chancellor’s office on Monday, December 3, for him to present his handing over notes. Everything had moved at a bewildering pace for which I had been totally unprepared. As I told a friend later, I felt like someone walking by a swimming pool fully clothed, who expressed a wish for a swim. Where upon his colleague decided to oblige by pushing him into the pool, suit, tie, shoes and all! I had to adjust to the situation immediately. I ordered the stewards to lock up the lodge and keep the keys. I then went off to the residence of the DVC, Professor Akinyele, to greet him and to emphasize that I looked forward to working with him as a team. He was gracious; he promised his full support-he gave it. When I left him, I drove home. I had been away unexpectedly for about eight hours! I felt drained physically, mentally and emotionally.

 

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan

My first day in office was a Sunday. Fortuitously, it presented an opportunity for private thanksgiving in church for my appointment and Tola’s birthday. Indeed, the first day of December has become a special day for me because it is the birthday of Tola and my stepmother (my two wives!), and Fisayo (our third grandson). It is also the day my promotion to the position of professor was approved (in 1976), and the day I became vice-chancellor. On that day in 1991, I had scheduled a meeting of the executive committee of the Nigeria Medical Association (Oyo State Branch), of which I was a second-term chairman. On conclusion of the agenda of the day, I announced my decision to step-down as chairman because, in my opinion, the position could create embarrassing conflict of interest for me as vice- chancellor. Furthermore, I would probably be too busy to devote proper attention to the affairs of the association. My decision was received with regret and understanding; I handed over to Dr. Tony Marinho. That evening I moved into the guest house on the grounds of the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge because the main building required renovation. Tola joined me a few days later. We had thought we would be in the guest house for only a week or two but the main house was not ready for occupancy until six weeks later. I had directed that, because of financial constraints, the mosquito netting all over the building should be replaced while the furniture, carpets, curtains, chairs, dining table, stools and so on, all of which were still serviceable, should be laundered, dry-cleaned, scraped and polished as the case may be. When I complained that the renovation was taking too long to complete, I was told that it would be faster if the purchase of new furniture was approved! I began work in earnest on Monday, December 2, 1991. I met with the principal officers of the university – Professor Olusola Akinyele, deputy vice-chancellor; Chief L Ekanem-Ita, registrar; Mr. Philip O. Omoregie, bursar and Mrs. Olufunmilayo G. Tamuno, librarian – and with staff of the vice-chancellor’s office (VCO), led by Dr.’Dotun Oduneye, the principal assistant registrar PAR(YCO). Thereafter, I received Professor Ayo Banjo who, as agreed, came to deliver his handing over notes. In the course of our discussion, he remarked that the paperwork in the VCO was horrendous. I soon discovered that his description was an understatement!

 

Thank You Visit to the Visitor

I spent my early weeks in office getting familiar with the status quo, the physical and other facilities, as well as the various officers and significant others involved in the work and welfare of the university. In particular, I had close informal interaction with the principal officers, deans of faculties, the postgraduate school and students, director of works, as well as the hall masters of the students’ halls of residence at a dinner which I hosted at the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge. I carried out a fact-finding tour of all the faculties, halls of residence (including the Alexander Brown Hall at the University College Hospital), selected departments and laboratories, the Kenneth Dike and Latunde Odeku Libraries, the Registry, Bursary, Works Department, Water Treatment Plant, Staff Club, Abadina Village (which houses the junior staff), and some of the .residential quarters for the academic and senior staff. My lean entourage always included the PAR(VCO) and the university photographer. The tour gave me a fuller appreciation of the extent and degree of infrastructural degradation and decay in the university, resulting from prolonged underfunding by the government. I concluded that it was important to seek special extra- budgetary funds to carry out urgent repair. I also resolved to fast track action on strategies for reducing the university’s dependence on government for funding. I decided to make a direct appeal to President Babangida for a special grant and to set-up two high-powered committees to look into funding in general and funding for research in particular. I sought the advice of the pro-chancellor on my plan to approach the visitor. He encouraged me to go ahead, but cautioned that the Minister of Education should not be left in the dark about my intention. As it happened, the government owed the university a lot of money for various allowances, which it had been instructed to pay to its staff but which had not been reimbursed.

 

 

 

Therefore, I secured an appointment to see the Minister of Education, Professor Babs Fafunwa. I described the infrastructural decay at the university, and pleaded that the outstanding reimbursement should be made to enable us carry out urgent repairs. He was sympathetic, and described the efforts being made by his ministry to secure funds for all the federal universities. He agreed that I could broach the matter with the president if I had the opportunity to do so. After I had sorted out that matter of protocol, Dr. T.O. Oduneye kindly persuaded her fellow graduate of the National Institute, Kuru, Major General A.K.Adisa, the erstwhile governor of Oyo State, to secure an appointment for me to see President Babangida. The courtesy visit was to enable me thank the president in person for my appointment as vice-chancellor, even though I had earlier done so in writing. With the help of the principal officers, I prepared a one-page summary of the problems and needs of the university, and a one-page summary of the financial implications. Armed with the two documents and selected photographs which illustrated the decayed facilities and inirastructure, all tucked away in the pockets of my jacket, I went to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, accompanied by the bursar and P AR(VCO). President Babangida received me warmly. W~ had a one-on-one discussion for about thirty minutes, in the course of which I thanked him for appointing me the vice-chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university. I described the appointment as a great honour which was attended by the major challenges summarized in my aide memoire, and illustrated by the photographs which I showed him. He was clearly touched and sympathetically enquired what would be required to deal with the essentials. In response I showed him the summary of the financial implications which totalled N300 million. He promised to do something within three weeks. He then directed that the bursar and PAR(VCO) should be ushered into the room, and chatted with us for about ten minutes before we departed. A few weeks later, the media reported that at a meeting of President Babangida with the Committee of Pro-Chancellors (CPC) of federal universities, the government had announced a grant of N25 million to each of the twelve federal universities. Alhaji Lirnan Ciroma did not attend the meeting, but when he came to Ibadan a short while later, he congratulated me on the success of my visit to the president and what he described as the resultant grant of N25 million to the university! I retorted that credit for the grant to all federal universities belonged to the CPC and I was awaiting the promised favourable response to my appeal for a special grant to VI. I was taken aback when he said emphatically: “VC that was the money the president promised. It was sent to the NVC, which decided to share it among all federal universities (sic).” Subsequently, it became clear that the pro-chancellor was correct, as I should have known. The president did fulfil his promise but during its passage through the National Universities Commission (NVC), the funds metamorphosed into a general grant to all the federal universities, including those which neither requested nor needed it. A short while later, I met President Babangida during the launching of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium) in Ibadan. I thanked him for what I described as a nice hors d’ouore and said we were awaiting the main course. He looked me in the face, smiled and moved on. When VI received its N25 million share, I set up a committee under the chairmanship of the DVC, Professor Akinyele, to consider and recommend how the grant should be spent. However, I directed that 10% of the grant should be spent on the library and funds should be allocated to complete the phasing out of the pail system of latrine at the Abadina village and for purchase of office equipment (filing cabinets, typewriters etc.) to facilitate effective administration at the newly-created colleges and provosts’ offices in the university.

 

TEN

BAPTISM OF FIRE

Several unforgettable and very trying events during my first six months in office led me to describe the period as a ‘baptism of fire’. These included the purchase of mattresses for fresh students, the 1992 Adekunle Adepeju Memorial Day, non-issuance of tax clearance certificates to members of staff, attack by armed robbers on Good Friday and closure of the university in May 1992, which is dealt with in a later part of this book.

Mattresses for Fresh Students

The university was closed for six months in 1989 due to national industrial action by the academic staff. Consequently, the 1988/89 session was severely disrupted and the 1989/90 session could not start until January 1990. This greatly affected the 1990/91 and 1991/92 sessions. This formed the background to the first problem I had to deal with. The mattresses in the halls of residence had become unserviceable but there were no funds to purchase new ones for fresh students. The federal government had pegged accommodation fee for each student at N90 per session while each mattress cost about N150. As I explained to the dean of students, Professor ‘Tunde Ikotun and the deputy registrar (students), Alhaji Kehinde Okusanya, the situation we were faced with was analogous to my standing at the main gate to collect the sum of N90 from each fresher in exchange for a welcome gift of N150! That would be ridiculous and unacceptable. Therefore, I directed that each fresher should bring his/her mattress.

 

Adekunle Adepeju Memorial Day

In mid-January 1992, some six weeks after I assumed office as vice-chancellor, Alhaji Kehinde Okusanya came to see me and asked what seemed to me a very strange question. He said: “Sir, what plans should we make for 1 February?” I retorted: “What is happening on 1 February?” He then reminded me that it would be the twenty first anniversary of the death of Adekunle Adepeju. He went on to explain that for each anniversary, the students staged demonstrations, generally caused unrest within the campus and embarked on a protest march outside the campus. Many residents on campus approached 1 February of each year with much anxiety if not dread. I knew that Kunle Adepeju, one of our undergraduate students, was killed by gunfire on 1 February 1971, when the police entered the campus to quell a student riot. It was a very sad incident, which had important repercussions within and outside the university. However, having never lived on campus prior to my assumption of office, I was unaware of the problems associated with each anniversary of that incident. I told Okusanya that I would think and pray about the matter and he should come back the following day.

 

PIX

On inspiration, the next day, I told him that the loss of Kunle Adepeju was a tragedy not just for his family and the students’ body, but also for the entire community of the University of Ibadan. Therefore, we should all observe the anniversary. To that end, I invited the chaplains of the Chapel of the Resurrection and the Catholic Church, as well as the Chief Imam of the UI mosque to a meeting with me, the principal officers, Professor Tunde Ikotun and Alhaji Okusanya. I shared with them my thoughts on the matter and requested the religious clerics to jointly prepare, in cooperation with the students’ affairs office and the student body, a programme for a short memorial service on 1 February 1992 at the graveside of Kunle Adepeju at the cemetery of St. Anne’s Church, Molete, literally at the other end of the city of Ibadan. I directed that the Works Department should ensure that the grave and its immediate surroundings was suitably cleaned and two large buses made available to convey the students to and from Molete. The principal officers, provosts and deans of faculties and students were to be in attendance and the day would be lecture-free. On the day, again on inspiration, I invited the dean of students to join me to ride with the students in one of the buses. The students in the bus were taken aback, became subdued and maintained decorum on the way to Molete. The grave-side service went very well and I insisted that the students should get back on the buses to return to the university campus. On the way back, I could see that the students in the other bus were rather boisterous, singing solidarity songs, while those riding with me felt uncomfortable and subdued. As we approached the campus their restlessness became palpable and some of them started asking me all sorts of questions which, apparently, I answered to their satisfaction. Finally, when we entered the campus and headed for the NISER car park, from where we had taken off, one of them posed a question which, as I recall, seemed to me very tricky. I gave an answer as the bus came to a stop. The next thing I saw was that they came out of the bus very orderly chanting” e don win, e don win,” and went off to their halls of residence. Till today, I cannot remember the questions they asked or the answers I gave. I remain convinced that the words were not mine but spoken by me. I gave and still give God all the glory. Thereafter, 1 February ceased to be an occasion for anxiety.

 

Armed Robbery on 17 April 1992

I travelled by road in my official car, a Peugeot 505 (registration number: 27 FGN 71), to attend the 15th Annual Seminar of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, from 15-16 April 1992. On Good Friday, 17 April 1992, I sat at breakfast with several participants, including Prof. J. O. C. Ezeilo, the first director of the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja. Professor Ezeilo had a light breakfast and set off early because he was going to stop by in Abuja before heading to Enugu to spend Easter with his family. After a full breakfast and exchange of pleasantries with my colleagues, I set off with my driver, Soji Aderinko. Our destination was Benin City, where I planned to attend the wedding of a daughter of my chancellor, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin on Saturday, 18 April 1992. All was going well and the very light traffic enabled us to keep a good pace. Suddenly at about 11.35 a.m. on the Kwoi – Keffi stretch of the road, about 52 km from Keffi, a car sped up to us, when it got beside us, two of its passengers aimed pistols at us and ordered us to stop. They crossed our path and Soji had no choice but to pull over and stop. As he did so, three men jumped out of the car, approached us with drawn pistols and ordered us out of our car. They instructed me to empty my pockets and face the bush on the right. They shouted to Soji to cross the road and face the bush on the other side. They then got into our car and drove off in the direction of Keffi. All I could do was send silent ejaculatory prayers to God for our lives to be spared. I pleaded that God should not allow them to kill me in that remote place where my corpse might not be found. When it became clear to me that the robbers had departed with the two cars and I was still alive, I turned round and shouted for Soji who responded and came out from the other side of the road. The operation must have taken about one minute; throughout and for several minutes thereafter there was no individual or other vehicle in sight. Soji and I then started walking back to Kwoi through which we had driven about ten minutes earlier. A few moments later we heard the sound of vehicles approaching from behind us. We paused and looked back hoping we could stop whoever it was and hitch a ride to Kwoi. As we did so, we saw our car and the armed robbers’ car speeding towards Kwoi at high speed. We instantly ran into the bush while, luckily, they drove on and did not shoot or stop. Of course we immediately changed course and started walking towards Keffi. A few minutes later we flagged down a taxi driven by one Mr. Kenneth Nwokolo, who was kind enough to drive us to the Police Divisional Headquarters in Keffi. There, we met the police area commander, Mr. J.Y. Etu, with whom I lodged a formal report. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Alhaji A. Baba then took Soji and I, accompanied by ASP Mohammed S. Ahmed, in his personal car back to the site of the incident to facilitate preparation of the police report. Thereafter, ASP Baba drove us 52 km (in a different direction) to Abuja, where we went in search of Professor Ezeilo. Of course he was very surprised to see me and horrified to hear what I had been through. He kindly accommodated us overnight, and lent me N2,OOO cash to buy Abuja-Lagos air tickets. I phoned my wife Tola and told her that, due to unexpected official developments, I would have to fly to Lagos the next day, Saturday, while Soji would be riding back to Ibadan. In the circumstance, she was to request my office to send a car to meet me at Muritala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja! I thought I had taken everything rather calmly until Friday night in Abuja, when I developed the most terrible episode of headache in my life. It did not respond to analgesics and I had to take a sedative when I got back to Ibadan on Saturday afternoon. I was in bed and slightly better by the time Tola returned to the VC’s lodge that evening from a family engagement outside Ibadan. She screamed in horror when I told her the truth. We then knelt down in praise and thanksgiving to God. Later I wrote official reports on the incident to the pro-chancellor, Alhaji Liman Ciroma and Prof, Babs Fafunwa, the honorable minister of education. I also wrote to the inspector general of police, through the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, to convey my deep appreciation and thanks for the kindness of the Keffi Police Division Headquarters. My car and its contents were never found, neither were the robbers identified.

 

Non-Issuance of Tax Clearance Certificates

In early 1992, a crisis arose because the Oyo State Government had stopped issuing tax clearance certificates to staff of the university even though they had paid their taxes. This was a very serious matter because the certificates were needed for a wide variety of official and legal transactions, including obtaining the basic travel allowance when travelling abroad. When I asked for an explanation, the bursar informed me that, due to the severe shortfall in the subvention received from the federal government through the NUC, the university had been paying salaries net of tax and other deductibles, but there had been no cash backing for the amounts deducted. Therefore, the Oyo State Government was being owed a large amount of money in unpaid taxes and, consequently, had stopped issuing tax clearance certificates to staff of the university. The bursar and I went to discuss the matter with the Oyo State Commissioner for Finance, we explained the very difficult financial predicament of the university and the great hardship which the legitimate action of the state government was causing our staff. We held several meetings with the commissioner and his staff and by the grace of God, our negotiations were successful. It was agreed that, thenceforth, the university would remit the deducted taxes to the state government as and when due. The outstanding amount would be paid instalmentally over a period of twelve months and the state government would immediately resume issuance of tax clearance certificates.

 

ADMINISTERING THE UNIVERSITY

It seemed to me that the overall administration of the university should be a collective responsibility, with the principal officers joining me in what, so to say, would be the cabinet. When I confided in the registrar, he advised that close daily interaction between the vice-chancellor and the registrar was sufficient to ensure a smooth running of the institution. He added that the design of the administrative building in such a way that the vice-chancellor and registrar could access each other’s office directly via a private staircase supported his view. Of course, I disagreed and went ahead to establish a Committee of Principal Officers, which met weekly in my office first thing on Monday morning, including the occasions when I was absent from the university for one reason -or the other. The director of works, the dean of students, the deputy registrar (students), the chairman of the Council Committee on Security and the chief security officer were in attendance. The principal assistant registrar PAR(VCO) was secretary to the committee and responsible for the production of the minutes of its meetings.

Perhaps to prove some point or test my resolve, the registrar acted strangely during the early meetings of the committee. At the first meeting, he kept us waiting for over fifteen minutes before he arrived and apologized for his lateness. The second week he sent his papers to the venue on time but did not appear himself. I started the meeting after a five-minute wait before he turned up about fifteen minutes later. I briefly described what we had done before his arrival and proceeded with the meeting. The third week, I started the meeting punctually and when he arrived, I merely acknowledged his greeting and carried on with the meeting. Thereafter, he was always punctual!

At each meeting, the committee reviewed the events/ activities in the university during the previous week and those planned for the new week. Strategies were developed, discussed and agreed upon for dealing with anticipated developments. In addition to the weekly meetings, special meetings were held to address specific issues, such as: preparation of the draft budget, guidelines for evaluation and approval of tenders, crises arising from student activism and staff industrial action, as well as new initiatives.

PIX

Water Supply to the Campus

An important initiative concerned the provision of water, which had always been a major problem on the campus. During his last year in office, Professor Banjo secured a generous grant of N29.7 million from the federal government, which was used to draw and pipe raw water from Eleyele Water Works to a water treatment plant built on the campus, pump the treated water to an elevated tank, from where it was gravity-fed to various parts of the campus. It was an excellent project, but the Oyo State Government insisted that the university should pay for the raw water drawn from Eleyele. I made repeated appeals to the incumbent governor, Brigadier General A. K. Adisa, for a review of the policy which I described as unfair for many reasons, including the reason that the VI community is a significant and important part of the population of Ibadan and Oyo State; it is a major contributor to the revenue of Oyo State through the economic activities and taxes paid by its employees; the university was spending a lot of money to pump raw water from Eleyele and treat it on campus, whereas the provision of potable water was the municipal responsibility of government and we were drawing the raw water at the point where it was being discharged into the local stream, so we were literally being charged for using gutter water. Brigadier General Adisa was impressed by my arguments, but said he could not waive the charge because the foreign government agency which provided the funds for rehabilitation of the water works insisted that all users of the water must pay. It would seem that the obvious difference between VI (which was drawing raw water) and the citizens of Ibadan who were being supplied with treated water was lost on the governor and the foreign agency.

Against that background, it seemed highly advisable and important that UI should strive to reduce, as much as possible, the volume of water it was drawing from Eleyele. Indeed, such action was a priority because the Oyo State Government could unilaterally increase the amount VI was being charged per cubic foot of raw water drawn from Eleyele. Fortuitously, Professor B. A. Oso of the Department of Botany had developed a system for treating sewage using the water hyacinth (Eicchornia crassipes) and a cocktail of microorganisms, the details of which he kept strictly to himself. The system was being used at the sewage treatment plant on campus to treat sewage from ten of our eleven halls of residence, because the equipment at the plant had broken down irretrievably, and there were no funds to procure replacements. I was excited by this development and publicised it in my foundation day address and in my address at other fora. I also approved the use of the system at a second sewage treatment plant constructed near the Awolowo Hall of residence. Bacteriological tests, including coliform counts, showed that the final effluent being discharged from the sewage plant into the nearby stream was satisfactory. It was also estimated that the volume of effluent discharged into the stream daily was equivalent to about half of the daily water requirement on campus. Therefore, we drew up a 4-stage plan for recycling water on campus comprising laying of pipes to convey water from Awba Dam to the water treatment plant: construction of a pump house at the dam to pump water to the treatment plant, laying of pipes to convey effluent from the sewage treatment plant to Awba Dam after a necessary survey of the terrain and dredging the lower part of Awba Dam. At its meeting on 5 November 1993, the Council awarded contracts for the laying of a pipeline from Awba Dam to the water treatment plant, construction of sump and pump house at the dam, as well as the supply and installation of three raw water pumps. The contracts were duly executed and on 24 March 1995, I informed the Senate that we had commenced drawing raw water from Awba Dam to the water treatment plant. Indeed during the last six months of my tenure, we did not draw raw water from Eleyele.

 

Contracting out the Cleaning of Offices and the Environment

During the tenure of Professor Banjo, the university contracted out the cleaning of the halls of residence. This led to a significant improvement in the cleanliness of the halls and the elimination of complaints by the students. The success of that initiative led me to adopt a similar approach for the cleaning of the lecture theatres, laboratories, staff offices and the general environment on campus; cutting of grass and collection of refuse. The urge to do this was reinforced by the poor performance of the responsible junior staff and their regular threatened or real industrial action during which offices and lecture theatres would become very dirty and uncollected refuse would create an eyesore and unpleasant stench.

Moreover, during every rainy season, the university had to engage scores of temporary workers, at significant cost, to join the regular staff in grass cutting. Therefore, we grouped the offices, laboratories and lecture theatres into lots, and similarly carved up the entire campus. After a competitive bid, contracts were awarded to various companies to do the work. A committee was established to monitor the performance of the companies and certify their eligibility for payment of their fees. The committee was headed by a no-nonsense senior academic of high integrity, Professor Augusta Omamor. The programme was very successful. The companies performed satisfactorily and in addition, we were able to reduce costs directly by reduction in staff strength through attrition. We also set up a committee on tree cutting, which was charged with the responsibility of preventing indiscriminate cutting of trees on campus; considering, approving and overseeing the cutting of old and dangerous trees and planting suitable replacements.

 

Creation of Second Position of Deputy-Vice Chancellor

In 1980, the Faculty of Medicine of the university was reconstituted by the Council into a College of Medicine, comprising the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry and a Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research and Training. The college was headed by a provost and the faculties and institute by deans and a director, respectively. Later, the Faculties of Pharmacy and Dentistry evolved as separate entities within the college. A Senate committee set up to review the regulations establishing the college had articulated the objectives of a collegiate system to guide faculties or combination of faculties intending to adopt the system in future. These included the achievement of effective decentralization of operations, devolution of powers and delegation of authority and responsibility, as well as minimizing the input of resources and accelerating the process of decision-making and implementation. After ten years of successful operation of the College of Medicine, it was decided that the collegiate system be extended to the rest of the university through the establishment of College of Arts, Social Sciences and Law, College of Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine and the College of Education. Professors Dan S. Izevbaye, S.A. liori, Laolu Babalola and J.A. Akinpelu were elected by the Senate on 24 September 1990 as founding provosts for the four colleges respectively. When I assumed office as vice-chancellor in December 1991, I met grumblings concerning the system, with many people complaining that it was a ‘bottleneck’. During my familiarization tour in the early weeks of my tenure, I found that while cars were assigned to the provosts, their offices did not have adequate equipment for efficient and effective performance of their work. Although staff were posted to the college offices, the personal files of university staff and other files which they needed to work on were retained in the central registry. That was indeed a formula for a bottleneck. When I took up the matter with the registrar, he said the shortage of funds had been a constraint but, in any case, it had been agreed that the transfer of files and other items would be effected by 1 August 1992. When we received the N25 million grant, I directed that part of the money should be spent on equipping the new college offices. A striking feature of this development was the absence of complaint about the administration of research grants, salary advance and so on. It turned out that, while the bursar had effectively decentralized the operations of the bursary, the registrar was not enthusiastic about what he considered to be erosion of his sphere of authority. By September 1993, the bursary had established four college finance offices to undertake accounting activities that included collection of some categories of income, processing of payroll, disbursement of expenditure from goods and services, as well as departments/ units grant votes.

Complaints about the collegiate system increased and were spearheaded by the Faculty of the Social Sciences. There was dissatisfaction with the grouping of the faculties into colleges. An ad-hoc committee on the collegiate system, headed by Professor o. G. Ajao, reviewed the matter and recommended the continuation of the system with nine new colleges. When the Senate debated their report and I called for a vote, there were 14 votes in favour of the report, 24 against and 10 abstentions! The Senate directed that its decision should be communicated to the Council. I had urged that the report be adopted because my experience as a vice-chancellor had demonstrated beyond doubt that the collegiate system greatly facilitated the efficient and effective administration of the university. Therefore, when the Senate decided to scrap the system, I insisted and persuaded it to support the creation of a second position of deputy vice-chancellor (DVC).

On 12 November 1992, the Council considered the decisions of the Senate and directed that the whole matter be referred back to the Senate for reconsideration. On 25 January 1993, the Senate re-affirmed its decision to scrap the collegiate system, this time by a vote of 31 to 19 votes, with 8 abstentions. When the Council met on 28 May 1993, it approved my recommendation for the establishment of a second position of DVC, with effect from 1 August 1993, in line with Section 4 of the Universities (Miscellaneous) Decree No. 11 of 1993, which empowered each university to establish such number of DVCs as Council might, from time-to-time, deem necessary for the proper administration of the university. However, it directed that the Senate should have a further re-think on the collegiate system. On 25 October 1993, the Senate, for the third time, voted against the extension of the collegiate system outside the College of Medicine. This time, the vote margin was 84 to 10, with 16 abstentions. Meanwhile, the NUC had recommended the adoption of the system in universities” sooner rather than later.” At its meeting on 3 November 1993, the Council set up an ad-hoc joint Council/Senate committee to look into the matter. It selected Chief Olinmah, Alhaji Shittien and Mr. Olamogoke as its representatives on the committee and decided that the Senate should elect three representatives to join them and directed that the committee should report back to the Council. The matter was concluded when, at its meeting on 18 February 1994, the Council advised that the concept of the collegiate system should not be discarded and decided that, “for now and with effect from the end of the 1992/93 session,” colleges outside the College of Medicine should cease to exist. It also approved the bursar’s request for the continuation of the four college finance offices because they were very effective in reducing pressure on the central bursary and reducing delay in official transactions. In addition, the Council confirmed the appointments of Professors M.O. Filani and O. O. Oduye, who had been elected by the Senate as DVC (Administration) and DVC (Academic), respectively. Both of them took their seats on among the Council that day.

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It was my good fortune –  and a very beneficial development for the university – that Professors Filani and Oduye were the first DVC (Administration) and DVC (Academic); both of them had served as their heads of their respective departments, deans and members of the governing council of the university. Their rich experience was reflected in their excellent performance. They were very hardworking and dependable gentlemen of integrity, who enjoyed great respect and admiration among academic and non-academic staff. I had the responsibility to draw up their schedules of duty. There was never any clash: We worked together harmoniously and with other principal officers. We developed close friendships, which extended to our families. Under the provisions of Decree No. 11 of 1993 for appointment of DVCs, the vice-chancellor was required to nominate two persons for each position, the Senate would then vote to elect one of the two. Finally, the Council would confirm the appointment. For the reasons outlined later in this book, it seemed to me that I would not serve a second term on expiration of my tenure on30 November, 1995. However, the tenure of the DVCs was due to expire on 31 July 1995. Although the law allowed it, I felt that it would be undesirable for me to nominate replacements for Professors Filani and Oduye, especially as there was no vice-chancellor- designate whose preference I could ascertain. Therefore, with some difficulty, I persuaded Professors Filani and Oduye to agree to a 4-month extension of their tenure. The Council approved my recommendation, and

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the three of us bowed out on 30 November 1995. I owe a debt of gratitude to both of them. Meanwhile, in order to strengthen the administration of the university, I had proposed the creation of three new positions of deputy registrar. The Council approved this at its meeting on 28 March 1995. The system of two DVCs has had a beneficial effect on the administration of the university. It is my strong belief that the reinstatement of the collegiate system which was jettisoned in 1993 will further facilitate the administration and development of the university. However, irrespective of the structure adopted, training and re-training of staff is important for efficient and effective administration of the university. The relevance of this for professional staff in the registry, bursary, works and health departments is readily perceived. Of course, academic staff go on study leave and sabbatical leave regularly. What is usually forgotten, down-played or ignored is the fact that the vast majority of academic staff who serve as deans, directors of institutes, sub-deans and heads of departments have no training in administration. It is usually assumed that the registry staff working with them would put them through their paces as they learn on the job. In order to address this lacuna, my administration decided to organize seminars for teaching and non-teaching staff. Thus, in December 1992, the bursar held a one-day seminar on financial procedures for provosts, deans and heads of departments. In January 1995, a 2-day seminar organized by the registrar, Chief Arowolo, on the University Staff Appraisal System was held for all staff (teaching and non-teaching), with attendance being compulsory for all registry senior administrative staff. In October 1995, a seminar was held for new deans, sub-deans, heads of departments and other interested staff, with senior staff of the registry, bursary and works department as resource persons. After I declared the seminar open, presentations were made on several topics, including:

*Legal Framework of University Governance

*Regulations and Procedure on Student Admissions, Registration and Examinations

*Regulations and Procedure on Student Welfare, Accommodation and Discipline

*Regulations and Procedure on Appointments, Promotions, Leave and General Staff Welfare

*Routing of Correspondence and Committee Work

Thereafter, there was an extensive, wide-ranging discussion. The seminar was very successful and the participants were appreciative and urged that it should be held regularly.

 

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Other Statutory Officers of the University

When I assumed office on 1 December 1991, His Royal Highness, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Erediauwa, Oba of Benin, was the chancellor of the university, while Alhaji Liman Ciroma was the pro-chancellor and chairman of the Council. They were seasoned and highly-experienced administrators. Before ascending the throne of his forebears, the chancellor had served meritoriously in the federal civil service, where he rose to the position of permanent secretary. I first met him when, as permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, he was chairman of the board of the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Alhaji Ciroma too had a distinguished career in the federal service, where he not only rose to the position of permanent secretary, but also served as secretary to the federal government.

I first met him in 1990, when I took my seat with the university Council. I cherish the honour and privilege of working with these two great leaders. They were kind, wise, very understanding and supportive. I learnt a lot from them and enjoyed a close rapport with them. I had the privilege of

 

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visiting the chancellor in Benin during and after his tenure and was graciously received. I also visited Alhaji Ciroma at his home in Kaduna, where I was warmly received by his family. A highlight of my last year in office was the conferment of an honorary degree on Alhaji Ciroma and the first honorary fellowship on Professor Adetokunbo Lucas. Professor Iya Abubakar became the first alumnus to be appointed pro-chancellor and chairman of the Council in 1994. He brought into the assignment, his experience as the former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University. It was a pleasure for me to attend the wedding of his daughter at his home in Yola in April 1995. In 1994, His Royal Highness, O. A. Akawe Torkula, Tor Tiv IV, succeeded the Oba of Benin who had relinquished the position of chancellor at the end of 1992, after eight years of distinguished service. I led a delegation of the university on a courtesy visit to the Tor Tiv in his palace in Gboko. Later, it was my privilege to formally confer on him the honorary degree of LL D, before his installation during the founder’s day ceremony on 17 November 1994. The Tor Tiv and Professor Abubakar were still in office when I completed my tenure. When I assumed office, the other four principal officers had been in their respective positions for several years. They were Professor Olusola Akinyele (deputy vice-chancellor), Chief Ita Ekanem-Ita (registrar), Mr. Philip O. Omoregie (bursar) and Mrs. Olufunmilayo G.Tamuno (librarian). It was a great pleasure to work with these experienced, competent, hardworking and loyal-colleagues. We achieved a lot together, including significant computerization of the bursary and library and initiation of a similar process in the registry. I particularly appreciated Professor Akinyele’s decision to remain as DVC and work loyally with me, although he had been a co-contestant and it had been widely rumoured that he would be the first Ibadan indigene to head the institution. We got on together very well, to the chagrin of many people. On the expiration of his tenure as DVC, he went on sabbatical leave to the USA, where he later settled. Several years after I left office, we had a warm and happy re-union when, during a visit to Ibadan, he came to see me in my office on the UCH campus. Chief Ekanem-lta served the university continuously from 1963, when he was appointed a graduate assistant, to 30 September 1994, when he retired as registrar. He was in his tenth year as registrar when I became vice-chancellor. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the rules, procedures and traditions of the institution. After retirement, he granted an interview which was published in the August 1995 edition of The Premier, a University of Ibadan magazine. During the interview he commented on my leadership as follows:

I think it will be too early to pass any judgment. That will be left to my successor and not me. But what I have noticed is that he has come to office in the era of great turbulence in the system, not only in Ibadan. Everything is tied to funding. But how he has handled them, only time will tell whether he was able to cope properly or not. But one distinguishing feature I noticed in his style of administration is this frequency of meetings and writing minutes. He set up a management committee and has an informal consultative committee, because of the era of turbulence and crisis. We had to meet frequently under great tension, mostly in the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge. Sometimes it is NASU, sometimes ASUU or Senior Staff Association.

Mrs. Tamuno was very efficient and hardworking. She was soft-spoken, calm, wise and had no airs about her – the uninitiated would not know that her husband, Professor T. N. Tamuno, had been the vice-chancellor of the university sixteen years earlier. Under her leadership, the library made significant progress. This is attested to by the following excerpt from the opening address delivered by the NUC executive secretary, Professor Idris A. Abdulkadir, at the NUC Workshop on CD-ROM Technology /TINLIB Software Applications in Nigerian University Libraries.

The University of Ibadan Library has made tremendous achievements in automation and has upgraded its Tinlib license from 4 users to 20 users system. With this upgrade, the library now has an on-line public access catalogue (OPAC). The library has also acquired a large number of databases on CD-ROM. So in terms of CD-ROM technology and TinLib applications in library operations, the library is ahead of other libraries and has the capability to provide leadership and training to other university libraries. It is my sincere belief that our libraries will learn more from the practical experience of Ibadan in the application of CD-ROM technology and TinLib operation, than would be gained from a commercial outfit. The only occasion I saw her ruffled was sometime in September 1995, when she came to see me in the lodge. She showed me an article titled” ASUU Sets for War” published in Friday, 15 September to Sunday, 17 September edition of a journal, Weekend Frontline. The article stated that a panel of enquiry set up by ASUU-UI to look into the operations and management of the library revealed that about N22 million of the money allocated between 1992 and 1994 were not used for the “purposes for which they were originally meant. The report indicted the management style of the incumbent librarian, Mrs.Tamuno, who is said to be throwing in the towel by going on a terminal sabbatical leave for which she had since applied.” The publication stated that ASUU resolved to make copies of the report available to the VC, UI Council, library and other organs and interested parties. It went on to claim that the said ASUU report had earned the librarian a query.

After reading the publication, I told Mrs. Tamuno that I was very sorry, saddened and disappointed by the scurrilous lies therein because, as she knew, there was no truth in the claims and statements in the ASUU report, which I had not even heard of. In particular, no funds had been misused or misapplied by the library and she had not been issued any query. Moreover, as far as I was aware, she had not thrown in any towel and had no cause to do so. I added that I was disappointed but not surprised at the publication because, in my view, it was just another example of the persistent irresponsible behaviour of its authors. It was sad that they had sunk to the level of concocting lies against a highly-respected lady and dedicated officer. I advised that she should not take it to heart and that I would instruct the public relations officer (PRO) to issue an appropriate rejoinder. Then, prophetically, I said it would not surprise me if they proceeded to accuse me of fiddling with funds. I was proven right when an article titled “UI stinks – In N66m Mess” was published with my photograph, in the Monday, 18 September to Thursday, 21 September 1995 edition of Frontline News. The publication claimed that UI had lost N66 million trapped in banks and financial institutions, which had been forced into liquidation by unfavourable economic forces. It claimed that I had admitted investing the money in the banks. Needless to say, the publication was a concoction of lies and fabrications. I felt great contempt for the two articles, the authors and the journal which had made no effort to seek my comments before publication. I asked the registrar, Chief Arowolo, to deal with the matter. He wrote to the chairman of ASUU-UI, Dr. Jimi Adesina, on 21 September 1995, to request for his comments on the two publications. He wrote a reminder to him on 26 September and then wrote a fulsome rejoinder three days later. The matter of funds deposited and lost in financial institutions, which offered juicy interest upfront was raised at a meeting of the Council by one of the representatives of the Senate. The Council setup an ad-hoc committee headed by a Senate representative who was a former chairman of ASUU to look into the matter. The committee concluded its work and submitted a report without bothering to interview me because documentary evidence showed that the money in question was sourced externally by the affected department, which requested the bursar, in writing, to deposit it in a named financial institution of its choice! Although my experience with the various staff unions is addressed in a later part of this book, it is appropriate to relate here another example of ASUU’s disrespect for constituted authority and procedure during my tenure. By a letter, Ref. UI/Senate/95-091, dated 7 September 1995, Dr. Adesina wrote to the registrar and secretary to the Senate to request that ASUU Congress resolution for postponement of the start of the 1995/96 academic year from Monday, 25 September to Monday, 16 October 1995, should be included in the agenda of Senate meeting scheduled for 11 September 1995. Chief Arowolo replied appropriately that: “it is unprecedented for the secretary to Senate to take resolutions of unions to Senate.”

I first met Philip Omoregie when I became VC. It was a blessing to have had him as bursar during most of my tenure. He was very knowledgeable, competent, highly-organized, hardworking, loyal and of great integrity. I placed great reliance on his efficiency and counsel. We became and have remained close friends. Philip’s reputation as a highly competent accountant and administrator with integrity was widely acknowledged among his professional colleagues.

In 1994, the Institute of Chartered Accountants (lCAN) ‘poached’ him from the university to become their first registrar. I was in two minds about this development. I was happy for Philip because it was a deserved recognition and an opportunity for him to render unique service to lCAN; lCAN’s gain was the university’s loss. Philip gave excellent and highly regarded service to lCAN – I know this from the comments of several past presidents of lCAN who are my friends. In 2000, Philip represented lCAN at a meeting of East African accountants held in Nairobi, where I was then working and domiciled. I insisted that he should be my house guest rather than lodge in a hotel. We were chatting one evening when he suddenly asked whether I had heard from’ the Visitation Panel’. I did not know what he was talking about, so he explained. Sometime earlier he had read in the media that the federal government had appointed a visitation panel to Ul to look into a period which included my tenure in office. So he assembled his personal records in preparation for an invitation from the panel. However, he never heard from them and he understood that they had concluded the assignment. He wondered whether the panel had contacted me. I replied that it had not. Indeed I was not aware that there had been a visitation panel. Presumably, the panel had been satisfied with the written records they must have found at the university. I praise and thank God immensely!

My Close Aides

The university is composed of many departments and individuals who have to work together to achieve results for which, fairly or unfairly, the head the institution is accorded the praise or blame as the case may be. I owe great debt of gratitude to all those who worked for the university and contributed to whatever success or progress was achieved during my tenure. I thank especially the deputy vice-chancellors, provosts, deans heads of departments and institutes, hall masters and wardens, as well, Dr. J. A. Odebiyi, who was the chairman of the Council Committee on Security. My particular appreciation and gratitude go to the staff of the vice-chancellor’s office – including Mrs. Omotayo lkotun, Ms. Esther lmevbore, Mr. Femi Dada and Mr Caleb Babatunde – under the leadership of Dr. ‘Dotun Oduneye (aka “My Boss”). Dotun and her husband, Bayo (aka Uncle B), who was my classmate at the CMS Grammar School, Lagos are long-standing family friends. It was quite fortuitous that, shortly before my appointment, the registrar posted her to the vice-chancellor’s office as principal assistant registrar PAR(VCO). She brought into the assignment the rich experience she had gained in her work as a former faculty officer and in virtually all the divisions of the registry. She was competent, efficient hardworking and firm. Her honesty, integrity and loyalty were never in doubt. I remain deeply touched by her solicitous concern for me any day there was an inaugural lecture or university lecture. She would politely insist that I should take a break from the office and go to rest for at least an hour in the VC’s Lodge before the lecture at 5.00 p.m. As the academic procession approached the hall, she would come to me with a copy of my speech and say: “Sir, I hope you have the original in your pocket!” I remain close to the family, including their son, Enitan, and daughters, lyunade and Eyimofe. Mrs. Moji Ladipo and Mrs. Dupe Fagbemi held the fort solid] efficiently and dependably as deputy registrar (establishments) at admissions officer, respectively. I was very pleased that Moji Ladipo and Tayo lkotun fulfilled my high expectations of them when, after my tenure they served creditably in turn as registrar of the university. Mr. Taiwo Okusanya served efficiently and effectively as the public relations officer (PRO). His untimely transition was very painful.

Professor ‘Tunde Ikotun, the dean of students and Alhaji Kehinde Okusanya (no relation of the PRO), the deputy registrar (students) were fantastic. They were adept at anticipating and dealing effectively with the pranks and shenanigans of the students. Engineers N. O. Oyelola and J.B. Fadupin, in turn, served very creditably as directors of Works and Maintenance. The expertise and experience of the latter as an electrical engineer were invaluable for dealing successfully with some critical situations and occurrences on campus. During my tenure, I derived great comfort and benefit from the advice and loyal support of several colleagues and friends within and outside the university. They included Professors Filani and Oduye (my two DVCs), Professors Ibi Ajayi, Segun Odunuga, Joshua Adeniyi, Joseph Obemeata, Afolabi Bamgboye and Mr. Felix Adenaike. Unfortunately, Filani, Odunuga and Adeniyi have answered the home-call. May God grant their souls eternal rest in peace. I continue to enjoy close friendship with the others

Payment of Salary Advance

Tuesday, 23rd August 1994 will ever remain a very memorable day for me and, I dare say, for several members of my administration, especially the acting bursar, Mr. Ugoji and the two deputy vice-chancellors, Professor M. O. Filani (DVC administration) and Professor 0.0. Oduye (DVC academic). It was the day when, for humanitarian reasons, we withdrew the cash sum of about N5 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibadan and paid it to staff of the university as salary advance. We were fully aware of the risks involved but decided that, in the prevailing circumstances, it was the right thing to do. I remember too well that, on that day, Iwore the outward appearance of calmness and confidence which was by no means a true reflection of my inner tension and nervousness. The factors that led to, this most unusual action were external to the university. About a year earlier, President Ibrahim Babangida had been forced to ‘step aside’ in the wake of reactions to his annulment of the results of the 12 June 1993 presidential elections. Chief Ernest Shonekan, to whom he handed over resigned in November 1993 and General Sani Abacha took over power. There was widespread and deep resentment of all these shenanigans with resultant outbreak of violence and civil disorder on the first anniversary of ‘June12’, that is in June 1994. One serious feature of the political and industrial crisis was the prolonged closure of all commercial banks due to strikes by their workers. In the event, staff of the university could not access their June salaries, which the bursary had processed through the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibadan, as usual. As the strikes persisted it became clear that the July salaries, if processed as usual, would end up in the same cut-de-sac. The effects of the cash-crunch were quite visible and we in the university administration started to brainstorm on possible solutions. The acting bursar, Mr. Ugoji, was the first person to propose to me that the July salaries should be paid in cash. Details of his  proposal were outlined in a memorandum which, for reasons of confidentiality, was handwritten and submitted to me in person. A list of names by department showing the amounts payable as at July 1994 salary was to be prepared. The staff would sign against their names after collecting the money, which would have been obtained in large denominations from the Central Bank and enveloped. He envisaged that picking up cash and enveloping could be done on the same day, while payout would be done during the succeeding two days. Appropriate police cover would be required.

The proposal was courageous and commendable. It constituted a good basis for intense consultations and discussion. The logistics of counting and enveloping the exact salary for each member of over 3000 staff were clearly formidable, especially as, in very many cases, the amount would include fractions of a naira. It was probable that, by itself, enveloping the cash would take longer than one day. Therefore the whole exercise, using that strategy, would probably last for 4 to 5 days. For security reasons we could not adopt such a strategy. Following intensive discussions at a meeting on Sunday, 21 August 1994, attended by only the deputy vice-chancellors and the acting bursar, we decided that the most practical and manageable option was for us to a pay  salary advance of N1,000 to each junior staff and N2,000 to each senior staff. We felt certain that, with that strategy, money could be withdrawn from theCentral Bank and paid out to the staff on the same day. Detailed preparations then followed immediately. These included identification of five locations from which heads of departments would pickup the cash and the list of names of their staff, assigning departments to the various locations identification of official and decoy cars to be used and so on. In order to ensure an element of surprise, I addressed a memorandum to all heads of departments, which was dated 21 August, but distributed on 22 August, It stated:

Bank Closure

The university management notes with great concern the hardship being experienced by staffbecause of the prolonged bank closures. Serious thought has been given to the problem and several options are being considered for relief All heads of departments/units are hereby invited to a meeting with management on Tuesday, 23 August 1994, at 12 noon, in the Senate chamber to discuss the -maiier further. Meanwhile, heads of departments/units should advise all their staff to be available at short notice at all times.

In Monday, 22 August, I went to discuss our plans with Chief Anionwu, controller, CBN Ibadan branch and the Oyo State Commissioner of Police. They promised and subsequently gave their full cooperation. Early on Tuesday morning, Mr. U goji and selected bursary staff went to the Central Bank, while I went to Police Headquarters, Eleyele with our chief security officer, Mr. Ojomo and Professor J. A. Odebiyi, chairman, Council Committee on Security. We collected the police escort assigned to us and they proceeded to the Central Bank in two cars with Professor Odebiyi and Mr. Ojomo, while I returned to the campus. At 12 noon, I went across to the Senate Chamber. The convoy arrived from the Central Bank with the cash and went straight into the Cash Office, which had been prepared for the exercise. While Mr. U goji and his staff were collating envelopes for various departments for distribution to the collection centres, I was addressing heads of departments and units-in the Senate Chamber. I briefed them on what we had decided to do and the various arrangements that had been made. I distributed and explained a short “Guideline on Payment of Cash) staff” which had been prepared by Mr. Ugoji, as well-as a list indicating the collection centre from where each of them should pickup the cash for disbursement to the staff of his’/her department/ unit.

To the glory of God, everything went smoothly and the whole exercise was concluded by about 4 p.m. Naturally we were all extremely relieved. It was very heart-warming for me to receive a letter of appreciation from the chairman, Senior Staff Association (SSANU), University of Ibadan Branch and another jointly signed by all the nine members of the Public Relations Unit of the university. Luckily, for the rest of my tenure, we never had cause to even contemplate a repeat performance!

Appointment of Registrar and Bursar

In 1994, the incumbent registrar and bursar, Chief 1. Ekanem-Ita and Mr. Philip Omoregie, retired from the services of the university. The two vacancies were duly advertised in the media. The very sensitive nature of the matter was compounded by the fact that several serving senior administrative staff of the university were expected to apply for the vacant posts. Because of this, I decided to handle everything pertaining to the advertisement personally. I opened, photocopied where applicable, filed, and stored away all the applications, curricula vitae, referees’ reports and so on myself. All these were done in the study in the Vice Chancellor’s Lodge. When necessary, only one highly-trusted secretary, Mr. Caleb Babatunde, was invited to the lodge to type the correspondence. These were sealed in envelopes and despatched by me and copies were filed by me. As a result of these measures there was, to the best of my knowledge, no leakage whatsoever. Seven applicants for the post of registrar were invited for interview, of which five were members of staff of the university. Two of the four applicants invited for interview for the post of bursar were serving officers of the university.

The Council duly constituted a selection board in keeping with the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Decree No.11 of 1993. In addition, Professor Akin Adesola, former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin and Mrs. M.A. Adebowale, director of finance and supply, National Universities Commission, were invited to serve as external consultants for the interviews. I felt strongly that, in filling the vacant top administrative positions, the university should adopt modern techniques which are standard practice in the private sector and should engage the services of one of the many reputable professional firms available in the country. Therefore, I made representations to the pro-chancellor and chairman of Council, Professor Iya Abubakar. He agreed with me but was concerned that the university would not be able to afford the professional fees. Luckily one of the leading firms was Omolayole and Associates, whose principal and founding partner, Dr. M.O. Omolayole, is an honorary graduate of the university and former president of its alumni association.

When I went to see Dr. Omolayole he expressed surprise and happiness that the university wished to benefit from professional technical assistance in the selection of its top administrative staff. He promised to offer his personal services free of charge to the university. However, in the event that he could not be available, one of his partners would come. We would have to pay only a token honorarium to whoever came. The firm would not send us a bill for his services. All was set and interviews were fixed for Tuesday, 6th September and Wednesday, 7 September 1994. Suddenly on Friday, 26 August 1994, it was announced that the boards of all federal government parastatals had been dissolved. Because of the wording of the announcement it was not immediately clear whether the dissolution affected the governing councils of federal universities. On the following working day, Monday, 29 August, I made frantic efforts to obtain clarification on the matter. Two days later, 31 August 1994, I received a telephone message from Mrs. M.T.F. Sojinrin, member of the council representing the Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development that the minister had confirmed that the university councils were not affected by the dissolution. I was requested to inform the pro-chancellor and chairman of Council, accordingly. The message was a welcome relief for me. It was confirmed by a circular letter Ref NUC/ES/138/xxx111/13, dated 2 September 1994, written by the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission to the vice-chancellors of all federal government universities. The letter reached me on 13th September 1994!

Unknown to me, other interesting developments were to follow. The pro-chancellor and chairman of the Council arrived on the campus in the late afternoon of Monday, 5 September 1994. I went to brief him on arrangements for the interviews and to give him his set of files containing all the relevant papers. At the end of the briefing, the chairman said he noted that one of the applicants for the post of registrar, Chief C. O. Arowolo would attain the retirement age of 60 years in another eighteen months or so. He sought my comments. I reminded him that in January 1994, the Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development had issued a circular to the effect that Section 8 of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Decree No.11 of1993, which raised the compulsory retiring age of academic staff to 65 years, should also be applied to all non-academic staff. I remarked that it was a strange and unfortunate directive because, among other things, it meant that even the cooks, stewards, drivers and grounds men of the university would not have to retire until they reached the age of 65 years, when they would have long ceased to be serviceable. I proceeded to make a photocopy of the said circular which I handed over to the chairman. The selection interview for the post of registrar, University of Ibadan, was held on Tuesday, 6 September 1994, which was presided over by Professor Iya Abubakar. Other members of the panel were Professor A.B.O.O. Oyediran (vice-chancellor), Mr. O. Olamogoke, Mrs. M.T.F. Sojinrin (both members of the Council) and Professor A. Soy ode and Professor S.A. Ilori (members of the Senate). Others present were Professor Akin Adesola (external consultant) and Otunba F.A. Ogunbamowo (from the consulting firm of Omolayole and Associates). Two other members of the Council, Mr. F. Ohiwerei and Alhaji M.O. Shittien, who were expected to serve on the panel sent their apologies for absence. For me personally, the procedure was novel and very objective. The seven candidates were invited into the chamber together, briefed on the interview programme and given two minutes each for self introduction. This was followed by two group discussions. In the first group discussion, the candidates were asked to agree on a topic of their choice and to discuss it in an unmoderated group situation for thirty minutes. They chose the topic “Student Participation in University Governance”. The candidates were then given twenty-five minutes to discuss the topic “Communication Problems and the Nigerian Economy”. At the end of the group discussions, three candidates emerged as I probable’, three as I possible’ and one as I unlikely’ for the position, based on an agreed aggregate rating. The candidates were subsequently interviewed individually. Based on the performance of each of the candidates at the group and individual interviews, the panel recommended three candidates to the Council in order of merit.

The selection interview for the post of bursar was held on Wednesday, 7 September 1994. The procedure followed that used the previous day for the post of registrar. The panelists were the same except for Professor Adesola. However, Mrs. M. A. Adebowale, who had been expected to serve as an external consultant did not attend. Her apologies for inability to serve due to circumstances beyond her control were relayed to me in a radio message which we received on 8th September, after two days of unsuccessful attempts to reach us by telephone! For the first group discussion, the candidates decided on the topic “The Funding of Universities: Present and Future”. For the second group discussion, they were given the topic “The Maintenance Culture should not be a Preserve for Engineers but the Responsibility of all”. At the end of the group discussions, two candidates emerged as ‘probable’, one as ‘possible’ and one as ‘unlikely’. Based on the performance of the candidates of the group and subsequent individual interviews, the panel found three candidates appointable and recommended them to Council in order of merit. The recommendations of the selection board were considered and approved by the Council at its meeting held on Thursday, 8 September 1994. Consequently, on Friday, 9 September 1994, I wrote to Chief C. O. Arowolo on behalf of the Council to offer him appointment as registrar of the University of Ibadan, with effect from 1 October 1994. I wrote similarly to Mr. J. O. Alao to offer him appointment as bursar. They both accepted appointment the same day by signing and returning to my office copies of the respective letters of appointment. Now the week beginning on Monday, 5 September 1994 was a particularly busy and difficult one for me. I was, of course, a member of the selection board and therefore participated in the interviews all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. On the evening of both days and in order to ensure confidentiality, I personally supervised the typing of the panel’s reports by Mr. Babatunde in the Vice-chancellor’s Lodge. I similarly supervised the preparation and collation of the relevant documents for the meeting of the Council on Thursday, 8th September. Because of all this, it was impossible to attend to my mail, except for vouchers and other urgent matters which I had requested the principal assistant registrar (vice-chancellor’s office) to put in separate files daily for my attention. To make matters worse, a very close friend and colleague, Professor A.I.O. Williams, former head of the Department of Chemical Pathology had died I had to attend the Christian wake service held for him on the evening of Thursday and his funeral on the morning of Friday, 9th September. Indeed that Friday, I signed the letters of appointment of Chief Arowolo and Mr Ala went to the funeral of Professor Williams and thereafter retired to bed very exhausted.I woke up on Saturday morning feeling refreshed. After breakfast, I went into my study to deal with the large mail which had accumulated during the course of the week. Each day’s mail was packed separately and I started with the pile for Monday. Sometime in the afternoon, I reached the pile that was received on Wednesday, 8th September. It contained two remarkable letters. There was one dated 14 August 1994 (Ref NUC/ES/138/Vol.xx111/11) written by the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission to the vice-chancellors of Nigerian universities. Attached to it was a copy of a letter RefSU /30H/111/132 of 12 August 1994, written by the director-general, Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development to the executive secretary of NUC, executive secretary of the National Board for Technical Education and the executive secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education. The letter from the director-general requested that the 12 January 1994 circular (Ref HE 11/7/Vol.11/36) should be discountenanced. It went on to “confirm that the retirement age of 65 years in tertiary educational institutions is restricted only to academic staff.” The letter from the executive secretary of NUC further stated that: “In view of the fact at no time was the circular under reference valid, it follows that all actions taken based on the circular are also null and void, and situations should reverse back to status-quo.” I duly endorsed the two letters to the registrar and secretary to Council for information of all members of Council. I sent copies to the deputy vice- chancellors, bursar, university librarian and the deputy registrar (establishments) for action as necessary. Truly God moves in mysterious ways!

Strategies for Funding the University

I earlier mentioned my concern about the persistent poor funding of the university by the government. This problem affected all the universities to a varying degree. It was particularly marked at the University of Ibadan, which was established at least, twelve years earlier than the others and, therefore, had more aging and decaying infrastructure and equipment. My predecessors, especially Professors Olayide and Banjo, among other things, initiated measures for generating internal revenue to supplement the grants received from government. An important development was the establishment of the UI Ventures Ltd., a wholly owned but separate entity, with a board of directors headed by the renowned banker and honorary graduate of the university, Otunba M. O. Balogun. In my foundation day address on 17 November 1992, I reported that UI Ventures Ltd. had paid a handsome and increased dividend to the university for the second successive year. Shortly, thereafter, some unsavoury developments made the Otunba Balogun-Ied board to reorganize the ‘company under a new management. The move yielded positive results. It is heart-warming to note that, under successive administrations, the company has continued to grow. However, it seemed to me that the scope for internal generation of revenue had to be broadened. The university can obtain funds from two broad sources: government and non-governmental sources. While arguing and urging for the government to fulfil and increase its financial obligations, it was necessary to explore and target more vigorously the non-governmental sources, which include the Nigerian private sector, our alumni, as well as the local and foreign foundations and funding agencies. Therefore, I initiated measures to address all these potential sources. All my submissions and representations during the budgetary sessions and on other occasions made no impression on the NUC, which continued to group UI with universities which were established more than a decade after it. To make matters worse or, perhaps, as part of its systematic denial, the NUC allocations to the university were made on a single-line basis rather than budgetary headings. In 1992, I set-up two high-powered ad-hoc committees. They were to address the issues of research and long-term financing of the university, respectively. As it happened, the World Health Organization Advisory Committee on Health Research was exploring the possibility of developing, in some member countries, prototype institutions which would fulfil research training, reference and service roles. To that end, Professor B. O. Osuntokun carried out a case study of the University of Ibadan in May 1991. In January 1992, I obtained a copy of the report and set-up an ad-hoc Committee on Research and External Funding for Research at the University of Ibadan. The committee was chaired by Professor O. O. Akinkugbe and its term of reference was. ‘To advise the vice-chancellor on the policy implications of the Osuntokun report and related matters.” The objective was to identify policies and strategies which should be adopted to make the university fully prepared to respond optimally to any approach by the WHO and other external agencies. It was also to increase external funding for research and research infrastructure at the university. Other members of the committee were Professors B. O. Osuntokun, G. B. Ogunmola, E. C. Nnanga, O. A. Bamiro, T. A. Aire, Mark Nwagwu, W. O. Aiyepeku, E. A. Bababunmi, J. O. Obemeata and J. D. Adeniyi (rapporteur).The committee set to work promptly, distributed detailed questionnaire to the academic staff, but did not complete its assignment and did not submit a report. The second committee was the Task Force on Long-Term Financing of the University. It was headed by Professor Afolabi Soyode of the Department of Economics. There were seven other members from within and outside the university. It was to review the pattern of funding and expenditure of the university over the preceding two decades and recommend strategies for progressively decreasing the university’s financial dependence on the government. Its terms of reference were:

1              Study in broad terms the existing university financing structure and patterns from 1970 to date, and assess the adequacy and stability in the context of university mission.

2              Recommend a strategic financing and implementing plan that would best serve the university in the next two decades or more.

3              Make other recommendations affecting university costs and expenditures which, in the light of (2), should be in the long-term interest of the university. For various reasons the task force could not complete its work in the time-frame I had in mind. However, they did a very good job and submitted a comprehensive report. At its meeting on 17 August 1995, the Council considered the report along with the comments of my administration on it.

The Council accepted most of the recommendations in the report, including the creation of an Alumni Office separate from the Public Relations Office and the appointment of a fund raiser. I initiated action on these during my last three months in office. The Alumni Office has been consolidated and expanded by succeeding administrations and now occupies a separate impressive building on campus.

In April 1993, I attended a meeting of 24 selected vice-chancellors, rectors and presidents of universities all over the world held at New York University to examine the global crisis in public education. At the end of the meeting, I paid an official visit to the University of Pennsylvania, with which UI had a linkage agreement. The primary objective of my visit was to see and be briefed on the operations of their alumni relations office. It was an eye-opener. When I returned to Ibadan, I embarked on a strategy aimed at securing and sustaining regular financial support from our alumni. Hitherto our alumni and alumnae had, individually and collectively, made gifts in cash and kind to the university from time-to-time. Without prejudice that tradition, my vision was for an eventual situation in which they would commit to annual financial gifts to UI, no matter how small or large the amount. That would enable the university to estimate and incorporate in its budget annually, funds realizable from the alumni. To that end, I instructed Taiwo Okusanya, the PRO, to establish and regularly update a detailed register of our alumni and alumnae. I also established a magazine, The Premier, to forge a close link between the institution and its alumni. The magazine contained information on developments in the university (including honours, distinctions, benefactions and so on), reports from the branches and chapters of the alumni association, as well as special articles and interviews. It was launched on 17th November 1994 by the pro-chancellor, Professor Iya Abubakar. Its editorial committee comprised Dan Izevbaye (chairman), Niyi Osundare, Adelani Ogunrinade, Sola Akinuli, Sonny Ndekwu, Olarinde Akinleye, Akin Ajibola (editor) and Tunde Adekunle. Unfortunately, The Premier went into abeyance after my tenure. Another initiative following my visit to America was the development of a proposal to establish a University of Ibadan Foundation in London and Washington D.C. to serve as mechanisms for raising and maintaining funds in hard currency to support the activities of the university and, thereby, reduce its dependence on government for financial support. At its meeting on 28 May 1993, the Council approved the proposal in principle. Unfortunately, its implementation was frustrated by several logistical and legal hurdles.

In 1993, I attended a meeting of Donors to African Education (DAE) Working Group on Higher Education in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. At the meeting, we were introduced to the concept of strategic planning. With the progression of time, it became clear to me that, in order to knit the foregoing elements together, the university needed a strategic plan. Therefore, in January 1995, I setup a strategic planning committee under the chairmanship of Professor G. B. Ogunmola. It was to carry out extensive consultations and discussions with all the stakeholders and prepare a strategic plan. The committee was still working hard on its remit when my tenure ended in November of that year. It submitted its report to my successor who proceeded to set up another committee for the same purpose under the chairmanship of Professor Femi Kayode.

Creation of the Faculty of Public Health

In 1988, the Senate rejected a proposal from the College of Medicine that only medically-qualified persons should be appointed to head clinical departments. The proposal was aimed particularly at PSM, a multidisciplinary department. Providentially, I was present at the Senate when the proposal was tabled and debated. My contribution to the debate facilitated its rejection. It is not entirely surprising and probably not a mere coincidence that the matter was resurrected during my tenure as vice-chancellor. This time the move started from outside the university. In accordance with extant regulations and practice, I approved the recommendation of the provost, College of Medicine and appointed Professor J. D. Adeniyi as HOD of PSM for three years with effect from 1 August 1993. Adeniyi, an expert in health education, was not medically qualified. At that time, I was unaware of the shameful shenanigans of some members of the department which had preceded the provost’s recommendation and had continued after Adeniyi assumed the headship. On 24 December 1993, I received a letter (Ref. MDCN/13A/Volll/172), dated 23 December 1993, and titled, “Withdrawal of Accreditation to Train Medical Doctors and Dental Surgeons”, which was written by the acting registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and addressed to the vice-chancellor, University of Ibadan. Among other things, the letter stated that

. . . if the appointment of a non-medically qualified trained academic staff as the head of a clinical department, namely Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, is not reversed on or before 7 January 1994, the accreditation of the college as a training institution for medical and dental graduates shall stand withdrawn from that date.

I was amazed at the content, tone and timing of the letter. I sent a copy of the letter to the provost, Professor B. o. Osotimehin, for his comments. He decided to come and discuss it with me. Daily, from 25 to 28 December, I held consultative meetings with several people, including the DVCs, Osotimehin, Adeniyi and the university solicitor. On 29 December 1993, I wrote to the acting registrar of MDCN to acknowledge receipt of his letter and, to state, inter alia, that:

The issues raised in your afore-mentioned letter bear directly on that procedure and its governing regulations, the review of which can be carried out only by the appropriate organs of the university. Early steps are being taken to present your letter to these bodies for appropriate action, but it is clear that all of them cannot possibly meet before the 7 January 1994 deadline conveyed in your letter. Therefore, I wish to respectfully request that the MDCN should exercise patience and allow the university sufficient time to deal with this important matter which has far-reaching implications nationally and internationally.

On 2 January 1994, I went with Osotimehin to see Dr. M. P. Otolorii chairman, MDCN, at his residence in Lagos. In the course of our extensiv discussions, he emphasized that the deadline of 7 January 1994 could not be shifted. Therefore, on 3 January, I wrote to inform the MDCN that: “ … an act of good faith in the interest of innocent students,” but without prejudice to the outcome of deliberations by various organs of the university, Professor O.A. Adebo, a surgeon and dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry, had been appointed director of the medical/ professional programmes (undergraduate and postgraduate) of the department of PSM pending resolution of the matter.

On 31 January, the Senate approved in principle the splitting of PSl into 2 or more departments. Adeniyi resigned as the head of PSM on 4 February 1994 for reason which I found acceptable in the circumstances. It was a demonstration of maturity and deep concern for the best interests of the students and the university. Subsequently, I appointed Adebo as acting HOD of PSM with effect from 7 February 1994 till further notice. While all this was going on the NPMC, W APMC and MDCN withdrew accreditation for postgraduate training in the departments of chemical pathology, medical microbiology and PSM. At its meeting on 15 February 1994, the court of governors of the College of Medicine noted the decision of the UCH Board of Management to:

… fulfil its obligations to resident and supernumerary doctors in compliance with the regulations of the registering body in Nigeria and the examining colleges of the fellowship diplomas inclusive of the appointment of heads of clinical departments where necessary.

At its meeting of 18 February, the Council of the university noted this when the court of governors presented its report and resolutions. Since then, the Department of Chemical Pathology has had two HODs one appointed by the university and the other by UCH. At its meeting of 28 July 1994, the Council approved the creation of a Faculty of Public Health with five departments and directed that a request should be forwarded to the National Universities Commission (NUC) to that end. The Council further approved that the Department of Community Medicine and the Institute of Child Health should be granted membership of both the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Faculty of Public Health but, for budgetary purposes, the former should be their base faculty. Therefore, I wrote a letter, Ref. VC/GN.5, dated 8 August 1994, to the executive secretary of the NUC, to request for the creation of a Faculty of Public Health in the College of Medicine, consisting of five departments/units, namely: Department of Community Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics and Environmental Health, Department of Health Promotion and Education, Department of Human Nutrition and the Institute of Child Health. The first three departments were carved out of PSM. The NUC duly granted approval, and the new faculty emerged in 2002.

The MDCN saga was curious and most unfortunate. The perceived problem could have been tackled in a less dramatic and confrontational manner. It was strange that the acting registrar’s letter and threats were directed at only PSM. There was no mention of the Department of Chemical Pathology, which had been headed by a non-medically qualified academic since 1990. A professor and HOD at a sister university, who had written in May 1993 to accept nomination to serve as external examiner for MPH examinations in the department of PSM, wrote to Professor Adeniyi in January 1994 to withdraw the acceptance because: “the Association of Community Physicians and the Faculty of Community Physicians have instructed us not to act as external examiners for the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.” It was later that the MDCN teamed up with the NPMC and W APMC to widen the net and include the departments of Chemical Pathology and Medical Microbiology. About the same time, at the University of Benin, a medically qualified professor who lost a bid for re-election as provost, College of Health Sciences, petitioned the MDCN which then wrote to the vice-chancellor of that university to threaten withdrawal of accreditation. The outcome was the dissolution of the College of Health Sciences which comprised the faculties of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry.

At Ibadan, the orderly evolution of the Faculty of Public Health was disrupted, an evolution which the Senate had approved in 1978, but which successive administrations at the College of Medicine had not taken steps to implement. It was not a surprise that the whole thing attracted comments nationally, including editorial comments by The Guardian and Nigerian Tribune newspapers. Because of their historic importance, those editorial comments as well as the correspondence with the MDCN and NUC are reproduced as appendices to this book.

 

TWELVE

THE UNIONS

A vice-chancellor spends so much time on matters relating to the welfare and problems of the staff and students, including interaction and dialogue with their unions. Apart from the student union, there were unions for each of the academic, senior non-academic and junior staff. The contributions of the unions to the welfare and progress of the university could be positive but, in my experience, were far too often negative and adversarial On many occasions the union leaders demonstrated scant regard for truth, deliberately fed their members/ followers with wrong and misleading information and behaved like people who had no interest or stake in the effects of their actions on the institution. They often reminded me of the biblical story of the woman who urged King Solomon to cut the baby in two and give half each to her and her rivaL Sadly but unavoidably, the local activities of the unions were influenced not only by the quality and character of their extant leaders, but also, and usually quite significantly, by forces external to the university, including their national bodies, politicians and the various governments. In this connection, it is relevant to state that the secretariat of the national organization of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was, and remains, located on the campus of the University of Ibadan. The national secretariats for the senior non-academic and the junior staff were, and remain, located in Agbowo, separated from the campus only by the Oyo Road.

In addition, what may be described as municipal matters – especially the supply of water and electricity-regularly caused or aggravated the problems with the unions. Indeed, at a meeting of the Council of the university, I suggested that the post of vice-chancellor should be re-designated ‘Mayor and Chief Security Officer’ because most of my work was devoted to the provision of electricity, water and security, as well as the clearing of refuse on the campus. The members of the Council treated my suggestion as a joke; however, it was intended to draw attention to a very unsatisfactory situation. Some of my experience and interactions with the various unions are recorded in this section.

The Students

By the time I assumed office as vice-chancellor, I had acquired over two decades of close interaction with the undergraduates and my three daughters had graduated from university. Therefore, I was familiar with the boisterous idealism and occasional extravagant behaviour of the young men and women which constitute the overwhelming majority of Nigerian undergraduates. Despite this background, I was disappointed at the behaviour of the students and, especially their leaders during my tenure. There were unnecessary, avoidable, unfortunate and, sometimes, tragic incidents virtually every year. The vast majority of students are rational, peace-loving and focused on their studies but, somehow, vocal minorities are allowed to hold sway and cause trouble, especially at the approach of examinations. The picture is complicated by the unsavoury influence of groups and forces within and outside the university, including cultism. At a meeting of the Senate on 27 January 1992, I drew attention to the fact that, during convocation ceremonies, the degrees of the university were awarded to persons ‘found worthy in character and learning.’ While learning was being evaluated by our examinations, ‘character’ was not being addressed. I challenged the Senate to set acceptable standards of behaviour and establish procedures for monitoring and evaluating character. That challenge is yet to be taken up. Meanwhile, I directed that Staff/Student Liaison Committees should be resuscitated at departmental and faculty levels. Cultism constituted a serious menace and posed a major challenge during my tenure. One cult clash on campus resulted in the death of a student. Another clash on 23 November 1993, involving students from UI and the neighbouring Ibadan Polytechnic resulted in the death of two students, one from each institution. Of course, cases of homicide are the remit of the police. Unfortunately, my efforts to deal with cultism were unsuccessful due to widespread fear among the students and, it seemed, some staff. Necessary information was not forthcoming. On one occasion, I received a report that unmasked members of a cult, armed with dangerous weapons, caused mayhem in a hall of residence in broad daylight. However, even in strict confidence, none of the witnesses could provide information on the identity of any of the perpetrators! Many years later, an initiative led by Professor Emeritus Muyiwa Awe yielded significant beneficial effect but, sadly, cultism remains a major problem in our tertiary and other institutions of learning.

Initially, I perceived the judiciary as another constraint to the maintenance of discipline on campus. However, shortly after my assumption of office, a family friend and high court judge saw me at a social function and asked how I was getting on in my new assignment. In my reply, I complained that the judiciary was a problem because, when students were caught in wrongdoing and punished, they would go to court and get the punishment quashed because it was ultra vires. The judge then gave me a short lecture on why the courts were right. The university is not empowered to try students or anybody for offences listed in the criminal code. They could and should be tried for misconduct using rules and regulations which were appropriately worded. Careful wording was also necessary in all correspondence and the minutes of the proceedings of the disciplinary committees. I derived great benefit from the lecture. Moreover, I insisted that the university solicitor must attend or be represented at all meetings of the disciplinary and other important committees to provide guidance as necessary. We also revised and updated the Students Information Handbook, which was last revised in 1982. The first students’ crisis I encountered started in the second month of my tenure. It was quite serious and, I believe, masterminded by people who were aggrieved by my appointment. The students demanded:

1 . Drastic reduction in intra-campus cab and bus fares, examination fees, add and delete fees, and annual fees paid for medical care at the Jaja Clinic.

2. Lifting of the suspension of students who were still facing criminal charges in court for cult membership and activities.
3. Out-of-court-settlement within 72 hours at a case which they had instituted against the university and which had arisen from a disgraceful incident on 2 August 1991, when they hurled missiles at the entourage of President Babangida, who had come to commission the water treatment plant built for the university by his government.
4. Approval of a proposal for the students’ union executive to operate a transport system within the campus.

PIX

5. Reversal of the rejection of their request for a university bus to convey their executives to Port Harcourt for a meeting of NANS, an organization which had been banned by the government.

On 29 April and 5 May 1992, I led a team of university officials, including Prof. Akinyele and the dean of students, to discuss the demands and other pertinent issues with the student leaders. During the discussions, they denied security reports that students were planning unrest in various parts of the country, and that’ observers’ from other tertiary institutions had been invited to a meeting in UI scheduled for 6 May 1992. I appealed to them to them to maintain peace, avoid any action that could result in damage to life property, and refrain from any demonstration outside the campus.

At about 7a.m. on 7 May, some students, led by the president and executive committee of the Students’ Union, seized and locked the gates of the university, and took away from the Porter’s Lodge the keys to various offices. They forced workers out of the offices already opened, locked the doors and took away the keys. They drove away some students who were attending lectures and declared a lecture/work-free day.

In reaction, I convened an emergency meeting of the principal officer, provosts and deans in the VC’s Lodge. While the meeting was in progress, about 400 students chanting various songs forced their way into the grounds of the lodge. Their president and executive committee of the Students’ Union and about twenty other students were admitted into the lounge where the meeting was being held. When they entered, the presented the resolution passed at a students’ congress the previous night outlined the collective views of the administration on the issues in the document and, on their insistence, I went out to address the students massed on the grounds. The students then gave an undertaking that they would maintain peace, open the university gates and return the keys they had seized. However, some six hours later, at about 6.30 p.m., without carrying out their undertaking, they suddenly returned to the VC’s Lodge in greater numbers than in the morning, singing war songs and shouting obscenities. They could not enter the main building, where I was holding discussions with the DVC and some other persons, because the doors and windows were locked. About thirty minutes later, rain forced them to disperse. They were heard shouting that they would return. Because of the general situation and in order to safeguard life and property, I signed closure order in keeping with a mandate given at the meeting with the provosts and deans that morning. The students did return to the lodge at about 10 p.m. but were dispersed by another and heavier downpour of rain. I directed that students should vacate the halls of residence by noon on Friday, 8 May 1992. However, the Students’ Union executive prevented them from doing so. The gates remained locked and official vehicles and property were vandalized. The Students’ Union president, Maxy Ogbodo, declared himself field marshal, commander-in-chief and head of a republic he was driving round the campus with a motorcycle outrider, preceded by the seized siren-blowing land rover of the university’s fire department. It was during the first downpour that I received a telephone call from the police informing me that my wife and I were specific targets of the students. I was most surprised by this development, but when I requested that they should give us special extra protection, I was told that it would be unwise and dangerous to send police into the campus, even if they were in mufti. Therefore, I sought their advice on what to do. They said my wife and I should leave the campus for a few days to give time for things to calm down. l.thanked them for the advice, but declined to disclose where I could be reached in the interim. I said I would get in touch with them if and when necessary. I briefed Tola on the advice of the police and told her we had no choice but to comply. Therefore, we packed our overnight cases, after which I requested that a trusted family friend, Mr. Felix Adenaike, should take her to our home at Iyaganku. I said I would join her later on conclusion of my meeting with some of my colleagues.

It was all a ruse because I had no intention of leaving the campus. When she and all the other people departed, I personally went to all the rooms in the building, drew the curtains and switched on all the lights although it was still daylight. When electricity was restored, it looked like the occupants had vacated the building in a hurry and forgotten to switch off the lights! I was alone in the building from Thursday, 7 May to Sunday, 10 May 1992. Nobody knew where I was at any given time or whether I slept in the building. A trusted cook/ steward, Pius Akara, surreptitiously came to prepare my food twice daily and I held two meetings with the DVC and three other trusted officials during the period. On the night of 8 May, a clearly hostile group of people came and went round the perimeter of the building shining torch lights through the curtained windows. Their conversation revealed that they were searching for me. This was confirmed to me at a social function about a decade later by Dr. Dejo Rairni, who was the secretary to the Oyo State Government at the time. Unfortunately our discussion was interrupted when other guests came and sat at our table. Thereafter I never had the opportunity to ask him for details about the incident.

Through the grace of God, my colleagues and I succeeded in defusing the crisis by the morning of Sunday, 10 May. The gates were opened, students were able to go home as ordered and Maxy Ogbodo was brought to the VC’s Lodge, where he prostrated flat on the carpet begging for forgiveness.

I presented a report on the crisis at an emergency meeting of the Senate on Monday, 11 May, 1992. The Senate appointed a special panel comprising Professor C. G. M. Bakare (chairman), Professor F. o. Aboaba, Professor ( A. O. Sowunmi, Professor Bola Osifo and Professor G. S. Nwoko, to look into the immediate and remote causes of the crisis, take an inventory of damage done to property, identify persons or groups of persons who were directly or indirectly responsible for the crisis and damages, make appropriate recommendations and report to the Senate at a meeting scheduled for 18 May. The Senate duly received and debated the report of the panel and among other things, decided that each student should pay N25 levy towards the cost of repairing the damaged property. Many members argued that the levy should be NI00 in order to include punitive and deterrent elements. I shared their view but supported the lower figure in order to terminate the acrimonious debate.

A few days later, at an emergency meeting, most members of the Council were very critical of the decision of Senate and were inclined to over-rule it. They felt strongly that the levy should be punitive and deterrent and be at least NI00. They emphasized that the Council, not the Senate, had responsibility for financial matters. I had to plead that the Council should kindly approve N25, and I gave an undertaking to ensure that, in future, the Senate did not go beyond its powers. Thereafter, an announcement was made of the date for re-opening of the university, the N25 levy and other conditions to be fulfilled by the students on resumption.

However, unknown to most people, the matter did not end there. A few days later, the secretary to the Oyo State Government (SSG), Dr. Dejo Raimi, invited me to his office, where he told me that the state government was concerned that the students were being asked to pay a N251evy. In its efforts to ensure peace on the campus and in the state, the students had been assured that no fine would be imposed on them. What he said filled me with amazement, shock and anger. I told him as much and proceeded to reel out several questions:

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*Was it proper or conducive to the maintenance of discipline and order on campus for such discussion with the students to have been held without the knowledge of the university administration?

*What was the basis for the assurance given to the students?

*Was the government unaware that the students had done extensive damage to property?

*Who was going to pay for the repairs?

*Was UI, a federal institution, being taken over by the state government?

I concluded by emphasizing that no student would be allowed back on campus without payment of the levy. Moreover, I was determined to pursue the principle involved in the negative interference by government and politicians, which had been documented in the report of the Senate’s special panel and confirmed by what he had just told me. At that point, he excused himself and left the room. He returned a few minutes later and said the governor, Chief Kolapo Ishola, wished to see me. So we went together to the latter’s office. During discussions with the governor, I expressed my disappointment and reiterated what I had told the SSG earlier on. In answer to a question, I stated that the special panel’s report to the Senate had put the estimated cost of repairs at N250,000 but, even as it was being presented, several people had drawn attention to additional damaged property which had not been captured in the report. The governor then offered to pay N250,000 to the university as levy on behalf of all the students so that they could be allowed back. It was with reluctance and under great pressure, that I agreed to the compromise which was implemented. The official University of Ibadan Bulletin (Number 1040 of 10 June 1992) reported that the Oyo State Government had offered to pay for the repairs to damaged property. It went on to state that, on resumption on 13 June 1992, students would not have to pay the N25 levy. However, they would sign a pledge to be of good behaviour and would submit letters of guarantee for good behavior from their parents or guardians. In the light of our internal security reports and the findings of the special panel, several students were served with letters alleging acts of misconduct. Each letter listed the specific acts carried out by the recipient, who was asked to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against him or her. I was inclined to be lenient, put an early end to the crisis and its aftermath, and restore cordial relations with the students and their leaders. Therefore, I instructed the deputy registrar (students), Alhaji Kehinde Okusanya, to informally let the offenders know that the case against each of them was cast iron and advise them to refrain from denials and lies which would be exposed at the Students’ Disciplinary Committee (SDC).

Straightforward confession and plea for mercy would be given favourable consideration. The affected students took the advice and a Friday was fixed for them to appear before the SDC. At about 1 p.m. on the day before the meeting the SSG phoned to inform me of security reports that the students planned to disrupt the meeting of the SDC, and those on trial were being pressurized by extremist elements (including rusticated students) to disown their confessional letters. In response to my request, the SSG said extra security could not be provided on campus because they had been deployed to monitor statewide elections being held that weekend. He advised that the SDC meeting should be postponed by a fortnight when the security personnel should be available. I thanked him for his concern and advice.

However, it seemed to me that postponement of the SDC meeting would be regarded and claimed as victory by the extremist elements among the students and they would use the interval to further mobilize for violent demonstrations. Delay would amount to postponement and worsening of the evil day. I immediately sought divine help and guidance in prayer. It was answered. On inspiration, I phoned Okusanya and asked him to urgently bring to me all the regulations and documents relating to discipline of students. When he brought them, I skimmed through all of them and confirmed that offending students who had confessed did not have to be present at SDC when judgement was passed on them. Of course their presence would afford them opportunity to plead for leniency, but that could be discounted if they were given the minimum punishment. I also noted that there was no regulation which prescribed the venue or time of meeting of the SDC. They were convened by the VC. Okusanya agreed with my interpretation of the regulations. I instructed him to go and tell each member of the SDC (with the exception of the DVC and registrar) that I wanted to see them in my office at 4 p.m. that day. At 3.40 p.m., I phoned the DVC, Professor Akinyele and asked him to please come to my office urgently. He came immediately and I briefed him on my telephone discussion with the SSG and my intended course of action. He agreed with me and stayed on in my office. I then similarly invited the registrar to my office and briefed him in the presence of the DVC. Moments later those summoned by Okusanya began to arrive. They were surprised and puzzled as they saw others that were in the room. I welcomed all of them and then pronounced the assembly a meeting of the SDC. The agenda had been circulated but the meeting was being held a day earlier than planned. I invited Okusanya, who was ex officio secretary of the SDC, to outline the background events, and to read out, as sample, the letter written to one of the charged students together with the confessional reply received. I then summarized the position as one of I guilty as charged’ and for the reasons outlined earlier, I recommended that the offenders should be reprimanded and severely warned. After a brief discussion, my recommendation was approved. Drafts of a letter conveying the decision to each of the offenders, as well as a press release on the matter were also approved. Okusanya was directed to ensure that all the letters were delivered that day, while the public relations officer, Mr. Taiwo Okusanya (no relation of Kehinde!), was to deliver copies of the press release to the print and electronic media for urgent use. The assignments were carried out in spite of a few unexpected hiccups.

At about 7 a.m. the next morning, I heard an unusual loud noise from the direction of the halls of residence. The security man I asked to go and find out what was happening came back to tell me that, during the daily review of the newspapers on radio, The Nigerian Tribune was reported to have published our press release which stated that the SDC had deliberated on the confessional letters of the offending students and had decided to reprimand and severely warn them. It was the noise created by jubilating students that I had heard. I went on my knees to thank and praise God for the peaceful conclusion of the crisis. On resumption of normalcy, the students submitted their proposal for the operation of an intra-campus cab transport system. This was suitably modified during discussions with the dean of students and deputy registrar (students). I approved the amended proposal which, among other things, provided for oversight of the system by the Students’ Affairs Office. The system remains in operation. I commended the students’ leaders on their constructive proposal which, in collaboration with the university administration, led to the design and operation of the intra-campus transport system. I urged them to always adopt such positive and constructive approaches to the resolution of their perceived problems. Unfortunately, I was unheeded and they persisted in acts of serious misdemeanor. In 1995, the Students’ Union executive and the Students Representative Council repeatedly flouted university rules and regulations and committed many acts of serious misconduct, including:

*Gross mismanagement of funds between July 1994 and June 1995, which was documented in a report by the Internal Audit Department.

*Launching of The Premier News on 4 May 1995, despite repeated advice that the name should be changed because it clashed with the official magazine, The Premier, which had been launched by the pro-chancellor on 17 November 1994.

*Conversion of Students’ Union vehicles for personal use of the president, Chris Eluwa and members of the Students’ Union executive, as well as parking of the vehicles outside the campus.

*Refusal to carry out the Council’s directive that all students should submit sworn affidavits affirming non-membership of any cult or unregistered association. They claimed that the directive violated their fundamental right of association.

*Damage to university property, refusal to accept official correspondence, and issuance of inciting releases to the generality of students.

*Deliberately spreading false information that the university was preventing them from writing their examinations, even as two of them were doing so in the Faculty of Education.

When their cup ran over, the administration took decisive actions, including suspension of the Students’ Union executive and the Students’ Representative Council. This led Eluwa and seven other members of the executive to sign and present to me a letter in which they apologized for their acts of gross misconduct, begged for forgiveness and promised to be of good behaviour thereafter. They were told the letter would be accepted if they gave it wide publicity in order to correct all the false negative publicity they had given the university administration. Their plea that the condition imposed should be removed was rejected.

Then I suddenly received a letter (Ref. No.SP /S.202/1/Vol.1/339) dated 15 August 1995, addressed to me by the secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mr. S. O. Oladapo, on the directive of the military administrator of Oyo State, Colonel C. 1. Nwosu. The letter emphasized that “maintenance of undisturbed peace throughout the state, including the University of lbadan, was the primary motive of the State Security Council.”

It went on to state:

… you should kindly consider reciprocating the penitence of the students by granting them unconditional pardon. In fact, it is considered that with the manifest somber posture of the students, their past transgression should not be made a matter of public debate through any press conference. I considered the letter unfortunate and filed it. On my insistence, Eluwa and his colleagues addressed a press conference at which they distributed copies of the letter of apology signed by all eight of them.

Students Protest Abacha Take-over

On 12 June 1993, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a president. It was widely acclaimed as the most free, peaceful and fair election ever in the country. The two candidates were Chief M. K. O. Abiola and Alhaji Bashir Tofa. With most of the results announced, Chief Abiola was very much ahead with widespread support which cut across geographic, ethnic, religious and other divides. Suddenly, the electoral body was stopped from announcing further results. President Ibrahim Babangida then annulled the results of the election for reasons which are yet to be disclosed. There was widespread condemnation of his action nationally and internationally and there were riots in several parts of the country. Two months later, Babangida I stepped aside’ and installed Chief Ernest Shonekan as head of the Interim National Government. Babangida’s actions did not stem the protests and demonstrations. On the contrary, they increased. Shonekan’s appointment was widely criticized in the media by many individuals and groups. One of such group was the House of Lords, Nigeria, which comprised many prominent Nigerians. Its leader was Professor B. O. Osuntokun, while I was the whip (secretary). A very critical open letter to Chief Shonekan,signed by all the members of the House of Lords (MHL), was published in The Guardian newspaper. The letter was unique in several respects, including the fact neither before nor since then had an incumbent vice-chancellor publicly criticized his visitor. It was an unpleasant experience for me because Shonekan, a former classmate was and remains a close friend for whom I have great respect, admiration and affection. Moreover, he was held in high esteem by members of the HL and had been the guest lecturer at the third annual House of Lords Distinguished Lecture and Luncheon in 1990. However, my colleagues and I considered publication of the letter an important matter of principle and a patriotic duty.

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Shonekan lasted three months in the position. On 17th November 1993, the 45th foundation day anniversary of the university, the media reported that he had been removed and General Sanni Abacha would broadcast to the nation the following day. The foundation day ceremonies went well without any incident, but we received reports that the students were going to embark on a protest demonstration and procession in the city the following day. I held an emergency meeting with the DVCs, the registrar, dean of students, deputy registrar (students), chairman of the Council Committee on Security and the chief security officer. We reviewed the situation and decided that the students could demonstrate and process within the campus, but there should be no violence or damage to property. More importantly, the students should not venture beyond the gates of the university because, as we were reliably informed, the riot police had been instructed to deal severely with any student demonstration or procession on the streets of Ibadan.

On the morning of 18 November 1993, we locked the main gates of the university as the students began to gather there singing solidarity songs; facing them across the road were the armed riot police. I asked the DVC (administration), Professor Filani, to go to calm the students at the gate an persuade them not to step outside the campus. Meanwhile I went with the chancellor and some distinguished alumni to perform an official function at Mellanby Hall.

On conclusion of the ceremony, as I was entering my car to go and join Filani at the gate, he arrived and told me that all he had been telling the students had fallen on deaf ears. So we went to the gate together to continue pleading with the students not to endanger their lives by stepping outside the campus, but that they should process within the campus, the media were present and would publicize their protests, etc; it all fell on deaf ear: Suddenly my voice changed and I heard myself saying that, as “Greatest Uites,” it would be unbecoming of us to act on incomplete information. All we knew at that point was that Shonekan had been removed and Abach would be making a national broadcast. We had no idea what he was going to say. It was possible that he could say something we would find agreeable. For example, if he announced that Professor Oyediran should replace Chief Shonekan, would that be a bad thing? We should all kulu temper and wait: to hear his broadcast. At that point the students burst into laughter: resumed their solidarity songs and trooped back into their halls of residence. Mirabile dietu! Filani joined me in praise and thanksgiving to God.

Senior Non-Academic Staff

During my tenure, the senior non-academic staff conducted their affair peacefully and with admirable dignity, except for one very unforgettable occasion in February 1993 when, together with the junior staff, they went on strike. Their union, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions of Nigeria (SSAUTHRIAI), and the union of the junior staff, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU), embarked on national industrial action on 1 February 1993, in reaction to the federal government’s decision to create a 15% differential between the salaries a academic and non-academic staff. The two unions were insisting on restoration of parity. Although it was a national affair, the UI branches a the unions were particularly aggressive and vicious in their conduct University of Ibadan became the venue for aggravated confrontation, probably because their national headquarters were located on campus (ASUU), and in Agbowo on Oyo Road opposite the campus (SSAUTHRIAI and NASU). When it became clear that SSAUTHRIAI and NASU would embark on strike action on 1 February, I convened a meeting in the Council Chamber on 29 January, which was attended by their officials, as well as the principal officers, provosts and deans. At the meeting, I appealed to the unions to avoid unlawful acts and to bear in mind at all times, the best interests of the university and its students. In particular, they should not lock the gates or interrupt the supply of electricity and water. That day, I wrote to the honorable secretary for education to brief him and forward a copy of a threatening letter received from one of the two factions of NASU. Copies of the letter were sent to the Oyo State Governor, the commissioner of police (COMPOL), the pro-chancellor and the general officer commanding (GOC), the Second Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army based in Ibadan. Two days later, I met with the executive committee and hall chairmen of the students to brief them and assure them that everything possible would be done to avoid disruption of lectures.

 

When the strike began on 1 February, I convened a meeting of the principal officers, provosts and deans in the VC’s Lodge to receive, discuss and take decisions on reports from the chief security officer, the industrial relations officer and the acting Director of Works. The reports showed that the porters’ lodge and all administrative offices were locked, lectures were being given, there was electricity and water and the main gate was partially open. The group met daily for the duration of the crisis. The initial relatively benig situation was not maintained despite my regular dialogue with officials of the two unions. Separate meetings which the university administration on the one hand and the students’ executive and hall chairmen on the other hand, held with the unions achieved limited but short-lived results. They periodically locked the gates and interrupted supply of electricity and water. They disrupted work at the Jaja Clinic and forced the closure of the Staff School and the International School, Ibadan (IS1). They held demonstrations and threatened to physically assault some academic staff. As a result of their nefarious activities, the first half of the proceedings at the University of Ibadan/University of Pennsylvania Exchange Lecture on 8 February were conducted with torchlight. Meetings of the Council and its committees scheduled for 9-11 February, as well as the graduation ceremonies fixed for 12 and 13 February had to be postponed.

Events took a dramatic and inexplicable turn for the worse on Wednesday, 17 February 1993, when the lights went off, all the gates of the university were locked, road blocks were mounted on campus and property of some academic staff were vandalized. At the daily meeting of officials, we decided that the students should immediately proceed on a two-week recess and the VC should invite the police to open and secure the gates and protect life and property on campus. 1 immediately phoned the COMPOL and, later, hand-delivered a letter of request to him. Copies of the letter were sent to the governor and the GOC. Later that afternoon, on the invitation of the governor, 1 attended an emergency meeting of the State Security Council. The police were deployed on campus that night. The following day, 18 February, the daily meeting of officials decided that an emergency meeting of the Senate requested by the Ibadan University Teachers Association (1UTA) could be convened safely on Friday 19.

Because the Senate chamber had been locked by the striking workers, the meeting was held in the large lecture theatre of the Faculty of the Social Sciences. While 1 was reading my report to the Senate, the striking union members were singing solidarity songs and making a lot of noise outside the venue. Suddenly they marched into the lecture theatre led by Mr. Dapo Oluge, leader of SSAUTHR1A1, who proceeded to deliver a speech. Thereafter the NASU leader also delivered a speech and they all marched out. I was amazed, shocked and embarrassed. When they left 1 continued reading my report but, a short while later, they re-entered the room. The Senate decided that my report should be circulated to members for discussion at a later date.

The meeting was adjourned. 1 went back to the VC’s Lodge and sat down to reflect on what had just happened and what could have made the senior non-academic staff to behave so badly in a way which, up till then, was rather uncharacteristic and what action 1 should take to deal with the offenders in particular and the crisis in general. A short while later, Chief C. O. Arowolo, the secretary to the College of Medicine and next in seniority to the registrar in the registry, came to commiserate with me on the incident. During our discussion, he gave me a document which, he said, had caused the unions to disrupt the emergency meeting of Senate. It was titled “Congress Resolutions at the Ibadan University Teachers Association (1UTA) Meeting of Thursday 18/2/93.” Copies had been distributed to members of the Senate as they entered the venue of the meeting; the resolutions included demands for the sacking of the strikers. I was deeply upset and concerned about these developments. The issue of parity had caused a major disruption in the cordial and peaceful relations among the various categories of staff in the university and mutual mistrust and suspicion between the academic and non-academic staff. I concluded that respected stakeholders, who were not staff of the university, should be involved in efforts to restore peace on campus. Therefore, I convened a meeting in the VC’s Lodge on Sunday, 21 February 1993, which was attended by the principal officers of the university, executives of the three unions (IUTA, SSAUTHRIAI and NASU), as well as three distinguished alumni, namely, Chief Bola Ige, Professor J. F.Ade Ajayi and Engineer He Akintunde. A second meeting on 28 February was also attended by Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, the president of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA). Four other meetings were held at the same venue on 7,14 and 28 March and 1 April. Later, Chief Ige invited me and the IUTA executives to a meeting at his Bodija residence, during which I had cause to emphasize that I was vice-chancellor of UI, not part thereof. Through the grace of God, the meetings and other efforts of the stakeholders yielded positive results. I gave a report to Council at its meeting on 5 March 1993. The minutes of the meeting stated that the Council: “commended the vice-chancellor for doing all that was humanly possible to manage the crisis with all the resources at his disposal.” The Council also set up a committee, which was headed by Chief Olinmah and included Mrs.Coker, Mr.Ohiwerei and the Sarkin Lere, to investigate and document the crisis and to advise on how to maintain essential services during future strikes. However, the Council was dissolved before the committee could conclude its work. On 3 November 1993, a newly-constituted Council set up another committee which was headed by Mr. Ohiwerei, with Alhaji Wada Abubakar, Alhaji Oumar Shittien and Mr. Olamogoke as members. Meanwhile, office equipment, including a photocopier and a typewriter, were bought and installed in the VC’s Lodge to establish a mini-office for use, especially during emergencies. The other notable incident involving the senior non-academic staff occurred in September / October1995. It was an intra-union struggle, which had started in March 1994, when the national secretariat of SSAUTHRIAI dissolved the executive committee of its UI branch. Our staff claimed to have withdrawn their membership of SSAUTHRIAI since 1993, when they joined their counterparts in the thirty-eight universities in the country to establish a new union called the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU). In May 1995, the national secretary of SSAUTHRIAI, Comrade Clarkson A.O.Abu, filed a Notification of Trade Dispute between the union and the vice-chancellor, registrar and bursar of the University of Ibadan, who were accused of :

. . . continued recognition of SSANU as a registered and recognized trade union in contravention of the Trade Unions Act 1973, continued check-off deductions from the salaries and wages of the members of SSAUTHRIAI and payment of the deducted sums to SSANU, confiscation and denial of check-off dues to SSAUTHRIAI.

The registrar, Chief C. O. Arowolo (a lawyer), and the bursar, Mr. J.O. Alao, attended a conciliatory meeting at the Conference Room of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Ibadan, on 15 September 1995, at which they pointed out that while the management of UI still recognized SSAUTHRIAI, it had at no time recognized SSANU, which had not yet been registered. However, they did not sign a purported agreement which required that the check-off dues which had been collected should be remitted to SSAUTHRIAI. The law requires that dues deducted from SSAUTHRIAI members should be remitted to the union. As at that time, we did not have any member of that union on our staff. Therefore, in effect, we held the funds in an escrow account pending resolution of the inter- and intra-union disputes. The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities was eventually registered.

NASU

The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) was quite problematic during my tenure. Its activities regularly featured violence and other acts of illegality. The union was split into two factions, which were led by Comrade Victor Ashaolu and Comrade Solomon Ojo, respectively. It seemed that the factions competed for followers by trying to outdo each other in the nefarious acts. Two episodes of industrial action embarked upon by NASU in 1993 and 1994 were particularly serious. As recorded earlier, NASU and SSAUTHRIAI went on strike in February 1993. The acts of violence, intimidation and harassment during that strike were carried out largely by the Ashaolu faction of NASU. On 11 February, I received internal security and other reports that the Ashaolu group were demonstrating and causing mayhem on campus, especially around the Faculty of Education. Among other things, they were singing abusive songs against the dean of the faculty, Prof. Okedara and threatening to kill him. Therefore, I instructed the security unit to beef-up their activities and ensure that nothing happened to Prof. Okedara. I also directed that Comrade Ashaolu be summoned to see me immediately. Ashaolu could not be found until after office hours, so he turned up at the Vice-chancellor’s Lodge at about 6 p,m, that day. After ascertaining from him what their grievances were, I remonstrated with him, urged him to go and call his followers to order and warned that no harm should come to Prof. Okedara. I asked him to give me an undertaking that Prof. Okedara would not be harmed, but all he did in reply was to keep repeating their perceived grievances like a cracked gramophone record. All the time I was sending prayer- o-grams heavenward.

Suddenly my eyes alighted on a cross hanging from a chain he wore around his neck. On inspiration, I said: “Oh, you are wearing a cross, so you must be a Christian.” He smiled and replied with a touch of pride that he was not only a Christian but also a leader in his church at Mokola. Indeed he would be going to church after our discussion! I retorted, “I see, very well. Now please tell me which of the various things you have been telling me portrays you as a follower of Jesus Christ?” He became speechless. After a few moments, I told him he should go to church and pray to God for the answer to my question. He got up and went off looking rather sober. The following morning at the daily review meeting which I held with principal officers and deans at the vice-chancellor’s lodge (because the offices were locked up by NASU), we received a report that the NASU-Ashaolu faction’ were demonstrating and processing towards the lodge. Soon thereafter they arrived and entered the grounds singing and demanding to see the vice-chancellor. The noise was so loud that I had no choice but to suspend the meeting. So I went out to meet them on the grounds of the lodge, accompanied by the principal officers and deans. In answer to my enquiry, Ashaolu started to reel out the same stuff he has been telling me the previous evening. When he finished, I went over the points in order and repeated what I had told him. I also emphasized that no harm should befall Prof. Okedara. One of them retorted that Okedara was standing behind me (which I was not aware of) and they would no touch him. Another shouted: Baba ti ko Oyediran logbon k’oto lo, meaningChief Awolowo had taught me tricks before his transition. Then they started singing the song: Tani lawa ko ni baba. I said I was not their baba (father) and advised that they should stop their noise-making and procession, so that we could arrange for discussions on their grievances. I was most relieved when they trooped out of the grounds with smiles on their faces

The episode seemed very strange to me. After reflecting on it and the encounter with Ashaolu the previous afternoon, I concluded that it was divine intervention that changed Ashaolu’s mindset and made him lead his followers to the lodge to “hear it from the horse’s mouth.” I give God the glory.

The most serious and violent industrial action by NASU occurred in early 1994. It was led by the Ojo faction, and resulted in far-reaching consequences. The strike started in January of that year. Although the leading bone of contention was the unresolved issue of parity (15 % salary differential between the academic and non-academic staff), several other demands were listed, including one for the promotion of messengers to a non-existent grade of caretaker. My administration held several meetings with the local and national officials of N ASU and of the Ibadan office of the Federal Ministry of Labour. At the meetings, agreement was reached or several items within the purview of the university administration but, of course, the national issue of parity could only be dealt with by the federal government.

Ojo and his colleagues remained adamant. At a branch congress on March 1994, they decided to make the strike total. They shut down all essential services and intensified their harassment of the staff of our security division. They drove away all the security and other staff at the VC’s Lodge and I had to urgently employ private replacements at my personal expense. They started to distribute and sell (to the strikers!) a table of salary scales that reflected parity and which they falsely alleged had been sent to the universities by the NUC. They refused to give me a copy of the table, claiming falsely that I already had it in my official files. When my staff succeeded in obtaining a copy, it turned out that the table was, in fact, a proposal submitted by SSANU to the federal government on which the latter was yet to take a decision. When officials of SSANU pointed out this fact to Ojo, he retorted that the VC had bribed them to say so! On 18 April 1994, there was a major and dangerous escalation while we were holding the usual Monday morning meeting of principal officers in my office. The strikers massed on the ground floor and laid siege to the VC’s office complex. We could hear them singing war songs, threatening to kill the VC (i.e. me) and, as we were told, they deflated the tyres of all our official vehicles and cut the telephone lines. Luckily I had a mobile telephone. It saved our lives. I telephoned a friend, Chief Raymond Zard, a benefactor and honorary graduate of the university, gave him a brief description of what was happening and requested that he should get the police to urgently come to our rescue. Shortly after the telephone discussion, the strikers broke into the outer room and the office of my secretary. Moments later they broke the door of my office shouting obscenities and throwing missiles which turned out to be parts of the photocopier and other office equipment which they had vandalized. They physically assaulted virtually everybody in the room but, miraculously, I was untouched. They insisted that we should follow them downstairs for undisclosed purpose(s).

As we started to descend, several policemen charged up the stairs and caught seven of them assaulting my colleagues, while the others ran away. The seven were later charged to court by the police on four counts of conspiracy to commit felony, unlawful damage to university property, conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and unlawful assault. All seven ended up in jail. In addition, in a separate case, Solomon Ojo and Mr. L. N. Nwaorgu, chairman and secretary of NASU, respectively, were convicted for presenting and circulating a forged document which they falsely purported to have emanated from the executive secretary of the NUC.

There was a more far-reaching consequence of NASU’s misadventure. I submitted reports and updates on the crisis at several emergency meetings of the Council which, on 26 April, decided that:

*The seven NASU members arrested on 18 April should be suspended pending determination of the court case.

*All security staff who should not have been on strike should return to work latest by 28 April, failing which their appointments should lapse.

*All NASU staff should return to work by 28 April, and those who failed to do so should forfeit their April salaries.

*After 28 April, those who failed to return should be given another notice of seven days with effect from 2 May to return to work or consider their appointment lapsed. The notice should be conveyed to those concerned directly before publication of same in the university bulletin.

 

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On 9 June, the Council decided that:

*The 330 staff whose appointments lapsed but re-applied within the stipulated 17 May deadline should be screened.

*The 62 staff whose appointments lapsed but re-applied after the 17 May deadline had lost their jobs.

*The 625 staff whose appointments lapsed and did not re-apply had lost their jobs.

On 8 September 1994, the Council considered letters of appeal for mercy which had been received from SSANU (Ul branch) and the congregation of the Chapel of the Resurrection. It decided that, on compassionate grounds:

*Those who re-applied for their jobs within the stipulated deadline and had been screened and re-appointed could be re-absorbed on the basis of individual applications.

*Those whose applications for re-appointment were not granted, and those who did not re-apply at all, could be considered for payment of their terminal benefits on submission of individual requests.

In September 1995, the national body of NASU instituted action against the university at the Industrial Arbitration Panel (lAP). In the memorandum which they submitted, they prayed that, among other things, the lAP should order:

*The reinstatement of all their members who had been wrongfully terminated.

*The payment of all salaries and allowances due to them from April 1994 to date.

*The payment of the 15% salary differential which was the leg on which the crisis stood.

They lost the case. Furthermore, because their memorandum was full of half-truths, lies and statements which I considered highly defamatory to my person, I decided to institute legal action against them. However, my friend, a senior advocate of Nigeria, advised that I should ignore the document because it enjoyed absolute privilege in law.

 

ASUU/IUTA

When I assumed office as vice-chancellor, the chairman of ASUU was Dr. Jide Malomo. He was a mature, reasonable and respectable gentleman with whom I was able to have meaningful dialogue even when our views were divergent. The federal government and ASUU had been negotiating on several issues, but the union was dissatisfied with the pace of the negotiations. Therefore, it went on a national strike in mid-1992. In my discussions with Malomo, I emphasized that, although I agreed with ASUU’s diagnosis of the problems with our universities, I also believed that they were applying the wrong therapy. I tried unsuccessfully to dissuade them from going on the strike which began on the Monday I got to Abuja for my first budget meeting at the NUC, which was relocating from Lagos to Abuja. Because of the strike, the NUC executive secretary, Professor Idris Abdulkadir, was summoned to Lagos by the Federal Minister of Education, Professor Babs Fafunwa. Therefore my meeting with the executive secretary was postponed and held in Lagos four days later. The Supreme Military Council (SMC) was meeting in Abuja that Tuesday amid rumours that it would proscribe ASUU. I believed banning ASUU would serve no useful purpose, but could worsen matters. Therefore, early on Tuesday, I went to lobby a member of the SMC who was lodging in the same hotel as me. I suggested that, as a first step, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) should be allowed to talk to ASUU. However, my arguments did no persuade him. Before my flight from Abuja landed in Lagos that day, the media had announced the proscription of ASUU by the federal government. I believe that the ban was not only unfortunate and unwise, but also led to a significant change in the character of ASUU’s leadership. The incumbent leaders were disbanded and younger academic staff emerged as leaders of a newly-formed Ibadan University Teachers Association (IUTA). I perceived the situation as dangerous for the university and held daily meetings with the principal officers, provosts, deans and some highly-respected senior academic staff in an effort to identify solutions to the impasse. However, for four days, the leaders of IUTA shunned my invitation and avoided meeting with me because, as I was informed, they erroneously believed that I would hand them over to the state security!

Sometime later, the FG directed that the academic staff in each of the thirty-odd universities should elect one representative to a body with which it would resume negotiations. The academic staff did not comply, so the stalemate persisted. The CVC met several times to discuss the matter and then setup a panel of three vice-chancellors to meet with leaders of the banned ASUU. The panel comprised Professor Nurudeen Alao of UNILAG, Professor Wale Omole of OAU, Ile-Ife and me. We met in Lagos in the UNILAG VC’s Lodge, with a team led by Dr. Attahiru Jega, the erstwhile president of ASUU, who later became a professor and VC of Ado Bayero University, Kano. He won national and international acclaim in 2015 as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The meeting discussed modalities for the resumption of negotiations with the FG. An approach which I had unsuccessfully canvassed at Ibadan was eventually accepted. It comprised the following elements:

*ASUU claimed to have the support of all the academic staff in all the universities, therefore its nominees should easily win election as the representatives of the universities.

*If ASUU considered thirty-odd persons too many and unwieldy to represent it on the negotiating body, it should be able to determine who of the elected representatives should attend meetings and who should stay absent. The FG could not reasonably delay or postpone meetings because some of the representatives of the academic staff were late or absent.

*If ASUU wished to include more than one person from some universities in its team, the additional person(s) could be presented as adviser(s) to their team.

*It would be a mere coincidence if the ASUU negotiating team that emerged looked like a mirror image of its pre-proscription team.

My colleagues and I were relieved when Jega and his team accepted the strategy outlined. We urged that they should initiate action immediately so that the list of elected representatives of the universities could be submitted to the FG and negotiations resumed. They replied that they required 3-4 days to brief their colleagues on the agreed position, because specially designated individuals would have to convey the decision to each university in person. Information conveyed by telephone or in the media would not be trusted or accepted!

Eventually negotiations with the FG resumed and an agreement was reached. The outcome included the promulgation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Decree No. 11 of 1993, a new salary scale for academic staff which was 15% higher than the one for non-academic staff, termination of the strike and lifting of the ban on ASUU. The new salary scale led to a disruption of the espirit de corps among the staff of the universities, as well as agitation and strikes by non-academic staff insisting on restoration of parity. The universities passed through a see-saw period during which the non-academic staff would force the government to restore parity, then the FG would succumb to counter pressure by the academic staff for return to 15 % differential. The non-academics would then restart the cycle. The unsatisfactory pattern went on for some time until, apparently, the non-academics blinked first. Among other things, the decree provided for the payment of several allowances to the academic staff, including an excess workload allowance, the precise definition and calculation of which was yet to be determined when my tenure ended two years later!

I found the IUTA/ ASUU led by Dr. I. S. Agbon and Dr. Jimi Adesina generally uncooperative, confrontational, perfidious and disrespectful of established tradition and constituted authority. These characteristics were manifested in numerous overt acts, including the following:

*The earlier described disgraceful and entirely false publications concerning the librarian, Mrs. Tamuno, and linking me with the alleged disappearance of N66 million university funds.

*The unprecedented written request of Dr. Adesina that resolutions of an IUT A congress should be listed in the agenda of the Senate. As stated earlier, he received an appropriate reply from the registrar and secretary to the Senate, Chief Arowolo.

*In 1994, they strove hard to disrupt the events usually held around 17 November foundation day celebrations. First, relying on the positions some of them held on the committee of the Chapel of the Resurrection, they threatened to disallow the university from holding the traditional thanksgiving service in the chapel. When I heard about this, I let it be known that they were about to cross an inviolable red line, that it would lead to a crisis of gargantuan dimensions. Then they decreed that academic staff attending the service should robe in black gowns. I ignored what I considered a puerile display. Finally, by a letter dated 11 November 1994, Adesina informed me that, at a congress held on 9 November, it was resolved that: “ASUU members, including deans and provost, should not be involved in robbing, procession and presentation of candidates at the said ceremonies” – that is, the convocation ceremonies scheduled for 16th and 17th November. However, the ceremonies were held successfully. The contingency plan for the DVC (academic) to present the candidates was not implemented.

*One day in 1992, just before I set-off to Lagos for an official assignment, I was shown a publication in the Daily Sketch newspaper in which Agbon and Adesina, acting on behalf of the IUTA, were reported to have declared an open day. The public was invited to come to the UI campus to roam around freely to view the classrooms, lecture theatres, laboratories, offices and so on in order to see and confirm the dilapidation the academic staff had been complaining about. I was alarmed and invited them to see me immediately. During my short discussion with them, I stated that it was wrong and discourteous for them to declare such an open day without consulting or even informing the university administration. The open day had important security implications and could increase the spate of robberies on the campus and that it would be better and safer to take selected, representative and influential individuals on a conducted tour of the campus. They were told to cancel the open day and organize a conducted tour. Thereafter, I went off to Lagos.

*The following day, the Daily Sketch published an interview in which the two of them emphasized that the open day would hold despite the objections of the VC. I was amazed and most disappointed.

*The administration held regular meetings with officials of the three staff unions to discuss perceived problems, as well as the welfare and progress of the university. During one of such meetings in 1993, Adesina engaged in interruptions and interjections which disturbed the proceedings. At one stage, I said [sic]: “Can I be allowed to run this meeting?” He ignored me and remained obstreperous, whereupon the registrar, Chief Ekanem-Ita, said: “Please respect the chairman.” In reply, Adesina said: “There are two chairmen in this room.” The registrar was furious and proceeded to give him a serious tongue-lashing; he kept quiet thereafter.

*In late 1993, IUTA served notice of a strike in January 1994 because funds were not released to the departments for’ Goods and Services’. The administration requested for patience because it could not release the funds until certain clarifications had been received from the government. The clarifications were eventually received and funds were released by the administration in the last week of 1993. However, IUTA still went on strike in January 1994.

In 1995, I set up a committee on strategic planning headed by Professor G. B. Ogunmola. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were uncooperative. They claimed that I was trying to pre-empt the Council and pursuing personal ends; allegations that were false and absurd. On 18 May 1995, Ogunmola wrote a memorandum to Adesina which stated, inter alia :

The less the attention we pay to the differences between ASUU and the administration and emphasize dialogue and effective communication, the more we would build confidence and trust which would lead to shared values ofa lasting culture of excellence as of the university of the highest standing

Indeed prolonged strikes became the hallmark of IUT AI ASUU so much so that, as shown in the appendix, from 1993 to 2013, ASUU national strikes occurred every year except for 1997, 1998, 2004 and 2010. The duration of strikes in the seventeen affected years ranged from one week (2002, 2006 and 2008) to twenty-eight weeks (1996). In each of nine of the seventeen years, the strike lasted for more than twelve weeks. The total duration of all the strikes during the period was 186 weeks, which is equivalent to four full academic sessions!

The leading reasons usually given for the strikes are inadequate funding and lack of autonomy for the universities. Sometimes the declared reason would seem rather strange. For example, on one occasion, a national strike was called in order to compel state governments to implement, at state universities, emoluments successfully negotiated with the federal government. That was a strange demand from people who profess aversion to the perceived administration of Nigeria as if it was a unitary state and commitment to a proper fiscal federation. It was probably a mere coincidence that the then incumbent president of ASUU was working at a state university.

The effects and consequences of ASUU’s incessant strikes are many and serious. The most obvious is the repeated closure of the institutions such that the beginning, duration and end of academic sessions become variable and unpredictable. The students suffered severe economic, psychological, social and, sometimes, physical trauma. Some of them sustained fatal accidents during journeys which should not have been necessary. Others got drawn into social vices including prostitution, unprotected sex, use and abuse of dangerous drugs and so on. Perhaps, the most serious is insidious, imperceptible but long-lasting psychological trauma, which negatively affects development of good character. The strikes made the university system unstable, and gave it a bad name within and outside the country. In 1993, while attending a meeting of vice-chancellors, rectors and presidents of selected universities in New York, a participant politely asked me how students at UI were able to cope with reduced exposure to teaching. He and others like him had assumed that, because globally the university session usually began in October and ended in June each year, strikes by academic staff during the session would inevitably reduce the time available for teaching and impair the quality of our graduates. When I explained that we usually ensured adequate teaching by extending the academic year, he expressed surprise that we could tolerate or cope with academic sessions of variable and unpredictable duration. On one occasion, a strike began the day after a group of American students arrived for an established exchange programme, whereby they took courses for which they were given credit at their home institution. It was not surprising that, subsequently, South African universities became their preferred destination.

On several occasions I drew attention to the established English admonition that one should not bite off one’s nose to spite one’s face. At a Senate meeting, I also mentioned a similar Yoruba saying:’ A ki binu ori k’ afi fila de’di’, which I translated as: “It is inappropriate to place one’s hat on the buttocks because one is angered by one’s head.” The day after I arrived from a trip to London, where workers on the Underground Railway had just held a one-day strike, I had cause to meet with Adesina. I drew attention to that strike and suggested that, if ASUU must go on strike, they could adopt a similar strategy rather than their usual prolonged strikes of indeterminate duration. I said that, irrespective of its duration (one day, one week, one month or longer), a strike is basically an act of defiance. Therefore, for example, ASUU could declare and go on a national strike every first Monday of each month until the government attended to their perceived problems. Such strategy would have minimal or no practical effect on the academic work of the institutions. It would not disrupt their (ASUU members) personal programmes (e.g., study or sabbatical leave), or disrupt the lives of the students who are largely their children, siblings or relations.

Sooner or later, it would gain public support and constitute an embarrassing irritant for the government. Adesina dismissed my suggestion off-hand quoting a sociology theory as the basis for his position.

On several occasions I expressed the belief that UI, indeed any serious university, should strive to reduce its financial dependence on the government to the minimum. The major non-government sources of funds are the local private sector, off-shore funds and alumni. All the three are repelled by instability. Therefore, even enlightened self-interest dictates that prolonged strikes and other actions which cause real or perceived instability of the university should be avoided. Sadly, ASUU is yet to take this evident truth on board.

Of course, strikes by the other staff unions also disrupt the work and peace of the university. However, those by ASUU are the most prolonged, have the most direct and serious negative effects on academic work and constitute a bad example for the non-academic staff. In addition, there is scant evidence of efforts by ASUU to address the many other problems confronting the university, including cultism and alleged malpractices by academic staff. At a Senate meeting in 1995, a member pointed out the gross oversight which allowed many students to spend 12 -14 semesters on a 4- year programme, when they should have been required to withdraw from the programmes. Such students not only constituted a nuisance to theuniversity, but also participated actively in various nefarious and criminal activities. The Academic Staff Union of Universities could and should exert peer pressure on its members to curtail such shortcomings and to maintain high academic standards.

 

 

 

 

THIRTEEN

SECOND TERM INTRIGUES AND HANDING-OVER

Prior to 1992, the procedure for appointing a vice-chancellor (VC) was for an ad-hoc Joint Council/Senate Committee to consider nominees on the basis of their curriculum vitae and, possibly, other unspecified criteria, without any interview and then recommend three candidates to the visitor who would appoint one of them (or any other person of his choice) as vice-chancellor. Advertisement of the post was not a feature of the procedure. On completion of the tenure of an incumbent, Council could recommend him for re-appointment for a second and final term. If the Council declined to do so, or the individual did not wish to serve a second term, a joint committee was constituted to appoint a new VC. The Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Decree No. 11 of 1993 prescribed a new procedure which provided as follows:

1. Advertisement of the post
2. A search team to identify and nominate for consideration, “suitable persons who are not likely to apply for the post on their own volition because they feel that it is not proper to do so.”
3. A Joint Council and Senate Selection Board to consider a short list, drawn from those who applied and those who were’ searched’, through “an examination of their curriculum vitae and interaction with them, and recommend to Council three candidates for further consideration.”
4. Council selects and forwards the name of one of the three to the visitor, who may appoint or reject as vice-chancellor, the person so recommended. If the visitor rejects a candidate, the Council forwards another one.
5. The vice-chancellor holds office for a period of four years, and “may be re-appointed for one further period of four years and no more.” Interpretation of the provisions of the decree for re-appointing a vice-chancellor was controversial. In an official letter (Ref. No. HAGF /SPA/GC/ED/69) dated 24 April 1995, addressed to the director-general of the Federal Ministry of Education, Chief M.A. Agbamuche, the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, stated:

It does appear that the procedure for reappointing a vice-chancellor is not as elaborate as that for appointing a new vice-chancellor. Section 3(7) (b) provides that ‘the Vice-Chancellor may be re- appointed for one further period of four years and no more’. The irrebutable assumption is that for a vice-chancellor to be re-appointed, he is deemed to have gone through the prescribed process for selecting a vice-chancellor. He need not go through it a second time.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) described the letter as the personal view of Chief Agbamuche! In a letter dated 17 June 1995, which he addressed to the pro-chancellors and chairmen of governing councils in Nigerian universities, Dr. Assisi Asobie, national president of ASUU wrote: “We urge you to please follow the same procedure used for the first appointment of vice-chancellors in our universities in processing the second appointment or reappointment.”

My tenure was due to end on 30 November 1995. Although I was willing to serve a second term, I believed that it would demean the office and debase the incumbent if he applied for the post he had held for four years. The best interests of the institution and of posterity dictate that Council should pronounce on the performance of the outgoing VC and decide whether or not to recommend reappointment. If the Council declined to recommend, or the incumbent was not interested in a second term, the provisions for advertisement and a search team should be activated.

After I left office, the federal government apparently reviewed me matter and decided that vice-chancellors should be appointed for a single five-year term with no provision for reappointment. This tidy procedure should prevent much of the shenanigans that took place in 1995 as chronicled in the letter which I was constrained to write to the visitor on 25 October 1995. That letter, as well as other relevant letters written to the chairman of Council/ chairman of the Search Team by several groups of the senior academic staff, the UI branch of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Abadina Family Support Programme, are included as appendices in this book; SSANU compiled and attached to their letter some of the achievements of my administration. The epilogue to the matter was unexpectedly but fortuitously provided in a document dated 8 January 2016, titled “Petition against Professor Olusegun Ajiboye: chairman Academic Staff Union, University of Ibadan Branch and his Executive Committee”, which was addressed to the chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Ibadan Branch by Professor Francis Egbokhare.

Two relevant excerpts from the document are:

ASUU Exco’s Involvement in the Selection Process of Vice-chancellor: Cui Bono?

We cannot and must not undermine the heroic struggles by ASUU for the restoration of the Nigerian university system over the last four decades. By the grace of God, I have been part of the struggle over the last three decades. What I am going to present here is a very disturbing development which must be stopped to save the university system. The reason ASUU fought so hard and gallantly for university autonomy was to arrest the impunity of government. It is now time for another battle, this time to arrest the impunity of a tiny power oligarchy who are suffering from ‘Posttraumatic Strike Disorder and Messiah Complex’. This group sees union solidarity as a fetish, are virulently opposed to dissent and believe in the politics of exclusion. It must be stated here that even when ASUU was fighting for autonomy and insisting on the right of universities to appoint its vice-chancellors, it was also itself involved in installing some individuals who came to be known as ASUU vice- chancellors. It discriminated against some of its members who were not believed to be confirmed supporters and influenced the

Selection process to ensure that their anointed candidates came tops and shamelessly lobbied the same government against whom it was contesting for autonomy to ensure that the visitor picked its own candidate.

According to Alli (2004), “We can all remember that vice-chancellors like Professor Andrew Onokhoraye of the University of Benin and Professor Jelili Omotola of the University of Lagos were considered ASUU men and pro-ASUU vice-chancellors. The romance did not last. They all ended in disasters

(pl7).”

So also did Professor Omoniyi Adewoye of the University of Ibadan. More recent examples are the immediate past VC of Osun State University, immediate past VC of University of Abuja, Professor Isaac Adewole of UI and Professor Obafunwa of Lagos State University. Why has the impact of the so-called ASUU VCs in the country been largely mediocre performance or crises? Truth is that, ASUU as an organization is indifferent to whom among its members emerge as a VC, what we are seeing really is the emergence of new power oligarchies built around chairmen of some branches actively supported by external interests and contractors.

The Role of the ASUU Executive in the Selection Process in UI

I would like to state that politics occurs in every system. However, civilized systems work within the perimetres of law and decency. The involvement of ASUU exco in the selection process of a VC in VI became evident in 1995, during the process that produced Professor Omoniyi Adewoye. I was secretary of ASUU and I can, to some extent, speak authoritatively. The candidate was sold to congress as the best of the options available and, of course, all that happened thereafter was a racket. You do not need to believe me if I say that I opposed the whole idea. One reason was the hypocrisy that followed the union’s silence when Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged. The branch refused to condemn it publicly because it did not want to offend Abacha. It feared that Abacha may not pick its candidate if it appeared confrontational. Also, my counsel that Professor S. Adewoye be allowed to run the university, while we continue [d] to be the watchdog was opposed in some quarters. I returned, I refused to accept to chair the union. Those who were around at the time can remember that we had four years of a most bitter crises for control and good governance. VI completely lost those years. I will not go into more detail. ASUU got burnt and lost influence in the next two exercises that produced Professor Ayodele Falase. The regrouping of the union leadership started during the period of Professor Bamiro’s tenure due to what was perceived as the marginalization of power blocks who wanted office and access to resources. Aided by the ambition of a patron who looked to succeeding Bamiro and a favorably disposed chair of Council, a power block emerged built around an old boys’ association. The patron achieved an alliance based on the 3Ps _ Power mongers, Promotion/Privilege (or booty) hunters and those who needed Protection or Propitiation. They adopted a simple methodology – 3Rs: lavish Respect on the idle old, give Recognition to the ones with attention deficit and offer Reward/Relevance for support to the loyalist/ambitious. By being present and participating at social events, offering reward and support with public funds, lavishing praise and attention on key figures in the university and society they won many over. The extreme deprivation that many suffer due to the crises of living in a nation like Nigeria has primed many for manipulation by the few who understand the science and art of power and mass control. The following summarize[s] the reality today:

1. The selection process is compromised and candidates are scored before the process begins.
2. It starts with populating Senate from Congregation. Union leaders share forms to individuals within their control to join Senate through Congregation.
3. They determine who gets to the Council from the Senate and congregation by their control of membership.
4. They select acolytes to run for offices at all levels, especially deanship in order to control votes from faculties.
5. By these, they determine who represents Senate and congregation in selection committee.
6. Strong candidates who are not pliant are either intimidated with management support or offered inducement through promises of promotion of office.
7. For [the] fail-safe outcome of the selection process, all key actors are allocated positions and offices in the coming dispensation. All those who participated in the emergence of the immediate past VC were given offices.

It is interesting and instructive that, twenty-one years earlier, Professor B.D. Nwabueze, Minister of Education and Youth Development, during my tenure as vice-chancellor, wrote in his book Crisis and Problems in Education in Nigeria (Spectrum Books, Ibadan, 1995 pp. 14 -15):

There are certainly a good many vice-chancellors who have stood above the pull to identify with their fellow academics. Professor A.B.D.D. Oyediran Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, typifies this group of vice-chancellors. He is a medical scholar with a fine intellect and an uncommon ability to see through a complex problem and bring to it an unravelling illumination. He speaks very little at meetings, but his contributions are always weighty, pointed, principled and well balanced.

Handing Over

I was very disappointed and concerned that my successor as vice-chancellor was not chosen or announced before the end of my tenure. The situation was complicated by the fact that the tenure of the two DVCs was also ending on30 November 1995. As emphasized elsewhere in this book, I have a strong feeling about this dereliction which is against the best interests of the university system. It suggests that the concerned authorities do not have adequate respect for our tertiary institutions. It is a disservice to the nation. In the circumstance, I wrote to request that Professor O. Ojengbede, the provost of the College of Medicine – who was the next most senior official of the university – should see me in the VC’s lodge mid-morning on 1 December 1995. My letter did not indicate any reason or purpose for the request. About a fortnight earlier I had prepared my handing over notes to which I had attached the reports prepared, on my request, by the principal officers and the director of works.

When Ojengbede arrived, I handed my letter to him, asking him to takeover the running of the university, as well as my handing over notes and the attachments. He then told me that he had been surprised when, on his way to see me, he had received two letters from Protessor Iya Abubakar, the pro-chancellor and chairman of Council. One was addressed to him and copied to me, directing that he should takeover as acting vice-chancellor; the other was a copy of a letter addressed to me, directing me to hand over to him. I was seeing the two letters for the first time. My copies were delivered to me in the lodge later that afternoon. I told Ojengbede that the correspondence from me and the pro-chancellor were complementary.

Therefore, I spoke to my handing over notes as he read them and, thereafter, he departed. Tola and I had already moved our belongings out of the lodge. She was to go ahead to our Iyaganku home. I was to join her after my meeting with Ojengbede to celebrate her birthday. As she was leaving, about an hour before Ojengbede arrived, the telephone rang. We were given the wonderful news of the safe delivery in Lagos that morning, by our youngest daughter, of our third grandson and fifth grandchild!

 

FOURTEEN

NATIONAL HEALTH MATTERS

My thirty-five-year career in the public service of Nigeria was spent at the University College Hospital, Ibadan and the University of Ibadan. In addition, I had direct involvement with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) at different periods over the years. The first was from 1970 to 1974 when, at the instance of my boss, Professor Lucas, I served on the Expert Committee, Nigeria National Council for Health. I have a vivid recollection of only one of the several meetings of the committee which I attended. On the outbreak of the 1971 pandemic of cholera, an emergency meeting was convened to advise on the policy to adopt in respect of ‘holy water’ which pilgrims regularly brought back from the Middle East. I thought the discussions were heavily influenced by political rather than medical scientific considerations. My lasting impression was that the committee did not achieve much.

First Economic Commission for Africa Seminar on the Human Environment

Sometime in 1971, in the absence of the more senior members of the department of PSM, I had to comply with an urgent request from the FMOH for a paper on the human environment. At that time, I was deeply engrossed in research on schistosomiasis, including almost daily field trips to Epe, as well as radiologic, renographic and other studies on affected patients which were carried out in Ibadan. I really was not interested in much else but I had to create time to produce the paper for the FMOH. I was very surprised when, about a week later, I was informed that I would be on the Nigerian delegation to the First All Africa Seminar on the Human Environment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The seminar was intended to sensitize African countries and achieve a continental consensus on the issues which were to be discussed at the first global conference held in Copenhagen in 1972. There were more surprises to come. We were literally boarding the airplane at Ikeja on the outbound journey when I learnt that I was the leader of the delegation! Then, just before the start of the opening ceremony, a very pleasant Ethiopian gentleman approached me where I was seated and, after we exchanged greetings, requested that I should write my name for him. It turned out that he was the host minister who, in keeping with usual \protocol, was elected chairman of the seminar. On his nomination, I was elected the first vice-chairman. Because he was often busy with other official matters, and the Senegalese who was elected the second vice-chairman often requested that I should carry on, I ended up presiding over most of the sessions of the seminar. I was not impressed by the FMOH’s preparation for that important seminar. For me, it was a great challenge, and an interesting learning experience in the management of diplomats and politicians who often ignored time limits, and spoke on their pet topics rather than on the issues on the table.

Disease Notification

In mid-1986, an epidemic of yellow fever started in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State, and spread to neighbouring areas. Professor Ransome-Kuti, the Federal Minister of Health, setup a task force, which he chaired, to deal with the outbreak which lasted ti1l1990, and affected 19 of the 21 states of Nigeria. In March 1987, the minister asked me to go and investigate an alleged spread of the outbreak to Ogbomoso in Oyo State, and submit a report within 48 hours. I complied and not only confirmed the outbreak but also found evidence that one of the hospitals in the town had notified the local government health office six months earlier, but the information was not passed on to the state or federal authorities. The minister decided to upgrade the task force to a National Technical Advisory Committee on Epidemic Diseases (NTACED), and appointed me its chairman. Other members of the committee included Professor o. Tomori, Dr. A. O. Asagba, Dr. A. Nasidi, Dr. H. C. M. Van Vliet (WHO epidemiologist), Dr. O. O. Ojo and others, representing some divisrons ot the FMOH, state ministries of health, the medical corps of the armed forces, police and so on. The committee set to work immediately to contain the outbreak through a combination of several strategies including investigation, confirmation, management and mapping of cases, anti-vector measures and health education. We met regularly to receive reports from the states of the federation and take necessary action. At the end of each meeting, I briefed and submitted a report to the minister. During one of such briefing, I remarked that it was difficult to combat yellow fever when there were no functional procedures for disease notification. He retorted that the committee should deal with the deficiency.

The committee took up the challenge, constituted itself into four teams to visit the four health zones of the country. It drew up questionnaires which the teams would use to collect information on the disease notification systems being used by the government health institutions at the local and state levels, as well as by missionary and private hospitals. Among other things, we found twenty-two different forms in use in various parts of the country, with inevitable overlap in some places. The vast majority of those who were supposed to fill the forms did not understand them, their purpose or importance. The forms were not being filled diligently and, on many occasions, the figures entered were arbitrary and bore no relationship to reality. Even when completed, the forms were submitted or forwarded to the appropriate health office, the latter often dumped them wherever they pleased, made no use of the data, and did not relay information to the state or federal offices. In the light of the findings, the committee designed a new uniform system of disease notification for the country, which was discussed and suitably amended at a national conference attended by representatives of the federal and state ministries of health, medical schools, health research institutes, the armed forces and police, as well as private individual and institutional medical practitioners. The final version was approved by the National Council on Health, comprising the federal minister and the state commissioners of health. The committee organized training workshops on the new system at each of the four health zones for staff of the state and local governments, the armed forces, police and private practitioners.

The new two-track system (DSN) comprised: immediate notification of the occurrence of any and all cases of nine epidemic-prone diseases or an epidemic outbreak of any disease or condition, and routine monthly notification of all cases of all diseases and conditions. Two forms, DSN-001 and DSN-002 were produced for immediate and routine notification, respectively. Immediate notification was to be sent to the state and federal ministries of health by the quickest means available (telephone, radiophone or courier) and the completed DSN-001 form submitted to the appropriate health institution in the local government area (LGA), through the state ministry of health (SMOH), to the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH). For routine notification, DSN-002 form was to be completed by each health facility at the end of each month, and submitted to the appropriate LGA health office for collation. Collated data for each LGA were then entered into a DSN-002 form for the LGA and sent to the epidemiologist at the SMOH where data from all the LGAs are collated, entered into a DSN-002 form for the state and forwarded to the chief consultant epidemiologist at the FMOH.

Time lines were delineated such that collated information from the health facilities for each month should reach the FMOH six weeks later at the latest. At each level (LGA, state and federal), data received were also analyzed and summarized graphically and feedback given to the level below in order to guide decision making and action on health, as well as to demonstrate the relevance, usefulness and importance of disease notification. In addition, the Nigeria Bulletin of Epidemiology was established in 1991 as a quarterly publication of the Epidemiological Division of the FMOH, with the chief consultant epidemiologist as its editor. I agreed to serve as editorial adviser. Among other things, the bulletin provided overall feedback to all the states, including tabular summary of their performance on routine notification. This promoted competition to achieve high levels of compliance.

When I became vice-chancellor, pressure of work forced me to relinquish the chairmanship and membership of NTACED. In 2000, the DSN system was replaced with the current integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) system, which retains the two-track (immediate/routine) notification, as well as the time lines of the DSN. Unfortunately, the Nigerian Bulletin of Epidemiology went into abeyance. The Epidemiological Division of the FMOH now publishes and distributes a Weekly Epidemiology Report. When I became involved with the eradication of guinea worm, I found that compliance with the IDSR system was low. In order to secure certification for guinea worm eradication, the independent vertical system of surveillance and notification for guinea worm had to be integrated within the national IDSR system and the latter had to achieve an acceptable level of compliance.

Guinea Worm Eradication

Early in 2005, the federal minister of health, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, appointed me chairman of the National Certification Committee on Guinea Worm Disease Eradication (NCC-GWDE). In 1986, the World Health Assembly had adopted Resolution WHA39.21, calling for the eradication of dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) globally. Nigeria reacted appropriately by establishing the Nigeria Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (NIGEP) in 1988. At that time, Nigeria was the most endemic country in the world, with an annual incidence of 653,620 cases of dracunculiasis reported from 5879 villages. Through NIGEP’s activities, which were supported in various ways by several partners, including WHO, UNICEF, the Carter Centre, Yakubu Gowon Centre, etc, the number of cases had been reduced by 2006 to 16 cases from 10 villages.

The eradication of dracunculiasis included the interruption of its local transmission and the certification of that interruption. The WHO would certify interruption if an independent international certification commission appointed by the organization was satisfied, among other criteria, that Nigeria had mounted adequate surveillance and health education for guinea worm for a period of at least three years after interruption of local transmission. The remit of the NCC-GWDE was to monitor progress on dracunculiasis eradication by regular meetings to review reports submitted by NIGEP, field visits to observe NIGEP’s activities, interview of various stakeholders, as well as periodic surveys to confirm the real position on the matter. The committee submitted a report to the minister of health after each meeting. The establishment of the NCC-GWDE and implementation of their stipulated activities was one of the requirements for pre-certification activities and Nigeria’s subsequent qualification for certification by WHO as a guinea worm-free country.

My assignment was rather trying initially because, as the report of the 2007 external assessment of the status of NIGEP field activities confirmed, there was poor support from the government, including lack of transport, logistics and funds. In 2007, no funds were available for the programme. The NCC-GWDE could not hold meetings as planned due to lack of funds. In the circumstances, I wrote to the minister of health to resign my appointment because of what I described as the government’s lack of political will. Professor Adenike Grange, who succeeded Lambo as the minister of health, persuaded me to change my mind on the promise that there would be an improvement and there was.

The NCC-GWDE successfully completed its assignments, which included helping the FMOH to prepare the country report to the WHO, meeting with the international team sent by the WHO to verify the position on interruption of disease transmission, surveillance and health education, etc, and accompanying the team on assessment/verification visits to different parts of the country. The report of the international team of experts was favourable and, in 2013, WHO certified Nigeria free of dracunculiasis. I felt honoured and proud when, on his invitation, I joined the minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, at a ceremony on 15 January 2014, in the Federal Executive Council Chambers, Abuja, to present WHO’s Certificate of Eradication to President Goodluck Jonathan. I remain thankful to God who crowned with success the very hard work, over a period of nearly three decades, of many dedicated Nigerians at NIGEP, NCC-GWDE, the federal, state, local and community levels, as well as staff of several partner organizations, including WHO (Nigeria), UNICEF( Nigeria), TCC (Nigeria), Yakubu Gowon Centre, etc. The full list of persons is too long to record in this book, but mention must be made of Professor O. O. Kale, Professor L. D. Edungbola, Professor E. I. Braide, Mrs. I. N. Anagbogu, Dr. Amos Bassi, Dr. Emmanuel Miri and Dr. Cephas Ityonzughul.