Adefioye Iyunade
For the first time, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, Dr. Wale Babalakin, has spoken on the crisis rocking the university since the removal of the vice chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
Speaking in Lagos after his trip to Abuja, he said, “As a product of law, I don’t engage in things that will trample the law. Due process was followed in the removal of Ogundipe as VC,
Babalakin spoke at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2, Lagos on arrival from Abuja, where the Council of the University met and removed Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the Vice Chancellor.
He said there is no crisis in the institution.
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On the stance of staff unions in the university rejecting the removal, Babalakin said, “If you go to the campus now and do a secret ballot of how popular Ogundipe administration is, you would see that he is unpopular.
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“Only a tiny vocal minority that is benefiting from the corrupt system is making noise.
“What was going on was misappropriation and looting of the scarce resources of the school.”
Babalakin accused Ogundipe of financial recklessness and going beyond his financial approval powers on a number of occasions.
He therefore called on the necessary agencies of government to investigate him.
He said, “The financial guidelines of the University of Lagos gives the Vice Chancellor the power to spend not more than N2.5 million in some instances without the approval of the Governing Council and anything higher must be brought to the Council for approval.
“However, Ogundipe spent N49 million to renovate his official quarters without anybody approving that.
“He also approved N41 million for the Bursar to renovate his official quarters too. That is unacceptable. He must be investigated. We need to do that for us to start building the university. I can tell you that when we probed the account of the university, it was in tatters.”
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