LASU's GROWING PACE : A THRILLING PHENOMENON

The Lagos State University had its 22nd Convocation Ceremony with the major events holding between the 21st and 24th of May, 2018. I temporarily relocated to Lagos and attended all events as my younger sister bagged her Bachelor of Science. In the course of these four days, so many prominent Nigerians including : Former President Olusegun Obasanjo,GCFR, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Professor Abubakar Rasheed of National Universities Commission(NUC), the Chancellor to the University and High Commissioner to the UK - Justice Oguntade, business moguls, prominent traditional rulers numbering over 20, and Vice Chancellors (or their representatives ) from more than 27 institutions to
mention but a few were all guests of the university. It was a roll call of who is who.


It was obvious, the university has been investing massively in infrastructural development and upgrade of many of its facilities. This explains why Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Ambode had to pay a visit to the university's fisheries and aquaculture facility which is now adjudged to be one of the best in Africa. From hatching its fingerlings, I am informed that the unit is not only able to sell table size fish in commercial quantities, it also has such by- products as bathing soap and body cream all made from fish oil there in the University. The University I am further informed is also into genetic engineering of fish production. The myriad of visitors to the university were all visibly impressed and gave kudos to the university leadership for bringing this new dynamism of innovation and high level scholarship to LASU.

In all of these, what stands out the most in LASU today is not its new Senate building. Rather, it's the unity, bond, and drive among its workforce, students, the entire university community including the Alumni association . In unison they all showed that LASU is now poised to make its mark as a great citadel of learning. You need to see the energy and determination on the faces of staff and students when they sing the university anthem. It is amazing. I truly felt very proud as an alumnus . Interestingly, with the way and manner a few members of ASUU-LASU Exco have been running around media houses in recent weeks, one would have thought that indeed another crisis was brewing. This just concluded Convocation clearly showed that these few disgruntled elements are only out to inundate members of the public with lies/falsehood against the hardworking university Vice chancellor -Prof. Fagbohun, and members of his management. LASU without doubt made a resounding positive statement with this Convocation. Every opportunity I have had to watch the VC reflects him as a passionate leader who immensely love his people (staff and students). This Convocation was a clear demonstration that his people equally love him in return.

With regards to the remnant members of ASUU - LASU Excos, the once popular 'comrades' lost relevance in the university and beyond when they decided to defend their glaringly corrupt and crooked erstwhile Chairman and Vice Chairman. Instead of ASUU - LASU Excos to sanitize its ranks, it decided to go political by erroneously crying victimization and lying to the world that LASU is in crisis. As if peddling of falsehood on newspaper pages was not enough, this very few(I am told that these rabble-rousers can be counted on the fingers) ASUU-LASU Excos led by Drs Dansu and Oyekan(who has a reputation for sexually harassing female students in his office) alongside their friends such as Dr Wole of the Department of Sociology (who attempted to rape a female student in a hotel room a couple of years ago) will sit outside of their congress to draw list of spurious allegations against the university Vice Chancellor all in a bid to arm twist him. In their delusion, they felt blackmailing the Vice Chancellor through the proliferation of fallacies on the pages of newspapers will make him kow-tow and thus halt the machinery of justice from taking its course in the cases of their 'comrades'. I was also opportune to get a copy of the just released 2017 Annual Report of the University and reading through, it was quite captivating (recall this same VC and his team released that of 2016 early in 2017) - this is what I call accountability.


ASUU(at its local, zonal and national level) lost public respect and sympathy when it chose to pitch its tents with lies and darkness. One of my former Lecturers told me that these disgruntled ASUU LASU Exco boys have continued to make a mockery of themselves by making frantic attempts to instigate the public and the university community(through a group called Education Rights Campaign) against the university authority. Having dawned on them that they lack acceptability and popularity among members of LASU Community, this very microscopic gang of ASUU - LASU Exco have continued to waste union dues fighting a war that does not exist and in raising a devilish army that will amplify their evil agenda and make their dream of creating a crisis in LASU - a reality. This has however failed and will forever fail.

A past executive member of ASUU who was my teacher in the faculty also told me that this very crop of ASUU - LASU Excos have failed to allow the auditing of the account of the union for a long time while holding on desperately to power under the guise that there is a crisis. Some members according to him are contemplating going to court for the several millions of naira unaccounted for. Why will a body like ASUU be in this mess ? Why can't they promote the truth and be accountable?


The 22nd LASU Convocation Ceremony was a great eye opener. It brought to the fore, the very essence of universities in a country. The Convocation Lecture which was very well delivered by Professor Abubakar Rasheed, Executive Secretary of NUC and chaired by Former President Olusegun Obasanjo spotlighted challenges of nation building in Nigeria as well as the possible panacea.

Members of the LASU community worked so hard for their university. It was all praises for them, the Governing Council and the Management. However, it is not yet uhuru. LASU can still do a lot more. As is to be expected, we graduates of LASU will always want our university to continuously improve. For LASU to sustain its drive and consolidate on its previous gains, staff and students of LASU must remain united and consistently work hard for the growth of their university. The old sad days of crisis must also be buried for good - this is the more reason why the university community and even members of the LASU Alumni must stand firm against the machinations of mischievous individuals like the remnant members of ASUU - LASU Exco who are so desirous of crisis in LASU. After publishing one of my recent articles on LASU(titled "When Will ASUU say The Truth in LASU", I received so many calls from former colleagues in LASU who all applauded the bravery of the article and even urged me to expose the evil men further . My response is that it is not only my responsibility to promote the true narratives of events, we all must constantly be involved. We must not keep silent in the face of evil that the current ASUU LASU Exco represent. Thank God the other Unions have remained credible and not allowed themselves to be hood winked to do evil. Other members of LASU community (including the Alumni) must come out to tell the world what truly is happening in LASU. The university is making unprecedented successes and a very few disgruntled individuals who have skeletons in their cupboards must not be allowed to stand in front of this development.


*Ibrahim Alao is an M.Sc graduate of LASU. He writes from Ibadan.*

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