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Obi of Onitsha, Governing Council Chairman, Mrs Ogunsola, Mrs Ade-Ajayi, and former President Obasanjo, at Mrs Ogunsola’s investiture. |
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo; Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe; a retired justice and mother of the new vice-chancellor, Titi Mabogunje, and wife of former vice-chancellor of the university, Christie Ade-Ajayi, were among many dignitaries who graced the investiture of the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Folasade Ogunsola, on Tuesday.
The Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Universities
Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, represented President Muhammadu Buhari as the
university’s Visitor, and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu. He also
presented a speech on behalf of the Executive Secretary of NUC, Abubakar
Rasheed.
The event, which coincided with the university’s 60th
anniversary, was also part of the activities marking the university’s 53rd
convocation ceremonies.
The new Vice-Chancellor, a professor of Medical Microbiology,
is the first woman to occupy the position, having served as the first female
provost of the university’s college of medicine, and the pioneer female acting
vice-chancellor.
Investiture
As is customary in the university system in the country, the
first convocation ceremonies witnessed by a new vice-chancellor usually serve
as an occasion to formally welcome them into office.
Conducting the investiture on Tuesday was the Chairman of
the institution’s Governing Council, Lanre Tejuoso, an alumnus of the
university’s medical college, who took credit for organising a seamless
selection process.
Mr Tejuoso, who presented the staff of office to the
vice-chancellor, commended her for her commitment to the peace and tranquillity
on the campus and thanked everyone who contributed to the process in one way or
the other.
NUC hails Ogunsola
The National Universities Commission (NUC), in a speech
delivered by Mr Maiyaki, noted that history is being made in the university
with the investiture of its first female “to occupy this exalted office after
over 60 years of its establishment”.
The new helmswoman was urged to establish sustainable
partnerships with government agencies, industry, and society in her operations
as the vice chancellor, adding that “the university must focus on how students
can learn and acquire relevant skills that will enable them to succeed in
today’s highly dynamic and competitive world”.
The NUC boss further pointed out that the new vice
chancellor must ensure the reward system of the university is based on
credibility.
He said: “There are many other important issues that you
must also address if you are to succeed and create a pathway for sustainable
growth. The process of performance evaluation has increasingly left much to be
desired in our universities.
“There is a gradual erosion of order in assessments and
promotions at all levels. The intellectual space has shrunken to the extent
that there is a subversion of the age-long and most cherished tradition and
prestige of academia. It is no longer news that some professors have
questionable credentials.
“You must out of necessity, ensure that the reward system is
based on hard work and academic credibility and influence. and not solely on
belongingness to trite formations designed to gain prebendal footholds”.
My covenant with UNILAG – Ogunsola
After receiving the instrument of the office, Mrs Ogunsola
spoke on her plans and vision for the university.
She said: “In the last 60 years, the university has
distinguished itself by the excellent calibre of its students, alumni and staff
and its impact on national development. In those 60 years, the university
successfully nurtured over 200,000 graduates who have made indelible impacts across
all spheres of life, locally and globally.
“However, significant as these impacts are, technological
innovations are challenging universities to achieve more in a few years what it
took them in the past decades to achieve. As the world moves rapidly into the
fourth industrial revolution, there has been a mass acceleration in the rate at
which knowledge is generated and rendered obsolete. There has also been an
upsurge in disruptive technologies, with the convergence of the physical,
biological, and digital worlds.
“Navigating this space requires adaptation and reorientation
of our thinking to create a future-ready workforce that is intellectually
nimble, creative, problem-solving, and collaborative with local and global
impact. Achieving all these requires innovative and visionary leadership, which
is why I am committed to inspiring and preparing staff and students for this
rapidly unfolding future.”
Challenges
Speaking further, Mrs Ogunsola highlighted some of the
“weaknesses and threats to the university”, which include inadequate funding,
ageing infrastructure, inadequate ICT infrastructure, high cost of public
utilities especially electricity and the constant disruptions to the academic
calendar.
“I have therefore committed myself to work with the Governing
Council, the staff, the students, alumni, and all friends of our university,
not only to overcome the present challenges but to create the university that
can prepare us for the rapidly changing future and also the manpower to shape
that future. I will at this point like to share with you a definition of the
university that I find so inspiring,” she said.
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Mr Ogundipe, Mr Tejuoso, Mrs Ogunsola, and Mr Bello, at the investiture ceremony. |
Deploying NUC’s CCMAS
She also admitted that her tenure as the vice Chancellor is
coming at a time when “Nigerian universities are being given the freedom by the
NCC to develop courses with their distinct flavour through the recently
released Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), which will replace
the very restrictive Basic Minimum Academic Standards”.
“We through our Senate intend to use this to achieve the
goal of developing Work Ready Future-Facing and Entrepreneurial students,” she
said.
NUC said by the CCMAS, each university is expected to
provide 30 per cent of the contents of the curriculum of each of the academic
programmes being administered.
“While ensuring that all your academic programmes are
consistent with the 70 per cent contents specified in the CCMAS, you are hereby
challenged to creatively provide the 30 per cent contents in ways that will
ensure that each programme has significant social impact and relevance within
the context of the prevailing local, national, and global realities,” said Mr Maiyaki.
Other dignitaries
Other dignitaries at the event included Mrs Ogunsola’s
predecessors in office, especially both the 11th and 12th vice-chancellors of
the university, Ramon Bello and Oluwatoyin Ogundipe respectively.
Also in attendance at the ceremony were representatives of the Oba of Lagos, Riliwanu Akiolu, members of the university’s governing council, management members, staff and students of the institution. -PREMIUM TIMES