LASU: Stakeholder’s unites on principal officers five years single term

By Lanre Adesanya

With a bid to halt the incessant crisis posing a debilitating effect on the quality of education, afforded in the  Lagos State University (LASU), stakeholders have unanimously given credence to a five year single term proposal for the principal officers and a review to retirement age for lecturers, to stall the attendant brain drain linked to it.

This was communicated at a a Stakeholders’ Forum on ‘A Bill For A Law To Amend The LASU Law, 2004 and other Connected Purposes’ organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday 29th December at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the assembly complex.

One of the participants at the forum, the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( Lagos State University (LASU) chapter, speaking through its Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Idris has suggested that professors in the university should be allowed to retire at the age of 70 instead of the current age of 65 that operates in the school.

Dr. Idris said that most of the professors leave the university for private universities and others in the country to seek greener pasture and work till age 70 after retiring in LASU at age 65.

According to him, some of the professors that are retiring from the university use their students to conduct researches and they end up short-changing the university.

Dr. Idris said that ASUU-LASU had been advocating single-year tenure of five years for the Vice Chancellor of the university and other principal officers of the institution for some time now.

He said further that a holistic amendment of LASU law should be done once and for all, adding that the autonomy law of universities that operate in Nigeria should be adopted in LASU, as 13 professors had left the institution owing to subsisting law in the institution that pegs Professors active days in state University at 65years .

“The federal law states that a joint committee of the council and senate shall choose the Vice Chancellor from three shortlisted candidates and submit the name to the Governor for approval.

“The Governing Council would appoint the Vice Chancellor and it would be approved by the Visitor, the Governor of the state. The VC shall hold office for a single term of five years. The VC may be removed from office by the Governing Council over gross misconduct or as a result of inability to discharge his duties over infirmity of the body or mind.

“The committee shall conduct investigations into allegations made against the VC and report to the Governing Council. There shall be no sole administrator in the university,” he said.

He added that principal officers of the University such as Deputy Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Bursar and the Librarian should also serve a single year tenure of five years and that those who are serving in the University now should be part of this proposition.

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The Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi said in his speech at the event that the amendment is aimed at enhancing the quality of education being discharged in the University.

He stated that it will also assist in putting an end to the protracted leadership crisis that has rocked the state-owned tertiary institution and factors affecting accreditation and de-accreditation of courses in the institution would be considered.

“The single-term tenure considered in Schedule 1 of the amendment is imperative because the institution since its establishment has been bedeviled with internal crisis, which were targeted at sitting Vice-Chancellors, who desire to seek a second term in office,” he said.

The lawmaker also noted that the amendments to any law is a continuous exercise, citing the peculiarities of cases which need be attended to as basis.

He added that everyone must be on the same page in the quest to salvage the University from its multifaceted problems, adding that ‘we must all agree together to diffuse tension borne out of the issues ranging from the tenures of the Vice Chancellor and other principal officers, the university’s residential policy, retirement age for professional cadre etc.’

The Special Adviser to the Governor for Education,Mr. Obafela Bank Olemo, emphasized the need to deal with the ills in LASU constructively so as to salvage the institution in all ramification.