LASU acting VC shuns office over juju scare

Charles Abah

More than 12 days after his appointment as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Prof. Fidelis Njokanma has refused to occupy his office at the Ojo campus of the institution, our correspondent gathered on Tuesday.

Instead, Njokanma, who is a professor of Medicine, is operating from the institution’s College of Medicine at Ikeja.

It was learnt that the delay in resumption was because the acting VC was scared of the charms surrounding the Administrative Block and the Senate Building of the institution. The Admin Block houses the office of the VC as well as those of other principal officers of the institution.

Our correspondent gathered that Njokanma presided over his first Senate meeting last Wednesday at LASUCOM amid tight security.

The Lagos State Government through the university’s Governing Council led by Prof. Adebayo Ninalowo, appointed Njokanma, who hitherto was the Deputy VC, Academic, as the acting VC on November 7.

He took over the reins of office from the immediate past VC, Prof. John Obafunwa.

The desecration of the Admin Block and the Senate Building with charms reportedly took place on March 16, 2015, at the height of the dispute between Obafunwa and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, among other unions in the institution.

Obafunwa, who the union members accused of maladministration, also did at use the building in the last six months leading to the end of his tenure. His first four years as the VC of the university ended on October 31.

Other principal officers of the institution also shunned their offices in the building.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Student Union of the university on Tuesday frowned on the recent increment of the new students’ Acceptance Fee and Indigienship Verification Fee.

Whereas the Acceptance Fee increased from N10,000 to N20,000, the verification fee rose to N5,000 from N1,000.

Reacting to the increment on Tuesday, the SU President, Adeyemi Onikoro, described the action as “shocking and unwarranted.”

According to him, the authorities did not carry along the student body in carrying out the exercise.

He added that the move was akin to “introducing tuition in the institution through the backdoor.”

He said in a statement, “Our position is that this increment is unwarranted and unnecessary at this point in time. It is our strong belief that the university management never thought of the consequences of this before rolling out information to the effect of the increment.”