November 24, 2014 – Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, LASU, Prof. John Obafunwa has reacted to recent attacks on him by LASU chapter of the Academic Staff Union of University(ASUU) stressing that the lecturers are angry with him because he stopped leakages in the system.
The local chapter of ASUU had at a press conference accused the VC of victimizing lecturers that partook in the unrest that forced the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to reduce tuition in the school to N25,000.
Speaking at the weekend, the VC said it was his crusade against graft and fraud that has pitched him against members of ASUU whom he said had inflated impress adding that the Senate opted to withdraw the PhD certificates in question since some were awarded in error.
“It may sound hilarious but part of the problem is the Nigeria mentality as regards stomach infrastructure. But it is easy to understand why some people will not be happy, we also have people who understand and are willing to see a change.
“ Most of the things that happen have to do with the fact that many people are no longer benefiting from the leakages, but I really thank those who have continued to stay by the administration,” he stated.
Obafunwa said those fighting against him were those who are against change.
“Some people would want to resist it, particular when it appeared you are blocking certain avenues. When I came in, about N13 million was being expended every month on impress and I know some people who don’t have to wait for their salaries, they just have to depend on the impress.
“By the time I finished my analysis within the first month, the impress to the office of the VC reduced by 66 percent; office of the VC, including at that time office of the Deputy VC, Internal Audit, Academic Planning one or two other areas, I cut the impress down by 66 percent.
“I know fuel allowance was being collected for a vehicle that was actually off the road, I know a particular unit at that time where a particular director was collecting N610,000 monthly and we were able to run the same unit with N90,000,” he said.
The VC explained that the Senate and not his office that is investigating PhD certificates issued to 19 graduates in error adding that his administration has not victimised anybody but that the Senate insisted on doing the right thing.
According to him, the whole issue came to the fore because a woman lecturer came directly to the senate and complained that she was awarded PhD in a programme she did not enrol for, specifically she said what she enrolled for was M Phil PhD in International Business but she was awarded PhD in Business Administration (Marketing) and that woman refused to collect the certificate.
“I did not even know anything about it. When it came to the fore, we now asked a question, what happened? She came to Senate and not to me and Senate directed the Dean of Postgraduate School and Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences to go and bring all the materials of the PhD that were awarded in the last three to four years to be looked at. Then they came with 19 and not actually 14.
“Senate spent about three hours debating this particular issue and senators were able to categorise everything into about three groups. Group one were about eight lecturers who had no problem, although, senate decided that they will like to see their certificates of conversions and what they were admitted for in the first instance.
“These people were straightforward, they were giving PhD in the areas they enrolled for, thy just wanted the documentation. You have two other groups; one group, senate considered to have some mild problems and another one, a very serious problem. Senate now decided to look at the document presented and discovered that it gave approval in 2004 for the postgraduate programme-M Phil PhD Business Administration; M Phil PhD Management and M Phil PhD in International Business. These were the three.
“You now have people being giving PhD in Business Administration (Management) double honour; PhD Business Administration (International Business) and senate decided to bring the letters offering them admission into these programmes.
Obafunwa said lecturers in the third category were those bagging PhD in Business Administration (Marketing), saying that there is no programme approved for marketing, neither was there any PhD programme approved for Marketing.
“What you don’t have, you cannot give. Off course, senate decided that we have to withdraw all these certificates, those that are cleared will get their certificates; areas of double honour will be streamlined and those that do not exist at all will be withdrawn completely and let people do what they need to do to earn that thing.
“So, it was not a case of victimisation of any particular group. Initially, everything was borne out of one person who refused to collect her degree. I will be grateful to that person, otherwise, nobody would have known anything.
“Could all these have happened without some level of compromise from within? The answer is yes. We are also looking at that, I don’t want the impression to be giving that we are focusing on people who might have benefited from one way or the other from it; no, we are also looking at the system, why should this happened? Who and who allows this to happen?” , he said.
