Stakeholders blame LASU crises on funding, government interference

 

(Nigeria) Stakeholders of the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, on Friday said that poor funding, government interference and bad leadership were the root causes of the looming crises in the institution.

They stated this at the LASU Alumni summit on the theme: ``Charting a new course towards achieving stability in academic calendar and monumental development in the institution."

Mr Yomi Orisha, Pioneer President, Lagos State University Students Union, LASUSU, said the history of the institution in the past 30 years was that of eluding crises due to government interference.

Orisha, however, noted that in charting a new course of academic stability and development for the institution, that the state government should stop handling the university as an extension of its government house.

``LASU, as a universal institution, must be allowed to operate independently and choose its principal leaders, without any interference from the government,“ he said.

Orisha said the first four years of the university was stupendous, until later years when it became a central focus of stateism and religious fanaticism.

He said that corruption, bad leadership and shortage of academic and non-academic staff, among other issues, were also problems facing the institution.

The former student union president, however, lamented that LASU, unlike other universities, was also not well funded.

``The wealth of the nation is meant for intellectual development of the citizenry, therefore, a large per cent of the 500 billion generated by Lagos State should be allocated to the university," he said.

Orisha further charged the university management to deploy other means of generating internal revenue and desist from siphoning the institution's funds.

``LASU makes lots of money from its various satellite campuses but the university continues to be comatose because of bad leadership," he said.

Prof. Afolabi Olumide, LASU's founding Vice-chancellor, said that while funding was a major problem of the institution, it should not be the sole responsibility of the government.

``The funding of LASU should be a collective responsibility of the government, the university, as well as all its stakeholders, for the pursuit of excellence," he said.

Esther Ashafa, LASU's Founding Registrar, also said that the problem of the institution resulted from shifting focus from the vision of the founding fathers to individual ambitions.

``The vision and slogan of the founding fathers is to make LASU great, and is a task that must be done but that is no longer the present culture in the institution," she said.

Mr Oluwatoyin Oshun, a former registrar of the institution, said the human element was the critical element responsible for the looming crises in LASU.

Oshun urged the Alumni Association to be a driving force for the course of change in the institution.

Dr Ola Gbadamosi, president, National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT), LASU chapter, urged the government to establish a State Education Trust Fund.

``Corporate bodies and organisations in the state should also be mandated to contribute to the trust fund towards developing education," he said.

Gbadamosi called for a single term of office by the institution's principal officers, adding that a robust staff welfare and training scheme should be developed.

Prof. John Obafunwa, the LASU Vice Chancellor, noted that there was a fundamental problem in the university and that until it was confronted and addressed;, things might not be set right.