UI: Ekanola succeeds Olayinka as acting VC

Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

University of Ibadan Governing Council has approved the appointment of Adebola Ekanola as the acting vice chancellor of the institution at its meeting, yesterday.

The approval followed a recommendation of the Senate after its meeting at the International Conference Centre of the university, which was presided over by the Provost College of Medicine, Olayinka Omigbodun.

Director of Public Communication, Olatunji Oladejo, in a statement, said Pro-Chancellor and council Chairman, Nde Joshua Waklek Mutka, presided over the meeting, where the recommendation was approved.

Ekanola defeated four other candidates. The five candidates were nominated and seconded during the meeting. Each of the candidates also accepted their nomination.

Daily Sun, which monitored the process, reported that Ekanola polled 275 votes from the 337 valid votes cast during the process. A total of 400 votes were cast, out of which 63 votes were invalid.

Ayo Oluleye, a former dean, Faculty of Technology, came a distant second with 80 votes. A former deputy vice chancellor (DVC), Academic, Adigun Agbaje, came third with 15 votes.

Another former DVC (Academics), Gbemisola Oke, scored 14 votes, while the current DVC in charge of research, innovation and strategic partnership, Olanike Adeyemo, had 13 votes.

Before his appointment, Ekanola served as the DVC (Academic), Director of Office of International Programmes (OIP) and dean, Faculty of Arts.

The five-year tenure of Olayinka ended by 4p.m., yesterday.

The process for appointment of his successor, which began in June, was cancelled by the National University Commission (NUC), based on crises that dogged the process. The NUC also directed that an acting vice chancellor should be appointed for six months.

Meanwhile, some aggrieved members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non Academic Staff Union of Universities of the institution, yesterday symbolically swept the feet of the immediate vice chancellor out of office with brooms.

The participants that initially converged on the NISER Garden, venue of the farewell rally in the morning, marched to the office of the vice chancellor in the afternoon. They sang protest songs against the reign of Olayinka and symbolically swept the floor from his office to the main gate of the university.

SSANU Chairman, Wale Akinremi, said: “Why we are here today is not to dissipate energy or make noise but to appreciate the Almighty God for seeing us through the end of the regime of Olayinka. We suffered untold hardship under his watch as vice chancellor.

“At the time Olayinka came in 2015, the Federal Government was not owing us promotion arrears in 2014, how come it was in 2015 that he came in that they owed us promotion arrears?

“The fact is that his regime was an abysmal failure. For five years, both academic and non-academic members of staff could not get promotion arrears. We must have lost about two and half years of academic calendar to the wasteful regime of Olayinka.

“Olayinka tormented teachers of staff school for about five years. Teachers of staff school were collecting pension deductions from the Federal Government and they were signing monthly return forms under Olayinka. Till date, he has not paid them.

“In other universities, teachers were promoted, but he did not do that. What manner of training did you benefit under Olayinka? What was the level of morale of workers or are you talking about security? Are you going to talk about works and maintenance or research grants? Till date, the cleaners are complaining. At some points, we had to contribute money for them.

“Today, go to Distance Learning School, there is no kobo; go to post graduate school, there is no kobo. All areas where you get internally generated revenue, you cannot get anything.”

SSANU Chairman, Malachy Etim, also said: “We are here by God’s grace to celebrate the exit of Olayinka. It is a shameful thing for him to leave office without having a successor to hand over to. At the last minute to the end of his tenure, Olayinka rushed to commission an uncompleted building project and one wonders why.”