The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has inaugurated the Presidential Visitation Panel for the University of Lagos.
The committee which will be chaired by Prof. Tukur Sa’ad is expected to unravel the circumstances that led to the removal of the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe by its governing board, led by the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Dr. Wale Babalakin.
Other members of the panel include Barrister Victor Onuohar, Professor Ikenna Onyido, Professor Ekanem Braids, Professor Adamu Usman, Jimoh Bankole and Barrister Grace Ekanem.
Speaking during the inauguration of the committee in Abuja, the Minister assured that the Federal Government will not interfere in the findings of the panel.
The inauguration comes a few days after Senate members of the University of Lagos on Monday elected Professor Folasade Ogunsola as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the school.
Two Deputy Vice-Chancellors, one from Development Services and the other from Management Services, vied for the position.
Out of the 167 senate members who voted at the exercise, 135 voted for DVC Development Services while DVC Management Services got 31 votes, one voided vote was recorded.
The Senate Emergency Committee Chairman, Professor Chioma Agomo who spoke to Channels Television after the election said due process was followed in electing the new acting VC as directed by the Federal Government.
Professor Ogunsola until her election, was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Development Services.
Federal Government had earlier ordered that the University’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Wale Babalakin, and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, recuse themselves from official duties, pending the outcome of the panel.
The Federal Government gave the directive last Friday in a press statement signed by the Federal Ministry of Education spokesman, Ben Goong.
It states, “Government also directs the Senate of the University of Lagos to immediately convene to nominate an acting Vice-Chancellor from amongst its members for confirmation by the Governing Council,” the statement added.
Babalakin’s Governing Council had, on August 12, sacked Ogundipe as Vice-Chancellor over alleged financial misappropriation and misconduct.
