A MAJOR crisis may erupt at the Lagos State University (LASU) any moment from now following the planned rationalisation of courses by the institution’s governing council.The council had, at its 100th meeting held on April 30, noted that the decision for the rationalisation was consistent with the outcome of an interactive session between the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. Olabode Augusto, the students, academic and non-academic staff.
The council also approved the proposal at the meeting and authorised the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa, to rationalise the number of courses offered by the university, in conjunction with the dean of each faculty, using the criteria of the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) accreditation status, economic viability, needs of the society and the institution’s ability to teach the course well.
The rationalisation is to take admission of students for the 2013/2014 session into consideration. The vice chancellor had two weeks to carry out the assignment and an emergency meeting of council was slated for yesterday to consider the outcome.
However, the institution’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed shock at the decision. In a statement by its Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Idris, and Secretary, Dr. A. Adeyemi-Suenu, the union denied agreeing with the pro-chancellor at any meeting that the university was over-populated.
The statement noted that while it was true that the pro-chancellor met with academic and non-academic staff members, “at no point in time did any staff opine that (the) Lagos State University is overpopulated.”
According to the union, “at the meeting with the academic staff, the pro-chancellor stated humbly and honestly without ambiguity that he was not accustomed to the university rules, governance and procedures. ASUU-LASU, therefore, offered to assist our amiable pro-chancellor.
“However, (the) academic staff noted that beneath the assistance sought by the pro-chancellor was an unclear but well gestated policy direction that could worsen the currently existing peace of the graveyard at LASU, necessitated by management’s disrespect for laid down rules and administrative procedures of the university.
“For example, the implementation of any rationalisation exercise is under the purview of Senate as the highest academic body in the university. ASUU-LASU would like to place it on record that no academic staff ever mentioned that LASU is over-populated. We see a grand plan being played out irrespective of our informed output.”
The union also asserted that the justification being advanced for the planned rationalisation “cannot withstand any serious intellectual and philosophical scrutiny for the existence of universities.” It contended that the planned exercise “contravenes Nigeria’s constitutional provisions on social responsibilities of the state (and) also contradicts all known best practices in developing societies.”
Augusto was said to have travelled out of the country when The Guardian enquired, but a competent source, speaking in confidence, insisted that the issues of rationalisation and over-population were indeed discussed during Augusto’s meeting with the unions and students.
The source said it was a well-known fact that many academic staff members do not teach any course in the institution at the moment, adding: “There are departments without students, yet you have over 10 academic staff there. What are they doing?
“The Department of Economics is one example. They have so many academic staff members that are doing nothing. Also, there are many of the academic staff members who got their Master’s degrees over 10, 15 years ago and have not deemed it fit to get a doctorate degree; such persons have no business teaching in LASU.
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