- VC pledge open door policy, to set up 28 committees
Less than 72 hours after he assumed office, the new Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Olarenwaju Fagbohun has sought the support of the four staff unions on campus to achieve success and make LASU one of the best in the World.
Prof Fagbohun who met with leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non Academic Staff Union and National Association Academic Technologists on Wednesday, disclosed that he would operate an open door policy.
The new VC who is operating from the new Faculty of Science Building Complex on the main campus told the union leaders that his administration would operate the committee system which is obtainable in others universities Worldwide.
According to a source who attended the meeting, Prof Fagbohun sought the cooperation of the staff unions to move the university forward by ensuring peace and stability on campus stressing his administration would accord staff welfare top priority.
The source told our Correspondent that the meeting involved only the new VC and the union leaders as no other management staffs were in attendance and that Fagbohun passionately appealed for support from the unions.
It was learnt that the union leaders opened up to the new VC revealing how the former administration ran the university like a private enterprise rather than through committee system and neglected the welfare of workers.
The chairmen of ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT, the source revealed assured the VC of their support for his quest to move reposition LASU and make it one of the best.
The union leaders used the opportunity to inform Prof Fagbohun of their demands which include payment of the outstanding salary arrears, appeal to him to reach out to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to replace the damaged vehicles as promised and learn and correct the mistakes of the past administration.
Meanwhile, a statement from LASU quotes Prof Fagbohun as telling the workers when he resumed office “this is the beginning of a new dawn. The name of the game is inclusive governance and I am going to work with you to make LASU the greatest. I can’t do it alone. I need everybody. We will think together and leverage on each other’s capacities. The opportunities in Lagos are enormous.”
Prof Fagbohun promised that within two weeks of his assumption of office, there would be provision of suggestion boxes in strategic places across the university campus, to enable staff to drop their suggestions and promised to work on them.
He gave a sneak preview into his strategy to develop the university “within the next two weeks, the university will have 28 committees which will include members of staff across all cadres. Put on your thinking caps and be ready to exert your intellects. It is the decisions of these committees that will guide us”.
The erudite Professor of Environmental Law, enjoined LASU staff to embrace strong work ethics, be diligent and punctual at their respective duty posts stressing “there are books that would be opened to capture the acts of everybody. The books would document the good, the bad and the ugly of everyone. But for me, I want to be in the good book.’’
The statement from the Centre for Information Press and Public Relations (CIPPR) said the university Registrar, Mr. Lewis Akinwunmi while proposing a toast for the success of the new administration, enjoined everybody to forget the past and embrace the future.