UNILAG and it’s aborted Convocation ceremony

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Toyin Falola

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Mar 6, 2020, 12:53:48 PM3/6/20
to ya, dialogue
https://ekohotblog.com/2020/03/06/fg-orders-unilag-to-suspend-convocation/

PRESS RELEASE
THE UNILAG LEVIATHAN, Dr. WALE BABALAKIN, BEARS HIS FANGS AGAIN
ASUU UNILAG received with rude shock the news of the postponement of the 51st convocation ceremony of the University of Lagos schedule for 9th-12th of March, 2020 barely four days to it's commencement. Preliminary investigations by our Union reveals that the postponement was occasioned by the Pro-Chancellor's unilateral complaint to the Ministry of Education that the "2019 convocation ceremonies were not approved by Council" contrary to available evidence.
Our Union therefore condemns in the strongest terms this wicked, inhuman, egoistic, retrogressive, unconscionable and satanic postponement of this historic convocation ceremony on account of the over bloated ego of the Pro-Chancellor.
This latest antics of the Pro-Chancellor has further confirmed our agelong fears about the destructive machinations of the Pro-Chancellor in the University of Lagos in particular and the entire Nigerian University system in general. Otherwise, how else can one explain the role of the Pro-Chancellor in the calamitous postponement of a convocation ceremony without any consideration for the psychological trauma this may cause the graduands, their parents, relatives, the image and reputation of the University. This is apart from the huge human, material and financial resources that has been committed to planning the ceremony.
That the Ministry of Education could by fiat request the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to "advice the Vice Chancellor to suspend the University's convocation ceremony without investigating the veracity of the Pro-Chancellor's claim is not only worrisome but highly depressing. It is a blatant erosion of academic freedom and University autonomy for which our Union has consistently fought for over the years. Not only that, it is also an eloquent testimony to the leadership bankruptcy at the helm of affairs of our Nation's education system. But for this kind of leadership, Leviathan like Dr Wale Babalakin who erroneously assumes that a University established by an Act of Parliament is an extension of his law firm would
not have any business superintending over a University.
The struggle continues...!

'Dele Ashiru
Chairman ASUU UNILAG


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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

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Mar 6, 2020, 5:23:38 PM3/6/20
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does  ASUU UNILAG not need to analyse the issues so as to convince people of the validity of its stance?

toyin

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Moses Ochonu

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Mar 6, 2020, 6:06:00 PM3/6/20
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No Toyin, because ASUU being ASUU, they simply have to reflexively oppose any action taken by management without feeling the need to explain their stance or to analyze the issues as stake. This is why ASUU is one of the most despised organizations in Nigeria today. They oppose and obstruct without even bothering to explain why and without looking for compromise and creative and productive  cooperation. They think maximally and in terms of absolute opposition. And they are tone deaf. This is why they have lost the sympathy of Nigerians. Any neutral observer reading this press statement would not even come away with an understanding of the issues in contention. Rather, they would have been thoroughly introduced to the peculiar aluta antics and rhetorical thuggery of ASUU. That is where we are with ASUU. The tide is turning fast against them and they don’t even know it because they live in their own incestuous bubble, are blissfully oblivious to the tiresome counterproductivity of their ways, and are determined not to let any extraneous demands and pesky norms of organizational conduct come between them and their increasingly repetitive and sterile militancy.

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On Mar 6, 2020, at 11:23 PM, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com> wrote:



Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

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Mar 7, 2020, 3:34:37 AM3/7/20
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I dont know what to say.

I would like to respond to Ochonu's expressive style, however, without implying I agree with his submissions.

Beautiful writing.

I read it twice and will read it again, for the sheer pleasure of the sense of the smooth flow of delicious food into the gullet, soup studied with rich ingredients, smooth yet loaded.

It would be exciting to read Moses' academic writing to see how these expressive powers are brought into play without restrictions, a context where the scholar lets fly with his skills in the understanding that his readers will follow.

thanks

toyin



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