Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has vowed that the university would never sweep under the carpet the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against two lecturers of the university, Professor Segun Awonusi, a lecturer in the Department of English Language and Dr Igbeneghu, a former sub-dean of Faculty of Art by a former female student and a self-styled admission seeker sometimes ago respectively.
He also said the university would continue to be transparent and prudent in its spending.
He gave this indication on Monday at a media interactive event with newsmen on campus during which AVASTECH (verification and authentication data solution) was also launched.
Professor Ogundipe said investigations into the two sexual harassment allegations cases are certainly much on course even as the two dons involved are still on suspension.
According to him, the case against Professor Awonusi was being delayed because of the inability of the accuser and any other with useful evidence to come forward to testify before the probe panel handling the matter while that of the latter was simply because of the COVID-19 lockdown
“But I want to assure the public that UNILAG under my leadership will never cover up anybody nor sweep any of the cases under the carpet. We will surely get to the root of the matter and justice will be served accordingly. But I will not preempt what the outcome of the probe panels could be,” he explained.
He reaffirmed that UNILAG had a zero-tolerance for sexual harassment and other forms of untoward practices by both the staff members and students.
Speaking about his administration, he said the administration is open to questions, corrections and advises from any relevant quarters who are interested to know about its financial and other activities, adding that such would certainly help the university to move forward.
He said the recent crisis which led to his suspension and that of the former chairman of the governing council of the university, Dr Wale Babalakin, had grievous consequences on the university, especially as regards various losses incurred during the period including up to £40 million research grants by the faculty members.
While declaring that UNILAG would continue to re-brand for improvement and make it a global model, he lamented that the university would certainly face with the problem of payment for electricity use on campus when the students return, particularly to hostels.
He said the university before the coronavirus lockdown was paying between N61 and N62 million as electricity bill monthly and now with the increment in tariff would definitely be paying more than N90 million monthly by the time the students resume and return to hostels.
In addition to this, he pointed out, the university also spends up to N45 million on diesel procurement within three to four months.
“And where to get these huge amounts of money for electricity consumption on campus will certainly be a serious problem for the university, by the time we resume fully with students in hostels,” he stressed.
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