LAGOS State University, LASU, was conceived by the Governor Jakande government as a university which will not only provide university opportunities for Lagos State residents but for all Nigerians and which would quickly attain a national and global standard befitting Nigeria’s self-proclaimed Centre of Excellence.
I recall reading our Daddy’s, late Chief Sanu Sobowale, 1931-1990, copy of the lengthy proposals concerning LASU, when he served as the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General for Lagos State. Furthermore, the education was going to be made affordable to ensure that nobody, brilliant, is denied the benefit of university for lack of funds. Those were lofty goals and to me, as an economist, the objectives were daunting.
Prof Obafunwa
Funds, which even in the early 1980s were more readily available, compared with the demands now placed on public finance, would always be a challenge to governments and to the university authorities. There was no question about that. But, institutional integrity has nothing to do with funds. It is a matter of leadership.
Nothing has changed that perspective regarding the goals of the university. Today, even the most generous observer of LASU must agree that it is not a national leader; it is far from being one of the top on the continent. Its rank globally had better be forgotten. Granted, some might argue that LASU cannot be expected to have attained the standards of universities started centuries ago – Oxford, 13th century, or Harvard, 1636 – as well as other great global universities in just a few decades.
Universities require years to secure their reputations, based on the quality of the graduates they send to the global market in all disciplines. But, every university, once established, must strive to achieve ever increasing standards in those courses it offers to its students at all levels. Those certificates issued are like national currencies – each has its global acceptability and convertibility.
That explains why nations always jealously guard the value of their currency. Universities do the same with their certificates. And, just as a nation’s currency loses acceptability, once it is mismanaged, or riddled with counterfeits, a university which places its own certificates under suspicion will work for years to restore its integrity.
Restoration of integrity
That is what makes the handling of the nineteen Ph. Ds withdrawn so painful to me as a Lagosian and a Nigerian. The collateral damage will turn out to be larger than anything imaginable by the authorities. Because the matter might eventually end up in the law courts, I hope this will not be regarded as contempt. However, the matter raises a lot of questions needing answers and which the explanations given had not satisfactorily addressed.
To begin with, most people are under the impression that every university follows laid down procedures when awarding degrees and giving certificates at all levels. It is also generally taken for granted that no single person or department is allowed to grant awards without checks and balances by others.
The most obvious question is: were the procedures violated when these doctorate degrees being recalled were awarded and who did? A related question is: why has it taken so long to detect the irregularities which dictated the withdrawal of the certificates? But, the most troubling question is: since very few doctorate degree certificates are issued, compared to undergraduate degrees, how can anyone be sure that a university which messes up on nineteen has not been fouling up on the several hundred bachelors degrees it issues annually and for how long?
I read the interview granted by the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Obafunwa, and while admiring his moral courage in taking the bull by the horns, could not help wondering if he had considered other options before going public with the withdrawals. It is possible that withdrawal, which had been done, could have waited until all the relevant issues had been sorted out.
At the moment, some people had been punished by being disgraced publicly, and the general public is not even sure what the offences committed were and who was the culprit. Is it possible, as some of those affected were claiming, that LASU had deliberately or inadvertently punished the victims of what might have been gross mismanagement by the authorities of the university itself?
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/varsities-talk-messing-lasu/#sthash.ctuwRzul.dpuf
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