Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Folasade Ogunsola OON, FAS, has said that the institution’s Students’ Union will soon be reinstated.
Speaking at the official Swearing-in Ceremony for Faculty Presidents and Student Leaders for the 2023/2024 Academic Session which held at the Tayo Aderinokun Hall on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, Prof. Ogunsola said arrangements are being finetuned to ensure that the Students’ Union meets its true purpose as a students’ welfare body and not an opposition or pressure group against the university management.
While congratulating the faculty presidents and student-leaders, the Vice-Chancellor said their emergence is happening at a very critical time especially when viewed against the backdrop of the various challenges which are not peculiar to UNILAG. She said the task before the faculty presidents and student leaders would require them to take tough, unpopular but impactful decisions which would be in the interest of the university and the students.
Prof. Ogunsola charged them to see their new assignments as a call to responsibility and leadership, one which they must pursue with diligence, commitment, open-mindedness and sincerity of purpose. She cautioned the students against ill-conceived notions about the generality of staff of the university, and advocated the need for a common front with a conscious commitment to a common good. She also challenged them to prioritize the overall interest of the university in all their engagements.
The Vice-Chancellor used the avenue to debunk insinuations about the privatization of hostels and halls of residence in the university. She said hostels are being renovated in phases and with available resources while management is also working on Public-Private-Partnership arrangements to ensure that students’ hostels are made more befitting.
Prof. Ogunsola assured the student representatives of access to management for constructive engagement whenever the need arises. She also reiterated management’s readiness to groom and expose them to opportunities.
To the generality of students, Prof. Ogunsola cautioned against continued assaults on the university especially on social media as against the choice of constructive engagements with management during conflict. She stated the impending impacts of such persistent negative social media posts on the university’s ratings, public image and especially on their prospects after graduation.
Earlier in his remarks, the Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Musa Obalola said the election and swearing-in of the Faculty Presidents and Student Leaders was aimed at fostering a cordial relationship between students and management of the university. He said the event will also point the students in the direction of responsibility and leadership, thereby grooming them as bearers of the UNILAG core ethos.
Highpoint of the event formal administration of the oath of office on the Faculty Presidents and the student leaders by the University’s Legal Unit as performed by Mrs. Olugbemi Adisa (Senior Assistant Registrar, Litigation).
There were also remarks by Deans of Faculties who were present at the event. They all implored the student leaders to see their positions as a call to service, respect, consult and collaborate with all constituted authorities for the good of all and seize the platform to prepare themselves for leadership beyond the shores of UNILAG.
In their separate remarks, representatives of the faculty leaders were full of gratitude to the university management for the level of engagement. They assured of their readiness to be partners in progress in sustaining the peace, tranquillity and the FUTURE-READY agenda of the Professor Folasade Ogunsola led UNILAG management.
UNILAG Communication Unit
