FUNAAB gets new VC, registrar , bursar

A new Vice-Chancellor has been appointed for the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). He is Prof. Felix Salako.

Also, a new Registrar and a Bursar have been approved for the university; they are Dr Hakeem Adekola and Mr Chukwunwike Ezekpeazu.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr Aboki Zawha, announced the appointments in a statement on Tuesday in Abeokuta.

It was reported that the immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, the ex-Pro-Chancellor, Sen. Adeseye Ogunlewe, and the former Bursar of the institution, Mr Moses Ilesanmi, were on Nov. 26, 2016, arraigned at an Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta over N800 million fraud charge.

They were arraigned before Justice O.O. Majekodunmi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an 18-count charge bordering on intention to defraud, conspiracy to defraud, stealing and conversion of N1.5 million property of FUNAAB and unlawful deposit of N442.8 million in fixed deposit account without due process.

Oyewole and Ogunlewe were granted N50 million bail each, while Ilesanmi was sent back to EFCC custody because his counsel, Mr Adedamola Lapite, arrived the court late for the hearing of his bail application.

Zawha said the appointments were guided by the extant laws that established the university.

According to Zawha, the council set up a committee which screened the applicants for the positions, while a Technical Committee which ensured their compliance with the rules.

The technical committee, he said, came up with a list that was presented to the Selection Board which was approved by the Council based on recommendations.

Salako, born in 1961, was until his appointment, the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development).

The new vice-chancellor is a Professor of Soil Physics in the Department of Soil Science and Land Management.

He attended Igbobi College, Lagos, and proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he obtained B.A Agriculture (Hons) and M.Sc degrees in Soil Sciences in 1983 and 1986.

Salako, who bagged a Ph.D in Soil Science from the University of Ibadan in 1997, joined the services of FUNAAB in 2000 as a Senior Lecturer and moved up the academic ladder to become a Professor in 2006.

The new Registrar-desginate was until his appointment, the Deputy Registrar in charge of Senate Affairs at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.

Ezekpeazu, a former Bursar at the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja, is a visiting Bursar on sabbatical at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia.