UNILAG spends N100m monthly on power, Osinbajo for convocation lecture

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is to deliver the next convocation lecture of the University of Lagos scheduled for Jan. 21, 2019.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, told our reporter in Lagos that the lecture would be part of activities for the 2017/2018 convocation of the 56-year-old institution.

He said that the topic of the lecture would soon be made known as preparations for the ceremony had almost been concluded.

“The Vice-President of the Gambia, Ousainou Darboe, who is an alumnus of the university, will chair the long service award ceremony on Jan. 25.

“There is something new that we want to introduce: that is, all the faculties, a day before their convocation, will do what they call the hood celebration.

“People who are going to graduate will go to their faculties, get seated, and the dean, with the faculty officer, will put the hood on them.

“We should give them that university culture for them to know they are recognised and given that honour; then, the following day, they will come for the ceremony (convocation),” he said.

Ogundipe, the 12th Vice-Chancellor of the university, identified funds constraint as a major challenge to the institution.

According to him, funds constraint made the institution’s management to look for more ways to generate funds.

He said that the university’s monthly spending was high.

“For example, for electricity supply, our expenses every month from the national grid is about N60 million. This does not include diesel.

“On diesel, we spend about N15 million monthly, and this does not include that of College of Medicine in Idi-Araba.

“That of Idi-Araba campus, from the brief they gave me, is about N20 million in the average per month; so, we are talking of about N100 million for power supply every month.

“We do not allow local generators on campus. The university runs about 20 hours of power supply every day.

“The bill we pick up is a lot; that is why we want government’s intervention in funding university education, especially in Lagos.

“Our terrain is very hostile because it is a wet land. To put up a solid high-rise structure in the university, we will be talking of about N3 billion because we will need to sandfill,’’ Ogundipe said.

According to him, the institution is going through a lot because of the terrain and location.