VC promises healthier financial state for LASU

Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, has promised to leave the institution in a healthier financial state.

Fagbohun gave the assurance at the report meeting with LASU Financial Sustainability Committee on Tuesday in Lagos.

He said that the next vice chancellor would not inherit any financial challenge.

It was reported that Fagbohun is the eighth substantive vice chancellor of the university.

His five-year tenure will end in January 2021.

He said: “The management resolves to ensure that the institution remains financially sustainable in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 informed creation of the financial committee.

“Looking at the roadmap of our administration, we have five imperatives to build.

”They include peace, academic excellence, financial stability consolidation of the gains of previous administrations and veritable partnership with government.

“For us, we have achieved almost all of these imperatives.”

The vice chancellor said that one of the biggest challenges his administration faced was to be financially sustainable in the face of lean resources.

“To achieve this, we continued to engage the state government to increase our subventions enough to take care of salaries with the assurance that we would build on our internally generated revenue to drive development within the university.”

“It is at the time that our request finally got the governor’s attention that COVID-19 diverted government priority to other pressing areas,” Fagbohun said.

He, however, gave the assurance that, with the work of the committee, the university was on its way to becoming financially sustainable, in spite of the pandemic.

“We must make the university financially sustainable such that the next administration will not have to start from zero level.

“If we want to be fair to the system, we must not leave this university in limbo.

“I thank the members of the committee for a great job,” he said.

Prof. Ayo Omotayo, Chairman, LASU Financial Sustainability Committee, urged the university management to implement the report to enhance the institution’s financial position.

Omotayo said that the report would help the next vice chancellor to quickly identify directions to follow financially.

“When we were appointed about two months ago, we set out to look at where we are, where we want to be in five years and what we can do to get there, ”he said.

Mrs Agnes Sessi, a member of the committee, thanked the vice chancellor for his leadership roles and services in the last four years.

Sessi, also the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Lagos Chapter, prayed that in future, Fagbohun would have an opportunity to serve the university in another capacity.