Amid the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Kwara State, appointed Prof. Wahab Egbewole as the Vice Chancellor last Thursday. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the Governing Council, Mallam Abidu Yasid.
Wahab, a professor of International Law and Jurisprudence and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was selected among 13 shortlisted candidates who applied for the job.
Egbewole is the 11th vice chancellor of the institution and would assume office on October 16, after the exit of the incumbent, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, who has been in the chair since 2017.
For two decades, the institution was not involved in any Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and it was known for its stable calendar.
Its ASUU members on March 10, 2020 joined the strike under the administration of AbdulKareem.
The UNILORIN ASUU branch chairman, Moyosore Ajao, said academic staff were labelled traitors when they were not part of the union.
“We cannot be part of a body and say we don’t want to function with the body. The question everybody should ask is how did ASUU get bad like this? It is because we have an irresponsible government. And we have a minister of finance who would not want to pay people, after working to earn a pay,” he said.
Since 2020 the institution has been partaking in every strike, including the ongoing one.
However, students have highlighted their expectations from the new vice chancellor. Most importantly, they want him to dissociate the school from the national ASUU, introduce more practical courses, build more lecture halls, and address transportation problem, among others.
A 200-Level Accounting Student, Itunuoluwa Blessing Adejumo, wants the new VC to prioritise students and staff welfare within and outside the institution. She said hostels, classrooms and school park were not conducive for a normal lifestyle. She said she had to opt out of the school hostel because of the lack of cleanliness and order. Adejumo said she skipped lectures as a result of poor lecture halls of 700-800 capacity with close to 200 fairly manageable chairs meant to accommodate 1,500 students.
“It’s always said that if you can survive in UNILORIN, you can survive anywhere in the world. But must we go through that pain as students? I really think the welfare of students should be put in first place. After all, without students, there’s no UNILORIN,” she said.
Speaking on if the new VC should intervene in the ongoing ASUU strike, she said: “The incoming VC should decide what’s best for the school. We don’t want our education to be put on hold. So, let him pull us out of the strike or of what benefit is the union to us?”
