THE RACE OF WHO BECOMES THE NEXT LASU VC

Speculation about who the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu would appoint as the next substantive vice-chancellor of the prestigious state-owned university, Lagos State University, Ojo to continue upholding the good tenets that the university had recorded in the current administration of Professor Lanre Adigun Fagbohun has began in earnest.

Professor Lanre Adigun Fagbohun who is the 8th substantive Vice-chancellor of Lagos State University was appointed on January 11, 2016 and his five-year single term tenure will lapse on January 11, 2021 and whosoever will succeed him would be  someone of high vision that understands the students, members of staff, university in general and government policies.

Filling the vacant position of the number one seat in the university is not a matter of if, but who and how?, therefore what are the qualities Mr. Governor should consider as he makes his decision? The governor considerations should include competency, vibrancy, hardworking international scholar to sustain the university’s glory, capacity and capability to intensify the momentum LASU has gathered in the last half of a decade, among others.

The current moment, after the screening and shortlisting of the applications of all the candidates to the best top three by the University Joint Council and Senate Selection Committee, which was statutory chaired by the Chairman of the Governing Council, Professor Adebayo Ninalowo in which only one of them will finally be appointed to become the 9th substantive vice-chancellor of the university.

The three shortlisted candidates.

Professor Akinyemi Kabir is the only true product of LASU who is capable as the first LASU Almunus that started his academic career from undergraduate degree up to his current position as a professor. Another point that makes Professor Akinyemi Kabir fit as the next substantive Vice-chancellor of the university is his global research efforts and contributions. Professor Akinyemi Kabir has google scholar Citations of 1,921 and h-index of 18, while others including, Professor Sena Bakre has google scholar Citations of 391 and h-index 8 while Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya has google scholar Citations of 1,811 and h-index of 21.

Professor Akinyemi Kabir is an erudite scholar with PhD in medical microbiology, as a former ASUU-LASU Chairman, Professor Akinyemi is well-liked by both academic staffs and non-academic staffs of the university and as a former Dean of student’s Affairs, he is well known as a good listener who worked to ensured all dots are connected. He is a fellow of many international organizations. He won the Bill and Melinda Gate Award and many other academic scholarships for the institution. Recently, he won different grants worth of millions of naira for acquiring equipment for LASU among other laudable achievements. It is a no doubt that all these criteria were used as prerequisite to score all the applicants up to the present stage of the selection process. This however gave Professor Akinyemi Kabir a better edge over others and further made him to be more qualified of becoming the substantive Vice-chancellor of the university.

Professor Akinyemi Kabir is the most experienced and eligible among the candidates being a renowned scholar in the field of medical microbiology as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (FRSPH), United Kingdom and a Fellow of the highly rated and competitive Alexander von Humboldt (FAvH). He is the current Director of Linkages, Partnerships and Collaborations of the university. He was a former member of the Lagos State University Governing Council. He is currently the chairman Lagos State Indigeneship Verification Committee (IVC), LASU. He is a true Indigene of Ikorodu Division of Lagos State.

Then there’s Professor Senapon Bakare (B.Sc. Hons), M.Sc, Ph.D, FBME) who is a Professor of Microbiology with specialisation on food and Industrial Microbiology. She was a former Deputy Vice Chancellor, former Director Centre for General Nigeria Studies (GNS); former Director Centre for Environment and Science Education (CESE); former Sub-dean faculty of Science and 1st Executive director, Lagos State University External System. She is the pioneer/current Director of Lagos State University Open and Distance Learning and Research Institute. She is an indigene of Badagry.

Professor Sena Bakre has attended many Management courses both local and international. However, she has neither graduated nor have any Ph.D student under her supervision, just like Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya who has never and cannot supervise any Ph.D student, unlike Professor Akinyemi who has Co-supervised PhD students and he is currently has four other Ph.D students including a Doctoral student who was recently taken to Germany along with him courtesy of the German Government FAvH grant.

The third, Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya is a professor of public and community health and the current Director of research, LASU. He is another favorite for the job and insiders say he also stands a good chance of getting the nod of the Governor. Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya does not have a Ph.D making him unqualified for the job. However, he possesses a Fellowship certificate of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria. He has worked seriously at ensuring successes recorded in the last two research fairs organized in 2019 and 2020 by the current administration of the outgoing VC.

For the first time in history, the three shortlisted candidates are renowned professors and scientists in their fields and are also favorites for the job having passed through the screening supervised by the Joint Council and Senate Selection Committee.