By Babajide Okeowo
The administration of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, is currently embroiled in allegations of double standards for sacking 20 lecturers over lack of Ph.D. degrees while shortlisting one for the position of Vice Chancellorship.
A concerned Academic Staff of LASU and another concerned alumnus of the university wondered why the Governing Council approved the termination of the appointment of the lecturers who do not possess a Ph.D. degree, yet, it shortlisted a professor without a Ph.D. degree for the Vice-Chancellor interview.
Both the concerned staff and alumnus described the Governing Council’s action as a double standard in the application of rules and regulations guiding LASU, sacking lecturers without a Ph.D. and shortlisting one for VC selection interview.
Recall that the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, recently sacked 20 lecturers and retired one for not possessing Ph.D. degrees.
The sacked academic staff are mainly Lecturer 1 and 11, some of whom had worked for 33 years in LASU without acquiring doctoral degrees.
The Governing Council of LASU took the decision recently after the report of the Appointments and Promotions (Academic) Committee (APC).
The decision to sack the staff without Ph.D. degrees was on recommendations of the report of the 137th statutory meeting of APC which was presented at the 124th statutory meeting of council held November 2020 at the Council Chambers.
Report of the APC was signed by the Deputy Registrars, Academic Staff Establishment, D.S. Oguegbe and it reads: “Please find the forwarded report of the 137th statutory meeting of APC held virtually on Tuesday 3rd and reconvened on Wednesday 4th November 2020 via Zoom.”
A lecturer 1 in the Department of Business Administration narrowly escaped the sack. He was retired from the services of LASU after lecturing for 19 years. The committee revealed that he applied for M.Phil/Ph.D. from the 2013/2014 academic session and had no evidence of completion of the programme.
Among those sacked include a Lecturer 1 in Foreign Languages, who had put in 33 years in service. He was granted approval to undertake Ph.D. in French Studies in LASU from the 2013/2014 academic session. The committee discovered he had no evidence of completion of the PhD degree.
Also, the committee discovered that a Lecturer 11 in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management, who had spent 23 years in service was granted approval to pursue Ph.D. in Business Studies at the University of Wolex, UK from 2007 to 2012.
The council discovered that he enrolled for Ph.D. in Business Administration in 2014 at Babcock University without approval. “There was no evidence that he is still on his Ph.D.”
According to APC findings, six lecturers did not respond to the committee’s request on their Ph.D. programmes, thus it recommended that they be sacked from the university.
