The Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University, Osogbo, Prof. Labode Popoola, has said he will be leaving the institution better than he met it when he assumed the position of VC in 2016.
Popoola whose five-year tenure as VC of the UNIOSUN would end on November 4, 2021, said this during a media parley on Monday, that he didn’t inherit a stable university, adding that everything was in shamble.
He explained that during his tenure, he was able to turn around the system for excellence, infrastructure were provided and the school’s ranking moved from 37th best in Nigeria to 29th.
He said, “We are leaving behind a better university than we met it. I didn’t inherit a university in the real sense. It should be published that the university I inherited was an ‘anything goes’ setting. Academic culture was completely missing, commercialisation of everything was the norm. Corruption was the order of the day and it is like that in every university. It was tough at the beginning because when you’re trying to do a reform it will always come with challenges, needless battles but we overcame. I give credit to the principals of the school, the visitor of the university then, (Aregbesola), and the council knows what a university education should be and they believed in our reforms. It was so tough at a point but some good members of the council encouraged me and Aregbe too.”
Popoola also revealed that he ensured that the students elected their mates who were at the verge of first class as leaders.
“The students were lawless, they were involved in cultism and they were always in the news. We selected some of them that were reasonable and we organised a three year leadership retreat for them so they know the essence of being in school and how to lead. These ones culminated in to student executives. We ensured that anyone that must be a student leader must be at the verge of first class. It wasn’t an all comer’s affairs and it is in their constitution,” he said.
Credit: Punch Ng