….Only part-time programmes affected
Beyond exonerating the Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Ojoo, Lagos, Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, of culpability in alleged certificate racketeering in the university, it has also become clear that the racketeering, contrary to earlier media reports, was not as pervasive as it was publicised. It affected only the part-time programme of the university’s satellite campuses.
Indeed, an undercover agent not only exonerated Prof. Olatunji-Bello of complicity in the crime, he added that she did not do anything to obstruct the company charged with unravelling the scandal.
That the racketeering began long before her assumption of duties was underscored by the fact that the university had under its immediate past administration engaged the services of WealthRoot Company to act as an undercover agent to unravel the syndicates that were manipulating the university’s server and fraudulently imputing records of non-graduates of LASU as the university’s students.
According to the detective: “WealthRoot as a company had an understanding with the university with the mandate to understudy the mode of operations of the syndicates, under-study the process of recruiting their clients, all administrative and academic processes taken by the syndicates to the point of clearance, which required to be done in person, work with security agents to wrap up the syndicates, no matter their status or any level of external connection.”
WealthRoot’s general manager Benedict Okohnma added that “this crime and the manipulation has nothing to do with the full-time regular undergraduate academic programmes of the institution”.
The company was also mandated to recommend measures to prevent a recurrence of such crimes in the institution and submit its findings to the management.
Satellite campuses are designed to meet the needs of working-class people who either could not gain admission into tertiary institutions for the regular programmes, or needed to combine work with study so they could generate money to sustain themselves while their academic programmes lasted. It was therefore a win-win situation for the institutions, the students and the country at large.
However, LASU’s satellite campuses were scrapped by John Obafunwa who was the institution’s vice chancellor from 2011 to 2015, despite what was perceived as their benefits, particularly to the university. Apparently it was the rush to clear the backlog of students who had been admitted into the campuses before they were scrapped that some of the university’s former members of the staff exploited in order to make money illegally at the expense of the integrity of the university’s certificates.
In its bid to get to the root of the matter, the university has suspended the dean of student affairs, Prof. Tajudeen Olumoko, pending the conclusion of the investigation. It also said it has put in place measures to fortify the certificate collection process in the university. These should be scrupulously adhered to.
We commend all those who have kept the matter alive since 2020 when the issue was made public. Particular mention must be made of the university’s alumni who are sufficiently embarrassed about this dent on the credibility of their alma mater. But a matter such as this would take painstaking efforts to resolve. The syndicates selling the university’s certificates would definitely cut across several sections and efforts must be made to get to the root of the matter without tainting those that know nothing about the nefarious activities of the bad eggs.
The undercover agent said this much.
So, contrary to the fear of cover-up, the university said it has done its part by handing over the matter to security agents. While seizing this opportunity to urge the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security operatives who have been working on the certificate scandal to expedite action so that those involved can be arrested and prosecuted, we call for a little more patience on this matter.
LASU cannot afford to live with this stain for too long. We need an appropriate closure to the saga and this cannot happen until those involved are sanctioned to serve as deterrence not only to workers in LASU, but those in other higher institutions with proclivity for such criminality.
