Gbenro Adesina
The immediate past Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka has said that he held no grudges against anybody, pointing out that posterity would judge everyone for the role played.
Olayinka stated while reacting to the activities that marked his last days in office, particularly the circumstances that led to the truncation of the process of selecting the 13th Vice Chancellor of the Premier University, which have culminated into the directive by the Federal Government to the Senate of the institution to appoint an acting VC.
Assessing his five-year tenure with a sense of fulfillment, the ex-vice chancellor said that he was happy leaving the University better than he met it.
Speaking after commissioning three projects including water treatment, Post Graduate Hostel at Ajibode and a gigantic building at the Faculty of Arts, marking the end of his tenure, the unruffled VC, who commented on some developments during his tenure stated that petition writing by some elements in the system did not start with his own regime.
He said, “For instance, immediately the appointment process of Prof. Isaac Adewole began in 2010, some people started writing petition. After the announcement that Prof. Adewole was the VC, some people went and placed advertorial in the newspaper, calling for the annulment of his appointment and demanding appointment of Acting VC. Even when I was appointed in 2015, some people went to court. They were calling for the disqualification of my appointment. We had to play a hide and seek game to avoid being served a court paper. I am saying all these to let you know that we are in a very hostile and critical environment. But I believe, posterity will judge everyone for the role we played”.
Asked to assess his performance, Prof. Olayinka, who pointed out that all the decisions he took as the 12th vice chancellor were in the best interest of the University, noted that he was happy that he was leaving the university better than he met it.
His words, “I am happy that I turned UI to projects site. Look at this gigantic building in the Faculty of Arts. Before now, there was inadequacy of offices and classrooms for both staff and students, yet, Arts was one of the oldest Faculties in the university. Now, everyone is happy. There are things I didn’t plan to do which I did, and there are things which I would have loved to do, but couldn’t do because of the paucity of funds”.
Olayinka, who thanked everyone who contributed to the success of his administration, disclosed that after leaving office, he would continue to lecture and contribute to the development of the University, stressing that he has no room for opinion policing about the success or otherwise of his performance.
