If nice man can`t run varsities in Nigeria according to our ex VC, is it wicked guys/tyrants that should run Universities?
As much as I agree that administration is about firmness and discipline but it is not also about totalitarianisms. Totalitarianism is a form of leadership in which the ruler is an absolute dictator not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc. (Advanced English dictionary)
Prof. Labo’s adulators should tell him that there is a different between doing things right (TR) and doing the right things (RT). Doing things right is efficiency while doing the right things is effectiveness. You might be efficient and still not be effective.
No doubt about it, Prof. Labo is very efficient but in my assessment he might need to add effectiveness to his leadership style if he finds himself in the position of leadership again (I know he will not want to hear this, but I still have right to my own opinion). You need both to be above board and he should not bamboozle us that he earned more as a professor in University of Ibadan (UI) than as VC in UNIOSUN and that he came for service. Which kind service? May be the outgone VC forgot that all the paraphilia of office such as respect, power, allowances, grants, opportunities including travelling packages, links, connections, tangible and intangible assets are all part of Earnings. At least we know some things about his private life with his consultancy services, grants and higher earnings he claimed he was receiving before coming to Uniosun but now he left with two brand new cars and other benefits he enjoyed except he wants to paint another picture. I beg he should spare us the polished grammars.
Part of my problem with professor Labode Popoola is that, he believes nobody else can reason outside the box of his statements and when you critic him you become his enemy. For instance claiming that he inherited a university where “anything goes.” is rurbishing the unquantifiable efforts of Uniosun past leaders like erudite Professor Peter Okebukola, late Professor Gabriel Olawoyin, who were past chairmen of Council, the likes of Pioneer VC, Professor Sola Akunrinade, Ag. VC, Professor Ganiyu Olatunde, Prof. Bashir Okesina, Ag.VC Prof. Jelil Alamu, the past Provosts of Colleges, pioneer staff (teaching and non teaching) who worked assiduously to make UNIOSUN worthy of emulation.
As regards his disposition and hatred for Uniosnism and union leaders which was the genesis of crisis in UNIOSUN we don’t expect less, we know his antecedent in UI as regards Unionism. He withdrawed his membership from ASUU and has always work against Unionism, part of the reason why ASUU is in sorry situation in UNIOSUN till today (apology to members) Every staff knows that no public University in Nigeria could have been benefiting what they are enjoying today ranging from salary packages for University principal officers, TETfund sponsorship/NEEDS Assessment intervention, University autonomy, 70/65 years retirement age for teaching/non-teaching staff, salary package different from others in ministries and Agencies, Grants and other privileges to mention but a few which the outgone VC himself enjoyed till today as a lecturer and as Vice-Chancellor.
Prof Labo could have been one of the best VCs the UNIOSUN ever had considering his zeal, hardworking spirit and academic prowess for more programmes and development in the University but his human relations ability is zero, highly unforgiving, high handedness, temperamental, petty, self- tribute but condemnation of personalities who had laid solid foundation for the University he came to build on, elitists and discriminatory scheming, prejudiced, divide and rule, dictatorial and militarization of the system, selective rules and treatment, intolerability and hatred for constructive critics , persecution of perceived enemies and manipulation of justice. I am sure many flatterers of the outgone VC knew these truth but chose the other way so as not to lose the subjective benefits they enjoyed.
I remembered during a union struggle before our unjustified and wicked interdiction in November 2018, I once told the outgone VC when he engaged me in his office in my capacity as the Secretary of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), UNIOSUN Branch, that before his regime, UNIOSUN staff has always been receiving our salaries latest 26 to 27th of every month and even during the recession time. We were not owe any salary and major part of our earned allowances had been paid. So as much as we commend him for sustaining the tradition, it is not a new thing that we were being paid on every 25th of the month and in any case it is still one month interval because the next pay was not earlier than 25th. I also told him that as a leader, his methods of conflict management and resolution strategy were coercive and castigatory methods.
Professor Labo was interested in work achievements, progress, results, and functionalities (which is good) but not in the system concerns, welfares and human relations in as much as their salaries are paid which portray such a manager as rigid, inconsiderate and authoritarian under the managerial grid analysis. He was always ready to coop, pass judgments, crack and crush, cage and battle ready to react and counter react even at little comment, provocation, actions or pointers like that Stinging Nettle/leaf – (Ewe Esinsin in yoruba: a kind of leaf which will spontaneously spike you when your body touches it).
We would also remind Professor Labo that when he came, he ridiculously reduced some of our allowances that we were enjoying such as transportation allowances which only concern people on assignments to other campuses because of the multi-campus nature of our university as against the reality of the present fuel price but successfully increased his and other principal officers` allowances of fuel, communication and others. It can be confirmed that the outgone VC never owe any yearly allowances (packages) peculiar to the principal officers of the University (not bad anyway) but our EAs and arrears of hazard allowances are still hanging.
Professor Labo private chatted one of the staff member and claimed that Earned allowance is fraudulent and he will never pay it and he never paid a dime out of it before his exit but received his own for the time period he was in UI. Remember our May/June 2018 Salaries are still denied because of the claim that we participated in National strike and protested as union/ staff members
against some issues in the system.
I am bold to say that UNIOSUN staff members are hardworking, dedicated, tolerant and devoted to the vision and mission of the founding fathers of the University despite its multi campus nature, hence the feet we have achieved today as a University because without human resource efforts, the VC cannot achieve anything. There is no organisation without its associated conflicts but ability to manage conflicts effectively is what makes a good manager.
I just wish the outgone VC, Professor Labode Popoola learnt one of two experiences from his tenure as the VC with a view to amending them for better achievement in his future opportunities.
Life is not about power but about humanity because power is transient.
John O. Adebayo
I responded in my capacity as the Secretary of SSANU, UNIOSUN.
