— Expresses Confidence in the New Council
The immediate past Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Chief Lawrence Ayinde Olakunle Osayemi, has handed over the baton of leadership to his successor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, expressing confidence that the new Council will take the University to greater heights. Chief Lawrence Osayemi, visited the University with a former member of the Council, Dr. Solomon Oladiti. Their mission was to intimate the new Governing Council with how far they had gone to consolidate the giant strides they had collectively made in the University. His words “Without being immodest, I must admit being proud to say that the Council, of which I was the Chairman, was blessed with a rich mix of seasoned professionals with competent individuals who gave good accounts of themselves. We employed diligence and discretion that were well grounded in equity, fairness and justice in dealing with the complexity of Unions’ intrigues and myriads of conflicting interests by staff, students and the general community. This without doubt, culminated in a large measure in the unprecedented growth, development and peace, in the annals of the University”.
Handed over to Senator Ogunlewe were vital official documents which included Cash Book balances, Reports of ongoing capital projects, Public Procurement Act, Financial report on monies collected from government and internally generated revenue, Soft copy of staff list and the Visitation Panel Report from 2004 to 2010. “I will not only enjoin the newly-constituted Council to sustain inherited records, but surpass them, as members should appreciate their reckoning by the Federal Government to be a challenge of assisting universities to provide maximum access to higher education while at the same time, ensuring commensurate growth in infrastructural and academic development.”
He charged the new Council to sustain the University’s legacy of academic excellence and tradition of infrastructural development. The former Pro-Chancellor identified the need to expand the University through establishment of conventionally-oriented colleges, to admit more admissions seekers, while retaining agriculture as its flagship, as a major challenge before the new Council. Chief Osayemi commended the immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Balogun, for a job well done and his successor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, for completing the projects he inherited from the former. He also expressed gratitude to friends of FUNAAB who had contributed immensely to the development of the University.
Commenting on the process of constituting a new Governing Council, the former Pro-Chancellor said he was convinced that the Federal Government had appointed members of the new Council because they possessed the criteria for the task ahead, adding that their individual acceptance to serve was an evidence of their patriotism. “Given your profiles of rich antecedents and deep professional dexterity, the University could not had asked for a better team and as such, should consider itself extremely lucky once again, to have been bestowed with patriotic Nigerians of impeccable conduct and integrity”. He also prayed that God would grant them the grace to achieve great results.
Responding, the new Pro-Chancellor, Senator Ogunlewe, said the richness of Chief Osayemi’s speech and the quality of the documents handed over, attested to the commitment of the Council, to the progress of the University. He assured his predecessor that the new Council would take the University to a level of success that was beyond imagination.
Also speaking on the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, described Chief Osayemi as a man of his words who stuck to his promise to assist him to succeed immediately he assumed office as Vice-Chancellor. Professor Oyewole said he would continue to tap from the wisdom of Chief Osayemi from time to time and that the current administration was committed to putting FUNAAB on the world education map. He was also elated that this was the first time in the history of FUNAAB that an outgoing Pro–Chancellor was available to handover to a new one.