University of Lagos Name Change: ASSU, Save Nigeria Group Rejects FG’s Action.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria (ASUU), UNILAG branch chairman (Karo Ogbinaka), has said that the union will resist the re-naming of the university’s name.
“We are resisting it, all the unions and the students will resist it, the Alunmus will resist it,” Mr Ogbinaka affirmed.
“Nobody will change Harvard’s name, nobody will change Cambridge’s name to Winston Churchill University. University of Lagos is a brand, for 50 years,” Mr. Ogbinaka said.
He added that UNILAG is the first university established by Act of Parliament and one man can try to score cheap political point with the institution.
“It’s a senseless thing and we are going to resist it” he said.
Also the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), UNILAG chapter, has opposed the renaming which it described as unnecessary.


The association’s secretary, Mr Ben Anosike, urged the government to revisit the issue, as the university’s alumni association has also joined the call for the president to rescind the decision.
A statement signed by the national president of the University of Lagos Alumni Association, Professor Olayide Abass, stated that neither the governing council nor the university’s senate was consulted before the name change.
The alumni group therefore rejected the decision, saying there’s no national assembly act to effect such change.
A constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay said the president should be praised for his effort to immortalize Abiola, but added that he however, chose the wrong institution.
However, human right activist and lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, welcomed the decision, stating that nothing is actually wrong with the name change, but it must be done with approval of the university’s council.
Also, a former Minister of Education, Mrs Chinwe Obaji has also thrown her weight behind the decision, saying there is nothing wrong with the name change.
Some civil society groups have also been lending their voices to the UNILAG name-change controversy.
In a statement signed by its director, Julia Johnson, the Coalition for Democracy and Good Governance, emphasized the need for leaders to carry the people along when taking decisions or evolving policies that may directly or indirectly affect them, as they are accountable to the people.
The group noted that although the late Abiola is a national hero, Lagos has other indigenes who fought for democracy and national independence like the late Herbert Macauley, who was a more renowned politician with national and international recognition.
On its part, the Save Nigeria Group through its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, deplored the manner in which President Jonathan went about the re-naming of the university, describing it as an abuse of power and smacks of autocratic ways of the military.
It added that the university was established by law and the president’s action amounts to a violation of the principles and tenets of democracy.