The crisis unfolding at the University of Lagos, Akoka, is far from being over as more members of the University’s Governing Council are likely to tender their resignation letters in droves, in solidarity which the former Pro-Chancellor, Dr Wale Babalakin, who on Thursday announced his exit from his position.

The current development is said to have badly bruised the ego of the government, whose nominees in Council are clearly not on same page over what many see as shoddy and biased handling of the crisis in the ivory tower.

In any University system in Nigeria, there are certain vested interests that are tailored along two major dividing lines of academic and non-academic and many avid watchers of the education sector are quick to blame government for tilting the direction of the Visitation Panel towards only one side.

Early today, a Council member, Dr Bayo Aderalagbe, who is also a government nominee, has tendered his resignation letter, citing his displeasure.

Dr Bayo Adaralegbe

Also earlier today, another Council member, who is also a representative of government, Dr Saminu Daari, is predictably not happy with government on the whole turn of events which has ridiculed well-intentioned efforts of patriotic Governing Council members to rid the University of corruption. 

Dagari, who chaired the Council Sub-Committee that probed the embattled former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, is palpably angry that the government is overlooking the real issues bothering on large-scale corruption, forgery and financial recklessness of the former helmsman.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, Dagari accused Prof Ogundipe of falsifying information and covering up documents which misled the Council to pass the institution’s budgets for 2018 and 2019 in error.

Dr Saminu Dagari

In his own resignation letter addressed to the Minister, the Council member, Mr Adaralegbe, hinged his decision on the crisis rocking the university, even as he accused Prof Ogundipe, of falsifying the result of an interview conducted for applicants into the position of Director of Works on the campus.

Adaralegbe said his resignation takes immediate effect, even as he extolled the leadership qualities of the erstwhile chairman of the council. 

To him, Dr Babalakin committed his personal resources into the university without seeking any favour from the institution.

Babalakin

The letter reads in part; “I was inaugurated along with other Federal government appointees on the 6th April 2017. In that period, Dr Babalakin provided very strong moral leadership as Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council. He kept scrupulously to the promise he made at our maiden Council meeting not to bid for, or be awarded contracts from the University. 

“He actually did more. By December 2019 he had poured approximately N100 million of his own personal resources on different endeavors in the University. At the time this situation arose, he was in the process of transferring to the University (at no cost to it) 40 hectares of land he owned in Ogudu, Lagos to address its staff housing problems”

Adaralegbe accused unnamed persons of politicising his membership of the council, saying as a proud son of his father, who he said was a former deputy vice-chancellor at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), and an Adviser to a former education minister, he had served the university conscientiously.

Ogundipe

He continued: “Recent developments have, unfortunately, made my continued stay on the Governing Council of the University of Lagos very untenable. I experienced first-hand, the Vice Chancellor of a University falsifying interview results for the position of Director of Works. Professor Toyin Ogundipe threatened to beat me up during an interview session for the position of Director of Works because I resisted his attempt to falsify interview results. 

“It was also in University of Lagos that I experienced a Vice-Chancellor attempting to appoint a Professor in respect of a discipline that the University did not have a department, did not admit undergraduate or postgraduate students, and through a one-page Memorandum to the Pro-Chancellor that touted the candidate as an agent of change.

“This is of course apart from a litany of corrupt practices.I consider my continued stay on the Governing Council of University of Lagos, a serious dishonor and desecration of my late father’s memory, Professor Adeniji Adaralegbe.”

Adamu Adamu

For his part, Dr Dagari, in his letter to the Minister titled: “Corruption in the University of Lagos”, conveyed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve in his current capacity but expressed misgivings that the government was not appropriately discerning the issues at stake.

Dagari said: “The fundamental problem of University of Lagos Finance is Inaccurate Budget. The Current Governing Council passed the 2018 and 2019 Budgets in error because of false information from the Prof. Ogundipe led Management. 

“All along, the Governing Council did not know the actual number of Internally Generating Units (IGUs) in the University, until recently when Eddy Omolehinwa (a Professor of Public Accounts) Council Sub-Committee to overhaul the operations of the Income Generating Units in the University of Lagos submitted its report to Council.

Prof Ogunsola, Acting Vice-Chancellor

“The Omolehinwa Sub-Committee reported that there are 30 Income Generating Units (IGUs) which were classified into Category A and Category B Units.These are the units of the University that are expected to generate income to sustain their operations, cover all staff compliments and overheads as well as make financial contributions to the University…

“The 2018 and 2019 Budgets of the University of Lagos were passed by the current Governing Council in error, because the Prof. Ogundipe led Management misled Council by providing inaccurate figures

They include all the limited liability companies; all part- time programmes which are also called Non-FTE academic programme units.”

After a few hours of mad reactions from Nigerians over a directive for all account holders to go through the rigours of re-registering their personal details with banks, just a few years after doing same, sanity has finally prevailed, and the federal government has backed down, apologised, and changed its mind.

Angry Nigerians had advised government to reverse the order and use details it got from Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identity Number registrations .

“We apologize for the misleading tweets (now deleted) that went up yesterday, regarding the completion of self-certification forms by Reportable Persons.

“The message contained in the @firsNigeria Notice does not apply to everybody. FIRS will issue appropriate clarification shortly.”

FIRS was to later explain lthat the self certification form was pursuant to the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2019 and in fulfilment of Automatic Exchange of Information Requirements.

FIRS said that the form would be administered on reportable persons holding accounts in financial institutions regarded as “Reportable Financial Institutions” under the CRS.

Recall that the Federal Government ordered all account holders in the country’s financial institutions to re-register their details again.

On its Twitter account, @NigeriaGov, on Thursday, the government said, “This is to notify the general public that all account holders in financial institutions (banks, insurance companies, etc) are required to obtain, complete and submit self-certification forms to their respective financial institutions.

“Persons holding accounts in different financial institutions are required to complete and submit the form to each one of the institutions.

“The forms are required by the relevant financial institutions to carry out due diligence procedures in line with the Income Tax Regulations 2019.

“The self-certification form is in three categories: Form for entity – for controlling person (individuals having controlling interest in a legal person, trustee, etc) – Form for individual.

“Failure to comply with the requirement to administer or execute this form attracts sanctions, which may include monetary penalty or inability to operate the account.” (everyday)

Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fan-kayode, on Thursday, threatened to sue a popular blogger, Stella Dimokorkus, over allegation that he ( Fani-kayode) has separated with his wife, Precious Chikwendu.

The blogger had alleged that the triplet sons may not have been fathered by Fani-Kayode as they were conceived through IVF and Chikwendu had demanded a DNA test.

In a letter written by Mr. Adeola Adedipe MCIArb, Fani-kayode’s lawyer, which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), he denied the allegations and demanded N2bn for denting his image.

The letter titled, ‘Defamation of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode- Re: Femi Fani-Kayode and Precious Chikwendu Part Ways Over Alleged Domestic Violence’, stated that the allegations were spurious and maliciously engineered.

The former minister denies all the allegations “as he points that they are not only spurious, but they have been maliciously engineered. He is more particularly disturbed about your rendition, which insults the sensibilities of unsuspecting lovers of your blog, across the world.”

For example, it was noted that it was published that his wife “moved out, the former Minister took back the car gift and all the goodies he ever bought for her whilst they were married and has left her broke, penniless and begging for money to survive as her accounts were seized as well”.

He also said that of utmost “concern also, is the public invitation to debate on the paternity of his sons(triplets). These are innocent children, who are yet to discern good from evil but have been made to become the focus of public spectacle and ridicule. Apart from the fact that these claims are completely false”, it was also added that “they are not fair comments , by any known standard of third party expressions.”

“Our client is aggrieved and has instructed us to draw your attention to these libelous breaches of his person and family. By this publication, our client has received denigrating phone calls and messages across the globe by virtue of which he now sufferers immeasurable loss of goodwill.

“However, he is inclined to draw a curtain over the wild and spurious claims if you retract the allegations on the same platform they were published and consequently apologise to him in two other national dailies.

“You are also advised to enter into negotiations with us for the sum of two billion naira only being a token amount for penitence. Please bear in mind that you have 14 days from receipt of this letter to comply with the highlighted mitigating measures, the failure of which will leave our client with no preferred alternative than to seek redress in court.”

A harsh new law to punish those who rape children in the state of Kaduna has drawn praise from some, and accusations of “legislative sadism” from others.

DAKAR, Senegal — A new law punishing child rapists with castration and death has come into force in a Nigerian state.

Men convicted of raping children under age 14 will have their testicles surgically removed before being executed, under legislation that the governor of Kaduna state signed on Wednesday. Women will have their fallopian tubes cut out.

Many Nigerians clamoring for action in the face of a countrywide rape crisis have greeted the new law enthusiastically, but critics say it is a populist move incompatible with the country’s Constitution. They predict it will lead to fewer rapes being reported.

Kaduna’s governor, Nasir el-Rufai, said the new measures were “required to help further protect children from a serious crime.” Why rapists would be castrated if they are then going be executed was not immediately clear.

Those convicted of raping people over age 14 also face castration, followed by life imprisonment under the new legislation.

The Kaduna state government is the only one in the West African country to adopt such harsh punishment for rape, but castration has been tried elsewhere.

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The Czech Republic offers voluntary surgical castration to violent sex offenders. And several American states have legal provisions for chemical castration, which uses a drug to reduce testosterone levels and is not permanent. Indonesia authorized chemical castration in 2016.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s president suggested that rapists and child molesters be castrated; initially, he said they should be hanged, but then worried this might affect the country’s trading relationship with the European Union.

In Nigeria, the minister for women’s affairs said last December that two million women and girls were raped in the country each year. Then in June she said that the number of rapes had spiked to three times the typical rate, because women and girls were locked down with their abusers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The same month, Nigerian governors declared that the levels of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls constituted a state of emergency.

In recent years, Nigerian women have increasingly been coming forward with accusations of rape. Last year, the alleged rape of a 7-year-old in Kaduna caused widespread outrage.

But those who speak out risk being dismissed, or worse.

“The truth is, the pain of women and girls — including the kind of pain caused by sexual violence — simply isn’t a big deal in Nigeria,” OluTimehin Adegbeye, a Nigerian writer, lamented in a recent Op-Ed article in The New York Times.

Some studies have suggested that surgically castrated sex offenders are unlikely to reoffend.

But one Nigerian lawyer and activist, Chidi Odinkalu, said the law might make it even harder to reduce sexual assault in his country.

Much rape in Nigeria, as elsewhere, takes place within marriage. Socially, Mr. Odinkalu said, women and girls would be “toast” in their families and communities if they reported their husbands for a crime that carries the punishment of castration, and so they will be less likely to come forward.

“You’re going to get fewer cases of rape and sexual violence reported,” he said, asking, “What’s wrong with life imprisonment?”

Mr. Odinkalu described the new law as “legislative sadism.”

With 3.5 million child brides, Nigeria has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. It is unclear how the law will be applied in cases of child marriage, which is especially common across its northern states.

When one Nigerian official was accused of marrying an Egyptian 13-year-old in 2010, he defended himself by saying that the Prophet Muhammad “did marry a young girl, as well.”

That official, Ahmad Sani Yerima, has said he will run for president in Nigeria’s next election.

Ruth Maclean is the West Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Senegal. She joined The Times in 2019 after three and a half years covering West Africa for The Guardian. @ruthmaclean

Reactions have swiftly trailed the sudden resignation of Dr Wale Babalakin as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the crisis-ridden University of Lagos, Akoka.

Babalakin

On the one side, members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) who are prime supporters of the ousted Vice-Chancellor, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, are celebrating Babalakin’s exit as very timely and a good riddance.

On the other side, many concerned stakeholders of UNILAG particularly those who sees Babalakin as a reformer are pained that there are too many vested interests who have covered the corruption in the system and that the University has missed a great opportunity of being sanitized..

A retired Don in the University who also was past President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof Boniface Oye-Adeniran, is of the opinion that no right thinking internal stakeholder of the institution should rejoice that a reformer like Babalakin under whose tenure the university has witnessed pragmatic governance, was exiting the system.

Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu

Oye-Adeniran is also a former member of Governing Council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), opined that the issues surrounding the crisis in UNILAG are deeper than can be imagined.

Prof Oye-Adeniran, former Council member

Reacting to the resignation of Babalakin, he is of the viewpoint that his exit from the university is principles driven, submitting that history will vindicate him.

Ogundipe

The retired former lecturer at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos said he was saddened by the current development, which he sees as a bad omen to the anti-corruption posture of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a press statement, Oye-Adeniran said: “This is a sad day in the history of this country.

Soyombo, former Ag. VC

“Babalakin’s role was noble. His resignation is a bad omen for the Anti-Corruption Policy of the Federal Government. It is damaging to the image of the country internationally.

“His resignation is principle driven. History will vindicate him. He is on the right side of history”.

The over one year crisis at the University of Lagos came to a head last month when the Babalakin-led Governing Council met and took a decision to remove the then Vice-Chancellor,, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe over alleged corruption, financial recklessness and forgery amongst other.

Ogunsola, current Ag. VC

In the last one year, ASUU, which also threw itself into the crisis had declared Babalakin a personae non-grata on the campus, spearheading hostilities with threats that the Pro-Chancellor should dare not step physically into the campus.

This was the reason why the Council took the decisive meeting faraway to Abuja, at the conference room of the National University Commission(NUC).

An Acting Vice-Chancellor in the person of Prof Omololu Soyombo, was appointed by the Babalakin-led Council. This lasted for two weeks until he too stepped down from overseeing the affairs of the university.

Consequently, the Federal government set up Visitation Panel to look into the crisis leading to the removal of the former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ogundipe. 

While ASUU roundly condemned Ogundipe’s removal, the other three unions in the institution, namely, Senior Staff Association of Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union(NASU) and the National Association of Technology and Technical Staff(NATTS) lauded the Babalakin-led Council for the removal of Ogundipe.

Popular Nollywood veteran actor, Jimoh Aliu, is dead.

Aliu died at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital on Thursday, aged 86.

According to his close associate, the body of the deceased would be moved to his residence at Adebayo area in Ado-Ekiti before being taken to his hometown, Okemesi Ekiti in Ekiti West Local Government Area of the state, where he would be buried on Friday.

Aliu was producing the first of his five-movies project, Olowo Ite, before his demise. The movies were expected to feature top Nollywood actors.

Born in Okemesi-Ekiti, the deceased began acting in 1959 after joining Akin Ogungbe Theatre Group and left in 1966 to form his own troupe, Jimoh Aliu Concert Party, in Ikare, Ondo State.

He had produced and featured in various Yoruba movies, the most popular being ‘Yanpan Yarin’ and ‘Fopomoyo’.

He was a former President of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Practitioners (ANTP).

The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Dr. Wale Babalakin(SAN), has resigned following alleged disagreement with the Federal Government on the Visitation Panel sent to the university.

He said there were too many vested interests in UNILAG matter, who were not approaching the issues objectively.

But he said it has come to a stage he must stand by his principles since the Federal Government believed the actions he took may not be right.

He said the visitation panel was raised to exonerate the Vice-Chancellor and implicate the Pro-Chancellor.

He said although he appeared in protest before the panel, he made it clear that the panel could not determine the issues before it.

He said he will also not be available again to serve as the chairman of the Federal Government Negotiation Team on the Agreement reached with university unions in 2009.

He has been the chairman of the negotiating team since January 6th, 2017. He said he had served the university system in Nigeria with his heart and intellect.

He said as Pro-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and the University of Lagos, he did not receive sitting allowances and other perks of office.

He said he did not allow the two institutions to provide him with food or drinks. He said he paid for every right or privilege that was conferred on me.

Sundiatapost

ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Despite the national and global economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has continued to record significant increase in collectable tax revenue from the non-oil sector of the economy.

Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during a courtesy call on the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, by the members of the FIRS Board.
Mr. Nami attributed the increase in the non-oil sector receipt to reform measures introduced by the FIRS Board and Management as well as the renewed vigour in the Service workforce.

According to Mr. Nami, non-oil tax receipts have consistently contributed 75-90 per cent of total tax revenue in recent months. For instance, Mr. Nami disclosed that out of N490 billion collected by the Service in July only N52 billion was from the oil sector with the rest coming in through non-oil receipts.
Mr. Nami commended the minister for her support to the FIRS and its Board since their inauguration earlier in the year and solicited closer working relationship between the Service and her ministry.

Attesting to Mr. Nami’s disclosure, the minister commended the Management and Board of the FIRS for working to limit the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on government revenue through their proactive reforms, noting that this had made it possible for the three tiers of government to receive their monthly statutory allocations from the Federation Accounts.

The minister observed that Value Added Tax (VAT) and Stamp Duties receipts have boosted government revenue despite the pandemic.
Mrs. Ahmed pledged to continue to support the Management and Board of the FIRS and tasked the Service to work harder towards diversifying government revenue sources further away from dependence on oil.

Child rights agency UNICEF has condemned the sentencing of a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy in northern Nigeria.

Omar Farouq was convicted in a Sharia court in Kano State in northwest Nigeria after he was accused of using foul language toward Allah in an argument with a friend.

He was sentenced on August 10 by the same court that recently sentenced a studio assistant Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed, according to lawyers.

Farouq’s punishment is in violation of the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of a Child and the Nigerian constitution, said his counsel Kola Alapinni, who told CNN they filed an appeal on his behalf on September 7.

Alapinni told CNN he or other lawyers working on the case have not been granted access to Farouq by authorities in Kano State.

He said he found out about Farouq’s case by chance when working on the case of Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy at the Kano Upper Sharia Court.”

We found out they were convicted on the same day, by the same judge, in the same court, for blasphemy and we found out no one was talking about Omar, so we had to move quickly to file an appeal for him,” he said.

“Blasphemy is not recognized by Nigerian law. It is inconsistent with the constitution of Nigeria.”The lawyer said Farouq’s mother had fled to a neighboring town after mobs descended on their home following his arrest.

“Everyone here is scared to speak and living under fear of reprisal attacks,” he said.UNICEF Wednesday issued a statement “expressing deep concern” about the sentencing.

The sentencing of this child — 13-year-old Omar Farouk — to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Nigeria.

“It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria — and by implication, Kano State — has signed on to.”Kano State, like most predominantly Muslim states in Nigeria, practices Sharia law alongside secular law.

CNN contacted a spokesman for the Kano State governor for comment but had not heard back before publication.

UNICEF has called on the Nigerian government and the Kano State government to urgently review the case and reverse the sentence, the organization said in a statement.”

This case further underlines the urgent need to accelerate the enactment of the Kano State Child Protection Bill so as to ensure that all children under 18, including Omar Farouq are protected — and that all children in Kano are treated in accordance with child rights standards,” Hawkins said.

CNN