UNILAG Alumni Association rejects institution’s name change by Jonathan

More reactions and protests has continued to trail President Goodluck Jonathan’s unexpected decision to rename the prestigious Univeristy of Lagos (UNILAG) to Moshood Abiola University (MAU), with the Alumni Association of UNILAG saying that it completely rejects the sudden change of the 50 years old school’s name.

In a press release signed by the National President, Professor Olayide Abass and the National Secretary, Femi Oladimeji, the UNILAG Alumni Association says that while the group holds no prejudice against the person of Late Chief MKO Abiola, it expects that any change in name would have taken stakeholders interest into consideration and followed due process.

“We are aware that neither the Governing Council nor the University Senate nor any other stakeholder was consulted before the change was announced”, says the Association in its press release.

The group also faulted the hasty means by which the change of the institution’s name was announced, adding “The University of Lagos is the first University to be established by an Act of Federal Parliament in 1962 and has built a strong brand name in its 50 years. That is why it is the University of First Choice and the nation’s finest”.

Criticizing President Jonathan’s action, the statement continued, “We are aware that neither the Governing Council nor the University Senate nor any other stakeholder was consulted before the change was announced. “Also, we are not aware of any act of the National Assembly to change the name. It is therefore inappropriate that Mr. President will try to change the name of a 50 year-old without his consent. “Did Abiola himself not say you cannot shave a man’s head in his absence’?”

“Without prejudice to the person of Late Chief MKO Abiola, we the Alumni Association on behalf of the entire University Community reject the name as announced”, the statement concluded.

Source: Sahara Reporters

7 COMMENTS

  1. @moyeen, you are sincerely correct @babatunde is just one of the many unilag beefers. The funny aspect of this new development is that majority of pple who are applauding GEJ have onetime or the other seek admission into unilag but were denied mainly b’cos of poor entry results (SSCE, JAMB, Post UME). Is it our fault that you cannot pass common Unilag entry examination, is it our fault that you cannot met up with the educational standard of the University of 1st choices, is it our fault that you don’t have money to settle as some of you claimed, when your swag is not enough how can you enter Unilag. All you Unilag beefers shuld go and drink poison b’cos the name change will not stand, by law we will fight it with the last drop of our blood. Greatest Akokites!

  2. Does the name ‘MOSHOOD ABIOLA’ denigrate the prestige of the former University of Lagos?

    Not at all in my view.

    IT SHOULD RAISE THE UNIVERSITY TO HIGHER AND NOBLER HEIGHTS AS AN ENDEARING SYMBOL OF OUR STRUGGLES FOR JUSTICE AND THE ENTHRONEMENT OF DEMOCRACY.

    Mr. President stated in his speech that it was after due consultations that the decision was made! Why the criticisms?

    Why must all of us be consulted before Mr. President takes a decision? Why?

    Many of us in our small ‘kingdoms’ here and there have made terrible mistakes in our decision-making process yet we hold the President to standards that can render the office of President impotent.

    Lets face it; if the matter was debated first, the shine or novelty would have been completely removed from the honour done to the late hero.

    Just in case, I hold the MBBS degrees of the Moshood Abiola University of Lagos! lol.

  3. I am an alumni of Unilag and we have a tradition of protesting against unjust and illegal actions of our leaders. I actually checked on a couple of websites Unilag is ranked about 3000 in the world but thats out of over 10000 so its not the top 100 but its not bad. It’s very sad when you cannot recognise the goodwill and brand equity that the universities name holds. On the basis of that brand recognition my friends and I were able to complete our post graduate abroad I met lecturers who recognised Unilag from interaction with previous student or had been visiting lecturers to Unilag. I think that MKO Abiola should be recognised but he was a national figure so why not do something for him in Abuja and this is coming from a guy from the same state as him. University of Ife was the brain child of Awolowo and during his life he championed free education, which my parents were recipient of, so it makes sense to honour him ( I still feel he should have been honoured at the national level rather than losing the goodwill of the name). secondly although he was a philanthropist, and a supporter of sports development Abiola made his mark mainly as a business man and politician and we obviously glossed over his sharp business practices with ITT and collusion with IBB to accord him respect for winning a free and fair election on June 12th so if he is due national recognition it should be at the national level preferably in Abuja which I am sure will annoy some of our fellow Nigerians so jonathan has choosen the easy way out

  4. He is wasting his time! Unilag will remain unilag!!! Nonsense!! He said it, the University has ejected it so he should bow his dumb head shamefully and sit in aso rock doing nothing as usual to address the real issues facing Nigeria!