Lead University Fights NUC on Suspension Order

MANAGEMENT, students, parents, guardians and lecturers of the Lead City University (LCU), Ibadan, have described the reported suspension of the operating licence of the private university by the National University Commission (NUC) as a huge joke that has no substance.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Professor Julius Okojie, had last Tuesday announced the suspension of licences of seven private universities in the country on allegations of their failure to meet some regulatory conditions.
The suspension, which LCU, one of the affected universities, said came as a surprise because the supervising body did not have any communication with it till date, has therefore been  kicked against by the stakeholders, who described it as an arbitrary and illegal act on the part of Okojie.
Addressing a press conference at the weekend in the Conference Hall of the university, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Olufemi Onabajo, described the purported suspension of the school as a flagrant contravention of the law governing the establishment of private universities in the country.
In the presence of students, staff, guardians and parents, one of who was Hon Joseph Akinlaja (of the House of Representatives), the VC maintained that there was no law breached by the institution to warrant such a draconian decision by Okojie.
To Onabajo, the suspension order was likened to the ‘Village Headmaster’ drama as admission process for prospective students was ongoing, noting that Okojie’s game plan was to disallow the institution from admitting students this year, and by so go under.
Stressing that there was no dispute between the institution and the NUC to warrant the negative development, Onabajo said Okojie was only being jealous and envious of the achievements of the institution because he had once allegedly told him, “though, I cannot withdraw your licence, I’m going to kill the university by instalment”.