By joshua FUOYE Progressives Group hails Fasina’s ambassadorial nomination, faults CSOs’ rejection
A group, the Federal University Oye-Ekiti Progressives (FUOYE Progressives), has berated the coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and certain news blogs spreading campaign of calumny against the immediate past Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University, Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina.
According to a report by newsense, the FUOYE Progressives, comprising of students, alumni members and staff members of the university community, said the evil machinations against Professor Fasina arising out of political vendetta would not stand.
The group wondered why a news blog would continue to shamelessly malign the reputation of the distinguished professor, even after he has been exonerated by both the police and authorities of the University following thorough investigations.
It noted that the plans of the coalition of CSOs to stop Fasina’s confirmation using baseless allegations would fail.
The FUOYE Progressives urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) to ignore the needless criticisms against Fasina’s nomination, saying that he made the right choice in picking him for an ambassadorial position.
They emphasized that his leadership expertise would greatly benefit the new assignment, citing how he impressively elevated FUOYE from an obscure institution to the fourth most subscribed and preferred university in Nigeria within five years.
A statement signed by the group’s spokesman, Dr. Kehinde Alao, as contained in the newsense report, averred that “Prof. Fasina’s excellent performance as FUOYE’s fourth substantive Vice-Chancellor (from February, 2021 to February, 2026) are abundantly evidenced on the now amazingly looking twin campuses of the University in Oye-Ekiti and Ikole-Ekiti. The staff and students of the University have on several occasions acknowledged and appreciated him for the many milestones. Countless publications about these great achievements by national dailies are all over the media space. President Tinubu is fully aware of these giant strides and this is why he chose to nominate Prof. Fasina as non-career Ambassador, so that he could bring his Midas touch as a quintessential administrator to bear as a worthy Ambassador of Nigeria in the diaspora.”
The newsense report indicated that it is an indisputable fact the exceptional leadership of Fasina brought FUOYE into the national spotlight. During his five-year tenure, student enrollment grew from just over 20,000 to more than 60,000. He also delivered major infrastructure, including a Professional Complex, over 40 blue-roofed classrooms, a Students’ Sports Complex, a new Senate Building, an Academic Building, and several other landmark projects. These investments and many others firmly positioned FUOYE and lifted the institution to greater heights.
Fasina, seen by many as a compassionate leader, attached great importance to the welfare of the staff and students. 2384 staff benefited from promotion exercise under his stewardship. The promotions cut across all categories of staff in the institution devoid of any form of discrimination, victimisation and intimidation. They reflected Fasina’s commitment to due process and staff motivation.
The renowned professor of soil science recorded significant improvements in the number of FUOYE’s programmes, faculties, departments, and directorates. Within his five-year tenure, faculties increased from 8 to 18, programmes 73 to 91, directorates 1 to 19, institutes 0 to 5, and departments 67 to 81.
The ambassadorial nominee, an award-winning researcher of high repute with over 140 publications to his credit, as FUOYE VC, sucessfully scaled up the university’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by over 300% from N2.3 billion to N12 billion. This milestone was majorly achieved via his strategic investment in the establishment and expansion of theuniversity-owned ventures, such as, FUOYE Bakery, table water production, printing press, agricultural farms, and FUOYE Business School.