The Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, says the institution is going to miss the unblemished services of one of its forerunners, Prof. Chioma Agomo, as she retires on March 1. Ogundipe disclosed this at a Special Senate meeting organised in recognition of her achievements in the university.
Agomo, a Professor of Law, at the institution was the first female Dean of the Faculty, who had put in 44 years of service, with specialisation in Law of Contract, Industrial Law, Insurance Law and Gender Studies. She joined the Department of Commercial and Industrial Law as a lecturer in 1981 and was appointed Professor of Law in 1999.
Agomo is also a Fulbright Scholar and teaches Contract, Industrial Labour, International Labour Standards, Gender Studies and Insurance Law at undergraduate level and Labour Relations Law at the postgraduate level.
The vice chancellor in his tribute to her, tagged, ‘The Hour to Honour the Bridge Builder’, described the day as a great day in the annals of the Senate of the university. “This is because today, our respected and cherished Professor Chioma Agomo is attending her last Senate meeting prior to her retirement on March 1, 2021.
Prof. Agomo has put in 44 years of active meritorious and unblemished service to the institution. I got to know Professor Agomo for over 23 years and the impression I have about her has never changed. However, recently she added another star to her several stars by being the biblical Deborah of our time,” Ogundipe said.
According to him, she assumed the role of a Distinguished Judge and Leader of the university during the crisis of his unconstitutional removal as the Vice Chancellor. Ogundipe added that Agomo displayed uncommon leadership first on the floor of the Senate on Aug. 13, 2020, by suggesting urgent proactive steps that needed to be taken to save the university.
Ogundipe added that in spite of all the pressures mounted on her from within and outside the institution, for her to have a rethink about her stand, Agomo stood her ground on the need to adhere to due process in the removal of the vice chancellor.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the Senate meeting, Agomo said that she was leaving the University of Lagos a satisfied individual.
Agomo stated that going forward, she would love to see a University of Lagos that had respect for the rule of law, one that had respect for due process, that will continue to do things meritoriously, and a place where ethnicity will have no place in it.
