Varsity’ll be famous, says new VC

The new Vice Chancellor (VC), Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Prof. Dapo Asaju, has unfolded his plan to make the institution rise to the level of Bishop Ajayi Crowther’s fame and towering image within and outside Nigeria.

He said this while addressing reporters after a church service to mark his resumption in office at the weekend.

He said: “My major goal is to implement the vision of the founding fathers of this university. Ajayi Crowther, as a bishop, was an extra-ordinary man. In terms of vision, he improved Christianity in Yoruba land, Niger Delta and Igbo land. He had passion for education and his love for education and morals was incomparable. He was a great man. So, after 32 years as a university lecturer, I have the opportunity to be the Vice-Chancellor of this great university. I will do my best to see it attain the greatness it deserves.”

Calling on staff members to cooperate with him in moving the institution forward, Asaju said he came with the mind to learn and serve, stressing that everybody’s good ideas were needed to consolidate on the successes already made by his predecessors.

“This appointment is for me a very humble opportunity to come here to serve. I come with the mind to learn and listen. I am not a magician. I come purely with an open mind. I will interact with staff and we shall generate ideas together. I know what God has told me to do and we shall do it.

“I did not come here because of any ambition. I was offered this job five years ago but turned it down. I have been supervising the PG School that produces 500 priests yearly in Abeokuta. So, it is God’s time for me to come here,” he said.

Asaju, who is the third vice chancellor to head the institution, also unfolded his specific plan to start a medical college in collaboration with the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. The plan received a wide applause from workers and students.

Earlier in his sermon, the Rt. Rev. O. O. Oduntan, urged Asaju to see his new assignment as God’s work because leading the university was both a spiritual and academic task.

The cleric assured Asaju that God’s presence would go with him in the new assignment.

Taking his text from Exodus 33, Oduntan emphasised that God’s presence facilitates righteousness and attracts favour and rest in the course of the assignment.

Oduntan also emphasised that God’s presence would distinguish him and enable him to achieve the goals in his heart. He urged the university community to cooperate with him for all-round success.

Culled from The Nation Newspaper (Thursday, October 8 , 2015)