Don’t rename UNILAG after Abiola – Mimiko

Posted by admin Headlines Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

The Vice-Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Prof. Olufemi Mimiko, has said that the Federal Government erred by renaming the University of Lagos after the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Abiola.

Mimiko, a professor of Political Science, however, noted that immortalising the late politician by the Federal Government was long overdue based on his contributions to the nation’s democracy.

The VC in an interview with our correspondent, expressed his sympathy with President Goodluck Jonathan over the outcry his action had generated.

He said, “I sympathise with President Jonathan because I know he meant well. He has chosen to walk in an area where angels feared to trek. What he has done is long overdue.

“It is right and proper to give due recognition to the late Chief MKO Abiola. Nobody is suggesting that he was flawless, I would not subscribe to that.

“Unfortunately, the President has moved in the wrong direction. To me, I do not believe that changing the name of UNILAG to MAULAG is the right decision to take.

“UNILAG has become a brand over the years that we should be interested in developing and sustaining. We have had enough of these incessant changes of the names of universities.

“Universities are universal entities; they are institutions that are in competition with others all over the world. For instance, it is not proper for a representative of a university to get to an international conference and suddenly announce a different name.

“We must recognise and acknowledge that the universities are on their own, they constitute an entity on their own, ‘they deserve respect,’ we must give to them the concept that is worthy of a university,” he added.

Mimiko said he would rather that the name of Abiola be on monuments not on the University of Lagos which has become a global brand.wp_posts