Jubilation as OAU gets new VC

Workers of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife were seen jubilating on Monday as Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede was announced as the 11th vice chancellor of the university.

The Chairman Governing Council of the OAU, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, made the announcement at a press conference attended by other members of the university and the Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Anthony Elujoba.

When the VC was to be announced, hundreds of workers of the university stormed the venue of the press conference with eagerness to know who would emerge.

While announcing the new VC, Ogunbiyi described the process of selecting the new vice chancellor as transparent and coherent with due process.

He said, “A search committee was raised and 22 persons applied for the advertised job. One of the applicants who did not have the requisite qualification was dropped.

“The search for the new vice chancellor was transparent. We received about 18 applications and a committee was set up to search for candidates outside. There were 22 applicants in all.

“The candidates were subjected to screening and they were interviewed for three days. I am happy to announce to you that the new vice chancellor is Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede.”

After the announcement, the chairman Governing Council put a call across to the new VC who joined journalists at the venue amidst celebration.

The new vice chancellor thanked the Governing Council for being transparent and for following the due process.

The new VC is from the Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry in the Faculty of Dentistry, and hailed from Owo, Ondo State.

He was appointed professor on October 1, 2000.

Recall the the previous process of appointing a VC on OAU resulted into crisis.