By Oludamisi Ojo
Vice-Chancellor, Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, Prof. Eddy Olanipekun, has vowed that the management would deal decisively with any Professor found culpable of plagiarism and sexual harassment offenses.
Besides, he said a total number of 133 graduates of EKSU, would be conferred with first-class honors as the institution graduates 16,433 at its combined 25th and 26th convocation ceremonies.
Olanipekun spoke on Wednesday, at a news conference ahead of the university’s 40th anniversary and 25th and 26th convocation ceremonies slated for March 26, 2022.
The Professor of Industrial Chemistry, who detested unruly acts said “That you are a Professor doesn’t mean if you commit plagiarism or rape or other crimes, we will gloss over it, no.
According to him, “The era of impunity can’t return here, we won’t allow it. Nobody is above the law. Even some of the students who committed an infraction, were either suspended or dismissed accordingly”.
On the lingering nationwide strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), Olanipekun urged the government and other unions in the universities to embrace dialogue, saying the country can’t afford to shut down after the COVID-19 lockdown.
He said an aggregate of 263, 7,023, 8,561, 174, 252, and 160 graduates would be bestowed with diplomas, bachelor, postgraduate diploma, Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees respectively, by the institution.
Olanipekun enthused that 67 out of the 81 academic programs being undertaken by the institution, had been accorded full accreditation by the National Universities Commission(NUC).
His words” Apart from the foregoing, all our professional programs have full accreditation namely from the Council of the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Institute of Chartered Accountants(ICAN), and Council of Legal Education of Nigeria, among others”, Olanipekun said.
He said 166 medical students had also been inducted into the College of Medicine by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria(MDCAN).
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Olanipekun added that the university is improving on the development of ICT Infrastructure, with WiFi transmission covering over 20 kilometers radius, applauding the government for enlisting EKSU as one of the institutions that would be covered under the Independent Power Plant project.
He pointed out that the internally generated revenue of the university had been prudently appropriated, adding that proceeds were expended on the construction of skills acquisition and entrepreneurship study center, an extension of EKSU water factory, and asphalting of a linkage road from College of Medicine to the sandwich village at Irasa.
Olanipekun also said that his team had also worked hard to move the university from 157 to 14 on webometric ranking among the ivory towers operating in the country.
