…as women academics plegde loyalty to his administration
From Kehinde Adewole
Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, has assured the female students of the institution of his administration’s readiness to build more Girls’ hostels so as to give them more privacy, protection against any harassment and a sense of belonging among others, on the twin campuses of lkole and Oye of the Ivory Tower.
Prof. Fasina also plegded strongly, to partner with the FUOYE chapter of the National Association of Women in Academics (NAWACs), on putting in place a virile Cooperative Society which will cater for important needs of the staff.
A statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the VC on Media, Wole Balogun, revealed that Prof. Fasina gave the assurance during his meeting with the FUOYE chapter of NAWACs, led by the chapter’s President, Prof. Sylvia Uzochukwu and Dean of Post Graduate School, Prof. Mojisola Oyarekua.
A delegation of NAWACs, FUOYE chapter, had paid a Courtesy Visit to the VC as part of the association’s celebration of the International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8.
While addressing the VC in a statement she read on behalf of the women academics, Prof. Uzochukwu, who assured the VC of the unreserved support and loyalty of NAWACs to his administration, urged the Professor of Soil Science, to urgently provide more Girls’ hostels for the teeming female students of FUOYE so as to mainly protect them against all forms of harassment on the campus and assist them to have a more fulfilling academic and social life on campus.
Her words: “The purpose of this visit is to introduce ourselves to the new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, and to felicitate with him, on his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of FUOYE, as part of our celebration for this year’s international Women’s Day. We rejoice with you, Sir, on your divine elevation, and plegde our loyalty to your administration. We are aware of your empathy with the causes of women and trust that we will celebrate a female friendly environment under your dispensation.
“NAWACs was inuagurated in Benin in 2001. The FUOYE chapter was inuagurated in 2019, when the the first inuaguaral Lecture of the University, was given by one of our members, Prof. O. Cecilia Akintayo.
“Since then, the Association has registered a Cooperative Society, and planned many activities. However, 2020 turned out to be a year of challenges, due to Covid 19 pandemic lockdown. Still, despite the pandemic, our members have won laurels that brought the name of the University to limelight. We are determined to continue to make a difference. Today, we had a talk for female undergraduates on how to navigate University life successfully.
“During our interraction with the female students, we discovered that there is an urgent and dire need for more Girls’ hostels in FUOYE and we urge your administration to do this for them so as to make them have their privacy, a sense of belonging and be saved from all forms of harassment,” she urged.
Continuing, she said: “We intend to continue to give career and coping strategy talks to our female students on a regular basis. We have appointed Faculty Mentors for all faculties, to coordinate mentoring of female students by female lecturers. In the same manner, we encourage mentoring relationship between senior female academics and the junior ones, on career advancement and work/home balance.
“We are happy on the line up of senior academics in Management positions in the University, we have one female Dean, and two female Directors. However, like the proverbial Oliver Twist, we request to have some more. We would be be happy if at least one third of the Heads of Departments (HODs) and Directors in the University are women. We have more than enough qualified women. In addition, sir, we would really appreciate it, if one of the DVCs of the University is statutorily a woman. This will give the women a sense of belonging. A Senate high table without a feminine touch, gives an impression of oppression. We know, and we trust, that our swift-acting Vice-Chancellor will address these inequalities in no time at all. We wish our Vice-Chancellor an impressive, trouble-free tenure. May God bless you and your team”, she concluded.
Responding, an excited Prof. Fasina said he was very pleased with the visit paid him by NAWACs, adding that the association is very dear to him. He recalled a fruitful rapport he had with NAWACs when he was working with the Ekiti State University (EKSU) and plegded to replicate such rapport in FUOYE as VC.
The FUOYE VC said: “I am so happy meeting you. NAWACs is really very dear to me. I was a member of NAWACs’ Cooperative Society for many years in EKSU and I achieved a lot from that union. I assure you, we will continue to put more women in positions of huge responsibility. I have approved the promotion of some of your colleagues already. We will soon have more women on professorial cadre. I am eagerly looking forward to you mentoring younger ones on research endeavours. It is very good for the system. This is what I personally delight in doing.
“We want to have scholars here who would be encouraged to become global scholars and have international experience/exposure. We will like to partner with you on Cooperative Society, we can partner on housing scheme, getting plots of land and others. Let us replicate what we have done while in EKSU here on good things we got through Cooperative.
“We will create a women friendly environment in FUOYE. We agree with you that there is an urgent need for more Girls’ hostels. Already, there is a huge female hostel under construction, it is almost completed and we are already talking to private firms on building more female hostels. We will also give you more female HODs and consider other requests in your favour, ” he assured.
