Latest update February 8th, 2025 5:56 AM
Latest News
- Soaring gold price entices Canadian company to renew permits in Guyana
- Terrence Campbell accuses Govt. of weaponizing Police Force after calls for accountability with oil revenues
- China slams US as Panama quits Belt and Road Initiative
- Guyana extradites fugitive to Canada
- AFC Leader Nigel Hughes welcomes any investigation into lands he acquired
Professor Opadeyi improved UG – insists UGSS President
UGSS President, Joshua Griffith
Although his controversial tenure at the University will come to an end early next year, this does not take away from the fact that Professor Jacob Opadeyi is viewed by some as the most engaging Vice Chancellor at the University of Guyana thus far.
According to President of the University of Guyana Students’ Society (UGSS), Joshua Griffith, “we wish to appreciate the work that he has done…he has engaged the most with the Student Body compared to any other administrator. He was willing to meet at anytime and he has always been responsive as an individual to the needs of the Student Body.”
Griffith however lamented that not everything that the Vice Chancellor had promised was allowed to be manifested. As such he described as a “sad situation” that Professor Opadeyi will be leaving the tertiary institution.
The Nigerian born Professor was a Faculty member at the University of the West Indies before taking up the Vice Chancellor position at UG in 2013.
But Professor Opadeyi earlier this year informed that he had no intention of remaining at the University following a no confidence motion initiated by the institution’s unions – the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association and the University of Guyana Workers Union. Both Unions had worked together to emphasise their disappointment in the Vice Chancellor.
But according to Griffith, who had led the UGSS on a few occasions into separate protest actions in the quest to have deplorable conditions at the University improved, “We simply did not have a position on the no confidence motion; we were neither for or against it…it really wasn’t our business.”
Once Professor Opadeyi’s contract comes to an end in February 2016, the University will be managed by a Management Committee until a new Vice Chancellor is appointed.
According to Technical Adviser to the Minister of Education, Mr Vincent Alexander, the appointment of a suitable Vice Chancellor is the sole responsibility of the University’s Council. “…Once they (members of the Council) would have made that decision… there is no question of a Minister or an individual having a choice,” Alexander asserted. He’s disclosed too that Government had no preferred candidate to fill the position of Vice Chancellor when Professor Opadeyi’s contract comes to an end next year.
But according to Griffith what is fundament to the Student body is that it is afforded basic respect from the administrators of the University. This basic respect, he intimated, appeared to be one of the pillars that Professor Opadeyi embraced. “If you say you are going to do something then let’s work actively towards getting it done,” said Griffith as he reflected on the Vice Chancellor’s last speech at the University’s most recent Annual Business Meeting earlier this month. “It was really heartfelt because he has done a lot for this University, he has done a lot for the Student body, notwithstanding the controversies we have; the difference that we have…he has inspired us and caused us to push ourselves. Personally he has caused me to go above and beyond in many regards,” shared Griffith.
According to him, the Professpr Opadeyi brought to the University a wealth of experience and “he will be missed and he is appreciated for the many positives he has brought, the many different perspectives and the energy…the challenges he faced, brought and overcame at this University.”
And Griffith believes that he could relate all too well to the state of affairs faced by Professor Opadeyi when he took over the reins of the University.
He disclosed that “We did not inherit a perfect situation; our Student body was a mess when we inherited it and so we have been trying to bring order to it. Similar things obtained with the administration and we have found that a lot of his (Professor Opadeyi) practices, a lot of his implementations have indeed improved a lot of the management issues on the campus; we can’t deny that.”
And the improvements realised under Professor Opadeyi’s tenure, Griffith observed, include: an improved bursary structure, efforts to pay off owed utilities after years of indebtedness, and attempts to make regular NIS contributions on behalf of staffers. “There are a lot of positives that he would have contributed to at the University and we appreciate his service,” stressed Griffith.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Due diligence on investments must become a priority
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In 1985, the Forbes Burnham government looking for economic salvation, entered into a memorandum... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
