‘Why corruption, immorality pervade Nigerian university system’

A Professor of Haematology at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Philip Olusola Olatunji, said intrusion of the political class, ethnicity and religion into the Nigerian university system were responsible for the corruption and immorality that have pervaded the institutions across the country. He equally blamed students and “rich parents” for laying the foundation […]

A Professor of Haematology at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Philip Olusola Olatunji, said intrusion of the political class, ethnicity and religion into the Nigerian university system were responsible for the corruption and immorality that have pervaded the institutions across the country.

He equally blamed students and “rich parents” for laying the foundation for immorality, saying lecturers in some cases “are not the initiators.”

Olatunji, a renowned pathologist, said this while delivering his valedictory lecture titled ‘Gown in Town: The Demeaning of the Ivory Tower’, at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu.

He noted that sex-for-marks, sexual harassment by lecturers, money-for-marks and other corrupt practices have demeaned the nation’s university system.

According to him, the sale of handouts has become commonplace, and in certain circumstances, students cannot pass examinations without buying them, stressing that the universities have given tacit approval and in others, it formed part of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Olatunji also maintained that the appointment of vice-chancellors and other top positions have been politicised in the university, thereby leaving officers compromised.

To move forward, Olatunji said the tower must be rebuilt, noting that academics should not use their collective strength of unionism for the protection of those who “dirty the gowns and collapse the tower.”