- Confirm damage to varsity vehicle
By Gabriel Dike
Management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka has confirmed that some academic gowns were stolen and a university vehicle damaged as a result of a rowdy situation of issuing out the convocation outfit to graduates.
In a statement signed by the Head, Communication Unit, Alhaja Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem said the incident that occurred at the university on the said date had to do with crowd control during the release of academic gowns to graduating students of the School of Postgraduate Studies (SPGS) ahead of their convocation ceremony on Thursday, January 18, 2024.
According to her, during the incident, some yet-to-be-issued gowns were taken, and the vehicle where the gowns were kept and being distributed from was damaged.
The statement reads: “The University of Lagos management wishes to debunk certain online reports claiming that the university was attacked by hoodlums on Monday, January 15, 2024.
‘The incident is currently being investigated to ascertain its cause, culpable individuals, level of damage, and to prevent a recurrence,” she added.
The university management appreciated its stakeholders for their concern, and plead with the general public to disregard the wild narratives trailing the incident.
But an online report claimed a bus conveying UNILAG postgraduate academic gowns for distribution to the graduating students, was stolen.
The academic gowns met for postgraduate students were meant for collection on Monday after they had paid the mandatory N15,000.
As a result of the incident some PG students could not collect their academic gowns and were not happy with the development.
In a swift reaction, the School of Post-Graduate Studies (SPGS) in a terse text message and mail sent to postgraduate students announced the suspension of the distribution of academic gowns.
The School of Postgraduate Studies confirmed that the remaining academic gowns were stolen, and the bus where it was kept was vandalised.”
A PG graduate and lawyer, Malachy Odo confirmed that he received the text message from the postgraduate school after he had paid the mandatory fee of N15,000.
On Thursday, January 18th, 2024, UNILAG would graduate 6,886 postgraduate students made up of 465 for postgraduate diploma and 6,266 for masters.